This game is very interesting to talk about. Right now I think it's a really good proof of concept that COULD be taken to fun places. That said, it's a testament to how universally solid the concept behind Pokemon is, that even the epitome of "Early access survival base building crafting" --is capturing the imagination of people the way Pokemon did so long ago. I'm not trying to say this is EVERYTHING Pokemon should be and Gamefreak is lazy for not doing it...But I captured a boss Pal and just went around riding its back, blasting anything in my path with its powerful boss moves for a while. And yeah it does at times feel like everything one would want from a truly next gen Pokemon experience.
The base building and crafting side...Thankfully can be somewhat automated by delegating your Pals to do it for you. But even given that, it's still a lot. Definitely found myself wanting to just go out and have a Pokemon adventure but I'm stuck building up my base as a prerequisite to unlocking better gear. I'm usually making fun of the stupid amount of derivative "Craft and mine and survive and build" games, even ones that are overwhelmingly well received. Which includes the devs previous major game "Craftopia" that I didn't really even give a second thought. Yet here I am building crafting tables and punching trees for no reason other than it's an iteration of Pokemon that's kinda exciting. I can't say I actively hate this side of the game...This kind of thing is popular for a reason. But it's very junk food mindless gameplay designed to trap you in a vaguely satisfying loop.
For now I think 3 stars is fair. As I play more into this early version of the game I may have more to say, may raise or lower the score by half a star or so...But 10 hours in I've got a good idea of what the game's offering currently. Moving forward I hope the devs ride the momentum and make this game into something special and fun to follow. I'm having fun but if a year passes and the game's fundamentally in the exact same state it was on release I don't think this will have much staying power. If they add more substantial content, I'm hoping that will allow them to streamline the base building side of things, as currently it feels like a crutch to prevent you from seeing the entire game too quickly. Maybe have the ability to command your base Pals to do specific tasks without physically being there?
Either way, I'm getting my money's worth just on this week 1 version alone. But that doesn't mean it feels like a full game. I really want to come back someday and say it's had a lot of meaningful work put into it that turns it into a genuine modern classic. But only time will tell, for all I know what you see now is what we're gonna get. The previously mentioned "Craftopia" being in early access still doesn't exactly give much confidence, but also that game didn't sell 10 million in a week. Also this game desperately needs a soundtrack. Of all the things to rip from BotW, the dead silence during the open world exploration is not one of them. Music goes a LONG way towards making something feel less soulless, may sound odd to some but I think that should be high on their priority list. (Especially considering they sell the soundtrack on steam...What little is there is nice but also WHAT soundtrack)
Also online can be pretty rough but I'd expect nothing more, it's crazy there's even online support on day 1 let alone open servers on the PC version. And they seem to have fixed some of the most major problems of it straight up not working in the recent patch.
P.S. I've played mostly on Steam Deck, fiddled with some settings and am getting a mostly solid 30fps. It froze up on me once but no progress was lost and otherwise it's been solid.
P.P.S. Careful with engaging with the controversies surrounding this game. As in, make sure you're not spreading misinformation. Even in good fun and memes people be spreading fake quotes, debunked drama, and just assuming things they heard other people say are true.
The base building and crafting side...Thankfully can be somewhat automated by delegating your Pals to do it for you. But even given that, it's still a lot. Definitely found myself wanting to just go out and have a Pokemon adventure but I'm stuck building up my base as a prerequisite to unlocking better gear. I'm usually making fun of the stupid amount of derivative "Craft and mine and survive and build" games, even ones that are overwhelmingly well received. Which includes the devs previous major game "Craftopia" that I didn't really even give a second thought. Yet here I am building crafting tables and punching trees for no reason other than it's an iteration of Pokemon that's kinda exciting. I can't say I actively hate this side of the game...This kind of thing is popular for a reason. But it's very junk food mindless gameplay designed to trap you in a vaguely satisfying loop.
For now I think 3 stars is fair. As I play more into this early version of the game I may have more to say, may raise or lower the score by half a star or so...But 10 hours in I've got a good idea of what the game's offering currently. Moving forward I hope the devs ride the momentum and make this game into something special and fun to follow. I'm having fun but if a year passes and the game's fundamentally in the exact same state it was on release I don't think this will have much staying power. If they add more substantial content, I'm hoping that will allow them to streamline the base building side of things, as currently it feels like a crutch to prevent you from seeing the entire game too quickly. Maybe have the ability to command your base Pals to do specific tasks without physically being there?
Either way, I'm getting my money's worth just on this week 1 version alone. But that doesn't mean it feels like a full game. I really want to come back someday and say it's had a lot of meaningful work put into it that turns it into a genuine modern classic. But only time will tell, for all I know what you see now is what we're gonna get. The previously mentioned "Craftopia" being in early access still doesn't exactly give much confidence, but also that game didn't sell 10 million in a week. Also this game desperately needs a soundtrack. Of all the things to rip from BotW, the dead silence during the open world exploration is not one of them. Music goes a LONG way towards making something feel less soulless, may sound odd to some but I think that should be high on their priority list. (Especially considering they sell the soundtrack on steam...What little is there is nice but also WHAT soundtrack)
Also online can be pretty rough but I'd expect nothing more, it's crazy there's even online support on day 1 let alone open servers on the PC version. And they seem to have fixed some of the most major problems of it straight up not working in the recent patch.
P.S. I've played mostly on Steam Deck, fiddled with some settings and am getting a mostly solid 30fps. It froze up on me once but no progress was lost and otherwise it's been solid.
P.P.S. Careful with engaging with the controversies surrounding this game. As in, make sure you're not spreading misinformation. Even in good fun and memes people be spreading fake quotes, debunked drama, and just assuming things they heard other people say are true.