Settlement Zero Reviews

The visuals and effective use of light and shadows and visual scale is top notch. I like the freedom you have to roam around and explore but it needs more depth in game play. With such an incredible map just some definitive game goals (achievements) outside of the role of just survival would make this a winning title. Its in early access and needs support and would be a shame for such a great map & stunning visuals not to be developed further.

Initial Impression (Played on Oculus Rift, 3 Sensors) What I think I'm experiencing is a huge sandbox-type game, where you are a futuristic 'Omega Man' (Charleston Heston old Sci-Fi movie) trying to figure out what is going on, and trying to survive at the same time. Pros - What an enormous-sized sandbox to play in. It gives a good feeling of what it might be like to be alone in a city. It makes me feel like I was walking through the abandoned set of an old sci-fi film, 'Logan's Run'. - The game description indicates your 'hand will not be held' as the story starts to unfold, so it makes it seems like I'll have to use some detective skills. Be careful though, too much aimless wandering around can quickly drain the fun out of the game. - I absolutely love that the goth C3PO robots remind me of what it might be like to fight against an angry Bender from Futurama. Cons - Lack of Smooth Turning is jarring, and constantly breaks the immersion for me (feels like a 'screen reset' every time the snap turn occurs). The 'Interpolated Turn' (?) feature is horrible; it is like the foresaken offspring of snap and smooth turning. It is only because of my 3-sensor set-up that the game wasn't promptly refunded. - While the 'Controls' screen lays out the Touch Controller mapping, why is this not available when you pause the game? - Although the game has an epic scope, there doesn't seem much you can do initially (other than walk around and push buttons on elevators). So after a while, it starts to feel like I'm walking through a giant-corridor level. - After dying, I start back from the beginning. If this is part of the overall storyline, I'll stick around some to see how it plays out (e.g., 'Groundhog Day'). If this is part of game design, it depresses me to think I've got to do everything all over again each time I play. - Would be great if the Ray Gun could be in the left hand as well. - Why is a grip function regulated to a trigger on the touch controller? I can work through it, but it sure is counter-intuitive. - It is confusing as to why initially the R2-D2 units (almost called them mini-floor sweepers) and the goth C3PO robots initially ignore you, but some undefined time later,they are coming after you like a Debt Collector. At least the R2 units make a sound when they attack you. You don't hear a thing from the C3PO units, even when you turn around and discover 3 of them are of top of you in a very smothering, uncomfortable way (it feels like a very cheap attack). Before the psycho version of the Laurel and Hardy Robots start attacking me, I would watch them move around the city (or in one of the underground levels). They seems to move around with no real rhyme or reason I can initially detect (It's not like they come out of/go into those blue doors, which would make me think there's an undiscovered story element here). - Please explain how many shots it takes to put the walking robots down. Sometimes they seem to get up again. - Walking around on the main street level shows me a lot of lovely looking buildings, but no way to seemingly enter them (which goes back to my complaint of feeling like a huge outdoor corridor game). Despite the overwhelming Cons versus Pros at this time, I'll provide a provisional Thumbs Up because condemning a game after 50 minutes of play, without giving the Developer a chance to respond to concerns, seems a little harsh right now. To be fair, getting this game during a Steam Sale, has dampened the negativity I might otherwise be feeling.