Initial thoughts on first play
I understand it’s early access, I played for an evening and just wanted to share my thoughts.
The AI
I really enjoyed this feature, how the seedlings could interact and that I could just type stuff to them, I also loved that my seed talked in the personality I gave him.
UI
I thought the UI was great, a bit of a learning curve but it felt really natural to use, it was smooth, nice animations, great overview of what’s happening.
The grind
Honestly it wasn’t my thing, I thought this game might have been more creative, but I think it comes across as more of a cash grab / grinding game. I visited a bunch of different societies and they all sort of looked the same.
Style
I like the general look of the game, I think the art style has a lot to offer, for a game of this size it’s just the right amount of detail, I liked the physics in the hair and how they walk around depending on their mood.
Tutorial
I loved that little character flying around the window and talking to me, really great job there. The voice was spot on!
Story
I didn’t get it, everything is sort of unlocked if you join an advanced society, so my characters progression was a bit confusing, if a public lot was filled with materials and machines, I could just go and make everything for free regardless of my characters progression.
Misc
- There’s a lot of content for an early access game, I think maybe even a little too much for the current UI (e.g. work benches), in the future I think submenus and search bars could help with finding things a bit more easily
- Creativity, it’s lacking in that department, I don’t really know why I’d build a house if they all look the same
- World View, this looked like the least complete part of the game, being able to click on islands would be cool
- My seedling got sick and I had to try and find a cure which I enjoyed, I saw the market has different delivery options which I thought was fun!
- Chat, I enjoyed chatting with other players who were online, it was a friendly and helpful community.
- Companion app, really cool touch, I think it has a ton of potential of keeping me engaged when I’m not at my PC.
- Job system, I found a QI job that gave me a bunch of money every day, but if I turned off the schedule I was still paid which didn’t make much sense.
- The map: it was just a flat field with some trees, I enjoyed the fog and the neighboring societies though.
Wishlist
- Livestock/pets
- More building customization
- Free children (not having to buy/grind for more slots)
- Visit other societies (it has this, but only as a spectator, it would be cool to visit/make friends in different places with my player).
- Larger maps, it felt really small, a large town would be so cool
- Bikes/Cars/Trains, goes hand in hand with the previous point, there was a city planning mode, would be epic to travel faster
Final thoughts
In its current state I probably wouldn’t play it again, I don’t really see the purpose, maybe because I was expecting more of a creative game so that’s on me. I think if I felt a bit more attached to my seedling, their house and their relationships it would be a slam dunk game, but I got cash grab / grinding vibes which really put me off.
The grid didn’t appeal to me, it was machines and resource tables scattered everywhere, it looked like a mess, it honestly felt a little bit rushed, if this game had elevation, mountains, rivers, a true map, I think that would be epic.