The Planet Crafter Reviews

I'm kinda finishing this game out of sunk cost fallacy atm. it's not a terrible game, but it's also a bit hard to recommend. I could see it being better as a low-stress co-op game, but it plays more like an idle game than a survival game. The unique aspect of this game is the concept of terraforming: introducing life to a planet that was previously a barren wasteland. It's kinda cool to see rain fall, ice melt, and eventually plants and animals emerge. The problems are more just a host of small inconveniences: Most of the core gameplay is continually replacing older machines with newer ones that massively dwarf the previous ones' efficiency. These are all to raise certain statistics, like heat, biomass, pressure, oxygen, etc., all which raises your terraforming index and unlocks more machines and research. Ultimately, this plays out more like an idle game than a survival game. The survival aspects are managed purely through meters: oxygen, water, and food. There's never any genuine threats, and the most dangerous encounter you'll have is you getting lost in the wreckage of a ship with a full inventory while running low on water or oxygen. It's not exactly the most creative way to handle things, and they're more token survival elements that more serve to nag and annoy you rather than provide a level of depth. The game's physics are all over the place: your rover will slide around and flip over at the slightest bump. End game expects you to raid a lot of wrecks that are procedurally generated via a portal generator. Doing so will really make you feel the worst pains in the game: inventory management. Even with a fully upgraded backpack, it won't feel like enough space, as wrecks are large and have a LOT of chests in them full of both good items and useless scrap. What's also odd is dropped items can obstruct your movement--so that 56th piece of iron you're trying to get rid of is now an obstacle. The stronger gameplay aspects involve actually collecting a variety of animal species via both discovery and genetic manipulation (the categories being butterflies, frogs, fish, and mammals). That last one is somewhat more interesting as you get to select multiple aspects of a genome to build custom creatures. You don't get to interact with them much, and if you take their DNA tube out of their shelter they'll reset to infancy, but seeing what you get visually is kinda neat. All of these options generate biomass over time of their corresponding category, but unfortunately it's mainly just another idle meter that you're progressing. There was also an attempt at a story, told entirely through logs. Its progression is a bit weird; I've been sitting with all the objective components acquired for the past 10 hours in game, but I can't do anything with these components until the game says I'm ready to beat it. Tl;dr, this is less a survivalcraft game and more an idle game, which isn't automatically a bad thing, but it's not the most active experience.

10+ / 10 masterpiece There are no words in known literature how awesome and rewarding this game is. I love crafting games and this is by looooooooooong shot best crafting game there is. Why? Because it has that "something", that umph which gives a soul to game. Every one know what that something is; Zelda LttP has it, Elden Ring has it, Dead Cells has it, and indeedPlanet Crafter has it as well. What makes this game stand out from rest of crafting games is that you are not just crafting, you are building your planet and make its ecosystem thrive. You feel likes IT ACTUALLY IS YOUR PLANET, because this game is so immersive. I was incredibly lucky that I bought this game without watching trailer completely. The moment I saw very first small water pond, and actually realize that it is water (first I thought it was a graphical glitch as I did not expect this) literally brought tear to my eyes. Also masterful game mechanics choice is that there are no enemies, only some natural hazards. The point in this game is not focusing survive (like for example don't starve) but fully focus on your objective in peaceful manner. This game is most immersive game I have ever played and I cant recommend it enough. Devs, please don't ever change core mechanics of this game, it is absolute perfection.

The demo gives just enough content to lure inexperienced players into a trap: what seems to be a nice Subnautica-like game ends up to be a Minecraft in creative mode (and even worse). The devs grabbed what made Subnautica so captivating - the constant progression. You start with no compass, no map, no vehicles, no tools and you steadily get all of the technology while also terraforming the planet and seeing how the environment changes and opens up access to new areas and more progression. Looks very appealing (and I did fall for it), but turns into a dull and hollow experience very soon, because unlike Subnautica there are no problems your progression helps you to solve and no dangers to overcome apart from a never ending race against your hunger, thirst, and oxygen meters going down. In the demo there were meteor showers damaging my character. So I thought alright, there will be more environmental dangers! But no, it's the only one. The description page straight up lies to you, it says "Survival: Thirst, Oxygen, Temperature and Health mechanics" while temperature doesn't exist - you won't overheat in a volcanic biome nor freeze in the ice biome, thirst meter speed won't change in the desert biome, and you won't spend more oxygen when sprinting (and in this game you sprint always). You can enter acidic looking clouds in the sulfur biome and green-glowing irradiated uranium caves with no consequences. And there is no progression to those systems (apart from the oxygen tank size) - it's the never ending never changing and extremely boring procedure (yes, thirst and hunger are the basis of the survival games, but also proper progression of managing those which is a part of the gameplay - and it's missing completely from Planet Crafter: here those bars are just timers, nothing more). The world textures are ugly and the overall quality of the map design is quite low - it's very simplistic with very basic platforming (clunky with even no crouch) and resources scattered in plain view impossible to miss. Ship wreckages are filled with copy-pasted chests to loot and become repetitive after the first one. There are almost no interactive elements inside apart from very simplistic "remove the debris" and "insert the battery" mechanics - everything else is just a visual clutter. Biomes differ by colors and main resource - and that's it, nothing else, no impact on survival (as noted above). Getting map data by launching satellites was a good idea. But, wow, the implementation! That map looks like it was made by a 5yo and it's not explainable by the "art style" of the game - it's pure laziness on the part of the devs, same as the rest of the game. But the last straw for me was the buggy: a much wanted vehicle with a speed that's slower than your sprinting one (yes, I know, you can upgrade it) and you still spend oxygen at the same rate while inside! What a joke! So this game has nothing to do with survival: it's a casual creative mode building sim with the added three meters of annoyance. If you want a very good non-combat survival experience with tons of exploration, meaningful progression and beautiful biomes - play Subnautica. If you want a challenging survival crafting game - play Minecraft (but not in creative mode, for sure). For nicely done biomes and exploration - play Grounded (part 1). If you like building complex automated facilities - play Satisfactory. Or Scrap Mechanics if you like just pure crafting. No Man's Sky is another good alternative and you can find many others which are far-far better and can be grabbed at a very low price during sales. If you've never played the above games - don't play Planet Crafter, it's a bad example of a game and of the genre and it will only give you bad gaming habits. Yes, it can feel addictive, but in the end it's just a simplistic time sink akin to mindless mobile games. PS Huge apology to my friend who understood all the above issues much faster than me but still suffered through the game for several more hours so I would understand it too. A price of two copies thrown outside a window.

