I thought this game was very fun and enjoyed it enough to unlock all the widgets on all the planets (code in case that is a spoiler…) I have not played it since the creative mode came out, but generally its a fun laid back survival title with adorable graphics.
I played this over a year ago. Did the change much in the way of game-play? I never finished it although I did get most of the tech. I found getting to the center of each planet tedious.
New free update:
I had missed that and just noticed both that trailer and a new one today.
The Automation Update trailer looks awesome. We can finally automate resource gathering and processing.
The second trailer is where it goes off the rail though:
Now I’m going to feel as lost in Astroneer as I feel with Redstone builds in Minecraft. :O
So here’s a question for you guys who played Astroneer and No Man’s Sky. Do they scratch the same itch? I’ve been playing NMS recently but I always wonder if I should buy Astroneer.
For me they don’t. Astroneer, to me, has far less of an exploration vibe. It feels more like a sandbox toy while NMS feels vast. I prefer NMS. The tethering in Astroneer gives it a limiting feel. I really want to like it more than I do, but it just doesn’t click for me.
I liked Astroneer, but keep bouncing off NMS no matter how hard I try. NMS just feels completely random and antiseptic to me - I feel very little to no reward for exploring.
Astroneer controls were too hard for me with a gamepad. I finally gave up. You have to use the thumbsticks to try to tether your oxygen and to lay stuff on the ground, and the controls seem like some kind of drunk person simulated controls, and it takes forever to get them to do what you want.
Don’t know about the controls. My wife only plays 3 games on a gamepad: Diablo 3, Minecraft Dungeons and Astroneer. She won’t touch other games as she is not comfortable with controllers. But she had no particular trouble with Astroneer. I don’t remember it being a deal breaker for me either. At the time, it was more the finite amount of things to do and see. That said, it’s been a while since I played.
I remember it does take a bit of learning to know what triggers what function. But it didn’t seem too crazy.
I’m about 16 hours into this - launched to another planet to pick up some wolfanite? (makes iron), got a base established, realized this planet has no copper to build solar panels, went back to my previous base (which was easily found because it was my starting base), but when I went back, I can’t find my previous base.
Reading online for about the 56th fucking time because this game is so absolutely atrocious on UI and telling you how to play, I see that I have to place a beacon, which I never realized.
I’ve been having a lot of frustration with this game, but it is scratching an itch, but I’m not sure if it’s the chigger itch where I will scratch until it bleeds, or if it is the itch that makes me feel good.
I’m really contemplating just hanging this up and calling it a learning experience. I was hoping this would be similar to subnautica, and it sort of is, but there is nothing really telling me I need to do things other than “I shouldn’t even research this because I lack the material and I have no idea how to find things out without looking at one of the hundred guides out there”
To top it off, I hate games that waste my time and the fact that this game just screwed me because I don’t have a beacon to find my previous landing spot, and I’m not sure I’m up for what people recommend - save scumming / landing on every bubble to see if it’s mine.
How many people here actually went far in this game and completed it and was it worth it?
So I bit the bullet and powered through. I’ve put a lot more hours into and went to several other planets. Each planet has certain minerals / gasses that you need to collect to make even bigger storage containers and electrical generators.
Instead of just finding exotic materials to make new things, you need to unlock these items by accruing many, many research points and using these points on specific upgrades.
I’ve enjoyed getting a foothold on a new planet and cutting into the mantle to get to the interior where all the fun stuff is at but the storage limitations are pretty severe.
This games UI and control scheme is very hairbrained. It’s so much clicking and dragging that it can wear thin at times.
But it is a lot like Subnautica, so it is scratching that itch, but with its autogenerated worlds, it isn’t nearly as pretty. It’s more like a vectorized minecraft in that regard. The plants can be deadly. I’ve died many a time.
I salute you. My brain just couldn’t comprehend their control scheme for clicking and dragging using the game pad. I tried it for hours before finally giving up. Every time I thought I had it figured out on how to do things, it didn’t work when I thought I tried the same thing again.
I still have problems trying to get my character pointed in the direction I want. The game gives you this hair brained control scheme that you finally figure out and then it decides to second guess your intent when in caves and auto turn your character.
I remember m&k controls feeling good, but don’t think I tried with a controller
I found Astroneer so difficult to control that I uninstalled after about an hour of frustration. Fortunately it was free on gamepass, so no loss.
This is still getting updated! Last 2 biggies:
I picked this game up in a recent Steam sale and I’ve been totally, hopelessly and utterly addicted to it. It’s wonderful. Anyway, there is a new update releasing today. The first since Sep 2022.
I dipped in quite a bit early and got a little bored since they weren’t far into updates back then. I’ll reload this and see if it grabs me again.
Are you playing solo? It seemed to me it was a more co-op focused game.
Yup, just playing solo. It’s been a very chilled game so far, almost tranquil. I potter about in my little tractor collecting resources and improving my base/automation.