Project Castaway Reviews

I understand that the game is unfinished (Early access), but some objects disappear, other objects float, and others are not where you see them. A big NO. I'll be back in a year or two...

The game has great potential. It's giving Green Hell meets Stranded Deep. However, the glitches and bugs make it extremely frustrating. My saves have deleted themselves. Started over, finally got my raft built. When I logged back in today, the items I've placed on my raft (bed, tool rack, etc) have all moved. Items I pick up seem to disappear into thin air. Picked up the ancient lantern at one point and it glitched into the rock, can't get it back. Notes that I collected in my previous save that was lost no longer appear, so I haven't been able to unlock the radio tower box. Devs, you've got a lot of work to do. My advice to everyone else, wait for some fixes unless you want to launch your computer out of sheer frustration.

seems like copy paste stranded deep with the most abhorrent nothing ai generated feeling story/voice acting please god smite down these cretins and send their lineage straight to hell

This is a warning to everyone before you buy the game. I Cant get past the menu at all now because it runs at 1 fps and constantly freezes where as the earlier versions I could actually play the game. It's unplayable now. Completely bricked. It was a very fun game to play, It reminded me of The Forrest and Green hell combined. Hopefully the developer can fix this soon.

I'll revisit this game at some point because it has potential, but right now it's fundamentally broken and not worth your time. Don't even bother. Sometimes your temperature will continue rising no matter what you do, until you die. Sometimes the ax won't chop down trees no matter how long you chop. The survival mechanics seem very arbitrary as well, I spent less than 5 minutes in the sun and got a fatal rash. Ridiculous. Just not currently worth any amount of your time or money. This shouldn't even be in early access yet.

Tried the game again after 6 months and I am finally enjoying it. If you played Green Hell, it is quite similar. Amazing graphics and physics overall but still rough around the edges at times.

If you liked Green Hell you'll like this game. I loved the Forest and Sons of the forest for the simple fact that I wasn't on the brink of death from a rash 2 minutes into the game. I understand its a survival game, but its still a game, it should be fun. Leaving the player scrambling to survive from a minor injury before ever learning the controls and objectives is lame. The backpack function and other controls are challenging, like hovering over an object with your backpack equipped to drink water and the water is bad if you don't drink it immediately? Wouldn't it be easier for the player to PICK UP THE OBJECT FILLED WITH WATER WITH THEIR HANDS AND JUST DRINK IT?

good game has potential,few bugs and odd things that happen, you guys defo need to sort out and i think you will get there in the end...so far game play has been ok at times fps drops when you get close to other islands,needs more wild animals to encounter,more loot to find and collect. a map maybe would be good too or parts of a map to collect to make a big one, and a way to craft a bigger back pack too

Gonna be a no currently, it might improve but in its current state its just far too frustrating to play, games are suppose to be fun and this one could be but the bugs, the jank, the shallow broken building, the grind, the ill thought out progression and the overall goals just fall way short of what could be much much better. The survival aspect of the game is like many 'survival' games where its just a bar you forget about because there is excessive food and rain every five minutes making hunger and thirst pointless. The physics in the game is twitchy at best, stack logs and items will 'explode' if you look at them wrong. The raft will drift away, or be moved around by silly things like butterflys or crabs. The building is limited, there are only the very basic sections to make a box with a roof, no inner corners, no triangle bases, no upside down triangle walls and so on, the snap points are atrocious and restrictive and will punish you for even considering anything beyond a square single story box. Each section of your base, foundation, wall, floor will cost 2 logs, thats on average 1 tree per piece, 100 pieces, yeah 100 trees you have to chop down and carry, 2 logs at a time to and from your base. The tool progression is really basic, so basic you can literally skip right to gold tools without even bothering with granite/bronze/silver because you can mine a gold node with a stone starter tool, other than a few easy skills you can just make gold tools and be done with the entire tool progression right from the start. Hostile animals make no movement noise until they attack you, some are tiny (black widow) and you wont know until you are being bitten or mauled that your even being attacked, larger animals are worse, they hurt and if you're not lucky enough to see them you will die. Overall the game is frustrating and not fun, but it could be, it has all the problems of Stranded Deep and not much in a way of new or different content, it looks pretty I'll give them that and the environmental sounds are pretty good, but gameplay, bugs, bad game design all drag it down. Hope it gets better but its been out a while now.

Version at time of Review: v1.52 @ 207 hours: The game has me come back over and over again as it has about the right amount of survival without being overbearing, base building, and exploration. A lot of the game mechanics are randomized which makes each play through unique enough to be fun. As the game is in early access, there are still a few bugs but nothing game breaking, which the developer is very responsive in fixing if one is found. And being EA, the dev is very open to suggestions and comments as development progresses. Survival is not just food and water, which both are important, but also environmental survival. Things like sunburn if your in the sun too long without protection. Poison from spiders or scorpions. Attacks from spiders, komodo dragons, and tigers. Food can come from seagulls, crabs, animal meat, plants and herbs, among other things. Your core body temperature must also be regulated so you don't get too hot or cold which is based on the environment be it a sunny hot day or a cold rainy night, swimming, or even standing next to a fire for too long. You must also regulate your meat versus plant food intake or you may get a vitamin deficiency. You can also be poisoned by insects, or by eating bad meat. But don't worry, there are remedies for most afflictions, you just have to find the correct plants or herbs. It sounds like a lot in these survival aspects but it is not overly a burden and is actually funner than it sounds. There is a story to follow, as well as finding 'blueprints' scattered around the islands, that will help you on your quest to escape. In order to explore the islands you will need to build a raft and build things on the raft such as containers for collecting loot, a water collector so you always have some fresh water, a canopy to protect you from the sun, a cooking barrel so you can always cook your meat so you don't get parasites from eating it raw. I would recommend the game in its current, very playable and enjoyable state. The road is still long for a finished game so if that bothers you then skip it, but add it to your wish list for later.