This is a very special game which I was surprised to discover was the work of just two people. What stands out here is how they've woven together a number of mechanics from games like Subnautica and No Man's Sky and put their own unique spin on them to create a game that's thoroughly engaging and immersive in spite of the limitations of a small team and a relatively low budget. For those familiar with Subnautica the early game here will be familiar. You crash on a planet, you need to produce lots of food, water and oxygen to survive. You gather a lot of rocks and craft gear, then a base, then you expand and upgrade. What sets Planet Crafter apart is the way it expands and grows as you get towards the mid-game, turning into an ambitious epic in which the whole planet is transformed around you. As you produce machines to produce heat, oxygen and release gases to improve atmospheric pressure, glaciers melt, waterfalls, rivers and lakes appear, huge caverns open up, creeping vines can be climbed to get to previously inaccessible locations. And there's even an interesting and engaging questline you can follow to get some good bonus loot. The basic gameplay loop of crafting and exploring is well-designed and integrated and there's a good soundtrack. It's always a good feeling when a game exceeds your expectations, and this game is full of surprises. It delivers a lot more than I expected and I still haven't got to the end game. For what they're asking for it it's a great buy, and I would recommend it for anyone who liked Subnautica, No Man's Sky or just the survival genre in general. You won't be disappointed.

Early game is amazing, you're constantly exploring, advancing in the tech tree and seeing in real time the impact you're having in the world. 15 hours in, though, the game becomes a tedious exercise of micromanagement and optimization where the only impact your actions have is in seeing 6 numbers go up in a screen. It becomes an idle game that sometimes unlocks something so you can build it and see one of the numbers increase slightly faster.

I played this game with my partner . It was really interesting how she was turning the world into a livable place, while I was just watching my own world (She is perfect).

I got this game because my grandson wanted to play it. He is 12 and I am 57. I mainly play it because it's my computer. lol. Before he suggested I buy it I did have it on my wish list and after some pushing from the grandkiddo I broke down and got it. It has been one of the best terraforming games I have seen or played. I currently have over 500 hourse on it. I have started and restarted many games to try and challenge myself to see how fast I can get to a certain point the game. Although I have never played the multiplayer/coop play yet, just because I don't have anyone to play with,. I think it would be just as fun addition to my playtime. Some of the challenges that I have set in the game is to reach the 175,000 ti or Blue Sky within 30-45 minutes. Find and grab the contents of the [spoiler]golden[/spoiler] chests that have the booty that can boost your play. Explore the crash sites nearby to find items that you are not able to craft right away like fabric, rods, and food. Always head to the higher ground when starting off but be sure to carry 3 iron, 2 titanium and 1 silicon to craft a pod to refill your oxygen. Hope you have just as much fun with this game as I do.

Great game to chill and disconnect from the chaos of the real world.

If you are reading these reviews to find out if it's worth your time buying this game, stop scrolling. The answer is YES.

Originally looking to scratch a Valheim itch, I was searching for a casual survival/crafting game I could play while listening to The Expanse on audiobooks and The Planet Crafter was an excellent choice for that. The game wasn't super difficult or tedious -- the planet is peaceful -- and the bright and colorful world was really an enjoyable place to explore and transform. The building was pretty intuitive and the survival mechanics were easy enough to overcome that the gameplay felt more sim than slog. The procedural wrecks were kind of tedious after a bit but I got what I needed fast enough that it wasn't a bother. There were some slight story elements which overall were interesting and fun to find, but not super deep and involved. Overall, this went perfectly with the reading material and I enjoyed it enough that I may go back and check out the update and/or explore and terraform the DLC planet. Maybe it's time to re-read The Expanse again!