Astroneer | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | System Era Softworks |
Publisher(s) | System Era Softworks |
Producer(s) | Veronica Peshterianu |
Designer(s) |
|
Programmer(s) |
|
Artist(s) |
|
Composer(s) | Machinefabriek |
Engine | Unreal Engine 4 |
Platform(s) | |
Release |
|
Genre(s) | Sandbox, adventure |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Astroneer, officially stylized in all caps, [1] [2] [3] [4] is a sandbox adventure game developed from independent developer System Era Softworks. The game was released through early access in December 2016 before a full release on February 6, 2019. The player is tasked with colonizing planets, creating structures, and collecting resources. The character is called an Astroneer and the player can travel to planets to activate cores and complete the game. There are often rewards given to the player upon completion of core activation, most notably a suit and/or visor.
Astroneer is a sandbox adventure game played from a third-person view. Its open world planets, where in terraforming can take place, are subject to procedural generation, with the exception of some planet-specific resources. The player controls an astronaut (called an Astroneer) who navigates on foot, by rover, through teleportation, or by spacecraft. Navigating the planet is essential for finding resources, including materials and research items.
Craftable items include rovers, printers, jets, buggies, tractors, spacecraft, storage silos, atmospheric condensers, research chambers, component smelters, batteries, generators, turbines, and solar panels. The game contains two base crafting materials, Resin, and Compound, which can be found in abundance on all planets. Other, more rare resources can be found while exploring planets, or by using smelters, chemistry labs, or atmospheric condensers. Resources are used to create a variety of items when used by themselves or in combination with other materials using machines in the game. In order to craft more advanced items, players collect "bytes" which can be used to unlock new technology which is then available for crafting. When low on oxygen, the Astroneer recharges by using snails, portable oxygenators, or staying near craftable tethers, which can be chained from a base or oxygen-providing object over long distances to prevent suffocation while exploring. As of the game's full release, an "oxygenator" is required to provide extended reach of oxygen when tethering. To use an "oxygenator", you must either connect it to a shelter, or platform.
Every Astroneer has a Terrain Tool, which allows the player to gather resources and reshape the landscape. Resources, such as organic material, quartz, lithium, ammonium, and resin, are neatly packaged by the Terrain Tool into convenient stacks. These stacks can then be snapped into slots on the Astroneer's backpack, storage units, research chambers, etc. Certain resources, such as titanite or clay, can be smelted or combined into more advanced materials. The Astroneer also has the option to research and craft upgrades to the Terrain Tool, which can be plugged and unplugged at will.
Other than the Terrain Tool, the Backpack is the Astroneer's main tool. The Backpack functions as the player's inventory and HUD, with two quick-use slots, eight storage slots, a basic 3D printer, a small internal power supply (shown by a column of yellow segments), and a built-in oxygen tank (shown as a horizontal blue or red bar). The Terrain Tool, which also has three slots that can be used for storage (or to attach modifications to the Terrain Tool), hangs from the side of the Backpack when not in use. The Backpack also contains the Research Catalog, which the player uses to unlock new crafting blueprints.
The game offers a more open-ended storyline that allows for creativity and self-paced progress, alongside optional tasks and missions that can result in lore and narrative via cutscenes and data logs.
The player departs from a man-made interstellar spacecraft that is from an unknown planet and lands on Sylva, the starting planet. It is then up to the player to decide what to do. In order to advance the main storyline, the player must discover and activate an alien Gateway Chamber and dig into the planet. There are different subterranean layers with varying difficulty, most notably containing hazards and terrain that becomes harder as you dig deeper into the planet. Once the player reaches the last layer, they need to dig down from an alien pylon. They travel to the Gateway Engine and activate it with a material that progressively gets harder to obtain, depending on the difficulty of the planet. The player must obtain 2 Geometric Triptychs and place one on a terminal on top of them and one to keep when they reach the satellite. The player can safely warp to any Gateway Chamber that they have activated. This process is repeated for the rest of the planets and moons, Desolo, Calidor, Vesania, Novus, Glacio, and Atrox, listed from easiest to hardest. Once the player has procured all 8 Triptychs, they can travel to a Gateway Portal and place them in their respective slots. An Odd Stone will appear in the middle. Interacting with it will roll the end scene and credits.
It is also noted that there are other storylines for fun events and updates that keep gameplay fresh for repeat players. These alternate storylines include The Wanderer's Way mission, The Space Snail rescue mission, The Rails Update mission chain, The Awakening Update mission chain, Holiday Events, and numerous Easter Eggs.
If the player completes the main story, rails, and space snail missions, along with producing nanocarbon alloy, a resource in the game, they can access the Awakening Update missions. This mission includes references to the community, the other missions, and the book "The Little Prince", which is what some of the update themes are based on.
