One of these days I’m going to have to come up for air. As you may have already guessed, that day is not today as I have four more Early Access games for you to check out. Like all the other articles in this series, this is simply a quick look at the games in their current state and NOT a review. Reviewing a game not yet done wouldn’t be all that fair, now would it? Nevertheless, feel free to enjoy the short list I’ve compiled in today’s posting.
Dwelvers – “Dwelvers” has a lot of potential. The tutorial is a bit lacking in certain areas but makes up for it with its humor and light-hearted nature. Being a fan of “Dungeons” and “A Game of Dwarves”, I was able to dive into this without too much trouble. For those of you not familiar with games of this genre, you’ll have resources that you’ll need to collect and resource chains that you’ll have to construct in order to grow your base. You can dig out blocks in order to make rooms and then seed these rooms with various objects. I’m anxious to see what else the game will offer once it officially launches. You can find it on Steam’s Early Access program for $14.99 with a price increase scheduled later down the line.
The Escapists – Thoroughly enjoyable in its current state, “The Escapists” is a puzzle game that tasks you with escaping a prison. It features a crafting system and a number of safe/contraband items to loot. There’s a relatively moderate learning curve, though this is offset by the in-game help menu and recipe tracker (which I’m thankful for). I had a lot of fun trying to figure out how to escape while observing the day to day routine whilst leveling up your character’s stats, though I was prone to accidentally punching people in the face due to how easy it is to switch to combat-click mode. You can find it on Steam’s Early Access program for $9.99 with a price increase scheduled later down the line.
Godus – My first impressions of “Godus” was that it was a cross between “Populous”, “Civilization”, and a Facebook game. It’s like “Populous” in the sense that you can sculpt land to encourage the growth of your town and like “Civilization” in the sense that you can gain new technologies that alter the way you play. There’s a good deal of waiting and clicking, much like any “Farmville-esque” Facebook game out there. With that said, I thought that the game combined all of these elements fairly well despite the negativity that seems to be plaguing the Steam forums / reviews section. I feel that it’s worth the five bucks I paid (got it during a Humble sale) and possibly worth the full price of $19.99 once all of the features get implemented. You can currently find it on Steam’s Early Access program.
The Long Dark – I’ve been looking forward to this particular survival simulator for a good, long while. “The Long Dark” plops you into a post-apocolyptic environment set in the northern wilderness (where everything has icicles growing off of it). Instead of trying to avoid zombies and the like, you’ll “simply” be tasked with battling the elements, starvation, and the occasional pack of wolves. As you’ll soon realize, there’s nothing “simple” about it. In its current state, only the sandbox mode is available. With that said, you’ll easily be able to pump 50+ hours into this mode. While the map itself is fixed, the items and their spawn locations are not, making it a challenge to find the tools you’ll need to stay alive. You can find it on Steam’s Early Access program for $19.99 with a price increase scheduled later down the line.
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Gameplay Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOp8JizFoTA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkHNc5V9a98
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHN_mtrwgJY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd_TlqCpKYg