The game came about after Adam Bromell showed his friend Paul Pepera a "personal art project" consisting of a space man. According to Bromell, the two "started kind of riffing on this, like is there a possibility of a game in here?" Eventually, Pepera contacted two of his friends and the four started System Era to develop the game. At first, they worked on the game only part-time, after about two years of development Bromell in an interview stated that they were about ready to commit to the project full time. [5]
The art style was partly inspired by a desire by Bromell to get away from something that looked like Minecraft , stating "there are enough games that do that already." Instead, the team adopted an art style that consists of "curved geometric, sort of broad vibrant colors." Bromell notes that the "no-frills" art style served a practical purpose as well, as it let them quickly build new ideas into the game. Initially, the game used a more traditional high-polygonal style, however after participating in a diorama building contest concerned with the "low-poly" style, he changed his mind. [5]
Astroneer was announced in October 2015 by System Era Softworks [6] and is developed with the Unreal Engine 4. [7] Co-founder and lead artist Paul Pepera died on March 27, 2017, 4 months after Astroneer's early access release, but before the official release of the game. [8] [9]
Astroneer was first released in early access for Steam, Windows and Xbox One on December 16, 2016, before it officially released on February 6, 2019. [10] [11] A PlayStation 4 version was released on November 15, 2019, and released for the Nintendo Switch on January 13, 2022. [12]
Astroneer has since released a DLC called Glitchwalkers
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
Metacritic | (PC) 71/100 [13] (Xbox One) 73/100 [14] (Nintendo Switch) 76/100 [15] |
Publication | Score |
---|---|
GameSpot | 6/10 [16] |
Nintendo Life | [17] |
Nintendo World Report | 8.5/10 [18] |
Shacknews | 8/10 [19] |
USgamer | 4/5 [20] |
Astroneer received "mixed or average reviews" from critics for Windows and Xbox One, and received "generally favorable reviews" for Nintendo Switch, according to review aggregator Metacritic.
Shacknews gave the game an eight out of ten, praising the atmosphere, exploration, crafting, base building, setting, casual survival elements, cooperative play, and pleasing aesthetics, while criticizing some minor technical issues. [21] USgamer said that the game was "on the soft side of the survival spectrum", ultimately concluding that "[...] Astroneer falters in not having more interesting things to find within each planet. In the end though, it's a lovely little game if you want to survive without all the pesky hunger and thirst you find in other games." [22] GameSpot lauded the game's aesthetics, art direction, accessible survival mechanics, oxygen tethering mechanic, and wide open spaces, while similarly taking issue with cumbersome inventory management, lack of interesting things to do on each planet, and technical issues. Nintendo Life reviewed the Switch port, praising the developer support, crafting, terrain tool, and how well the game suited the console, while calling out the choppy framerate, janky physics, and bad camera and controls. [23]
In March 2022, System Era Softworks reported that Astroneer had sold over 3,740,000 units and had been played by over 8 million players. [24]
Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | SXSW Gaming Awards | Gamer's Voice: Video Game | Won | [25] |
2019 Webby Awards | Adventure Game | Won | [26] | |
Best Art Direction (People's Voice) | Won | |||
Best Game Design (People's Voice) | Won | |||
Best User Experience | Won | |||
Best Visual Design (People's Voice) | Won | |||
2020 | 2020 Webby Awards | Independent Creator | Won | [27] |
Bethesda Softworks LLC is an American video game publisher based in Rockville, Maryland. The company was founded by Christopher Weaver in 1986 as a division of Media Technology Limited. In 1999, it became a subsidiary of ZeniMax Media. In its first 15 years, it was a video game developer and self-published its titles. In 2001, Bethesda spun off its in-house development team into Bethesda Game Studios, leaving Bethesda Softworks to focus on publishing operations.
Star Trek: Legacy is a 2006 real-time tactics space combat video game for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 developed by Mad Doc Software and published by Bethesda Softworks in association with CBS Paramount Television and CBS Consumer Products. Originally slated for release in the fall of 2006 to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Star Trek, the Windows version was not released in North America until December 5, 2006, and the Xbox 360 version until December 15. In Europe, both the PC version and the Xbox 360 version were released on December 22, 2006.
Front Mission is a tactical role-playing game developed by G-Craft and published by Square, and was released in Japan on February 24, 1995, for the Super Famicom. Front Mission is the first main entry and the first entry overall in the Front Mission series. Front Mission is part of a serialized storyline that follows the stories of various characters and their struggles involving mecha known as wanzers. A direct port of the game was released for the WonderSwan Color in Japan on July 12, 2002.
Borderlands is a 2009 action role-playing first-person shooter video game developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K. It is the first game in the Borderlands series. The game was released worldwide in October 2009 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows, with a Mac OS X version being released on December 3, 2010 by Feral Interactive. The game's story focuses on a group of four "Vault Hunters", who travel to the distant planet of Pandora to search for the "Vault", which is rumored to contain advanced alien technology and other priceless riches. The hunters piece together clues to find the Vault while battling the savage wildlife of Pandora, local bandits that populate the planet, and ultimately banding together to prevent the Atlas Corporation and its privately funded paramilitary forces from reaching the Vault first.
Sonic Colors is a 2010 platform game published by Sega. It follows Sonic's quest to stop his nemesis Doctor Eggman from enslaving an alien race and taking over the world. The gameplay is similar to prior Sonic games, with players collecting rings and defeating enemies; the camera perspective often switches from third-person to side-scrolling perspectives. The game also introduces Wisps, power-ups the player can use to increase attack power and reach new areas.
Lifeless Planet is a 2014 puzzle adventure developed by independent American company Stage 2 Studios and published by Serenity Forge. The game was released on June 6, 2014 for Microsoft Windows and on June 23, 2014 for OS X, and has been ported to the Xbox One on May 13, 2015, Linux on March 25, 2016 and to the PlayStation 4 on July 19, 2016. A version for Nintendo Switch released on September 6, 2018. Lifeless Planet was in development since 2011 and is primarily the product of the one developer, David Board.
Factorio is a construction and management simulation game developed and published by Czech studio Wube Software. The game was announced via an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign in 2013 and released for Windows, macOS, and Linux on 14 August 2020 following a four-year-long early access phase to positive reviews. The game was released on Nintendo Switch on 28 October 2022.
Lego Worlds is a Lego-themed sandbox game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game allows players to build constructions in a 3D procedurally generated world. A beta version of the game was released on 1 June 2015 on Steam Early Access. It was released on 7 March 2017 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. A version for Nintendo Switch was released on 5 September 2017 in North America and 8 September 2017 in Europe.
Ark: Survival Evolved is a 2017 action-adventure survival video game developed by Studio Wildcard. In the game, players must survive being stranded on one of several maps filled with roaming dinosaurs, fictional fantasy monsters, and other prehistoric animals, natural hazards, and potentially hostile human players.
Subnautica is a 2018 action-adventure survival game developed and published by Unknown Worlds Entertainment. The player controls Ryley Robinson, a survivor of a spaceship crash on an alien oceanic planet, which they are free to explore. The main objectives are to find essential resources, survive the local flora and fauna, and find a way to escape the planet.
Worms W.M.D is a 2D artillery turn-based tactics video game developed and published by Team17. It is the nineteenth installment in the Worms series, and was released on 23 August 2016 for Linux, OS X, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, and Xbox One. It was later released on 23 November 2017 for Switch, on 1 July 2022 for Stadia and on 11 April 2023 for iOS and Android. Its gameplay resembles that of Worms Armageddon more than subsequent installments, while adding new features that range from interactive vehicles such as tanks, to buildings that the worms can enter for protection. It is also notable for being the first major redesign the worm characters have received since Worms 3D.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf is a free-to-play, squad-based strategy card game, developed and published by HeroCraft. The game is licensed by Games Workshop. The game was released on October 28, 2014, on iOS and on Android on July 16, 2015, and on Microsoft Windows via Steam on February 17, 2017. The PlayStation 4 version was released in March 2019 in North America and Europe, and on Nintendo Switch on January 23, 2020. It was later released for Xbox One on June 30, 2021.
Portal Knights is an independent survival action role-playing video game developed by Keen Games and published by 505 Games. It was first released on Steam on 18 May 2017 and subsequently released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Android, and iOS.
Risk of Rain 2 is a roguelite third-person shooter developed by Hopoo Games and published by Gearbox Publishing. A sequel to 2013's Risk of Rain, it was released in early access for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2019 before fully releasing in August 2020 with a release for Stadia coming a month later. Versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S released in August 2024.
Starlink: Battle for Atlas is an action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Toronto and published by Ubisoft. It was released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on October 16, 2018, and for Microsoft Windows on April 30, 2019. The game also features optional toys-to-life elements. It received generally positive reviews from critics, while not meeting sales expectations.
Subnautica: Below Zero is an open-world survival action-adventure video game developed and published by Unknown Worlds Entertainment. The game is a spin-off to Subnautica.
Journey to the Savage Planet is a 2020 action-adventure game developed by Typhoon Studios and published by 505 Games. It was originally released for Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on January 28, 2020, followed by a Nintendo Switch port on May 21, 2020. An upgraded version of the game titled Journey to the Savage Planet: Employee of the Month Edition was released for Stadia as a timed exclusive on February 1, 2021 and for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on February 14, 2023.
Bite the Bullet is a role-playing roguelite shooter developed by Mega Cat Studios. It was released for Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One in August 2020, and PlayStation 4 on February 24, 2021. The game is a run, gun, and eat, and features arcade-inspired run and gun action combined with various eating mechanics. Bite the Bullet received mixed reviews from critics.
Haven is a 2020 role-playing video game developed and published by The Game Bakers. The game was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in December 2020, while versions for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch were released in February 2021. It received mixed reviews from critics, who were divided about the story.
Disney Dreamlight Valley is a 2023 life simulation adventure game developed by Gameloft Montreal and published by Gameloft. The game has players tend to a magical valley populated by various Disney and Pixar characters who previously underwent a curse that caused them to lose their memories of their lives in the valley.