Game: Crashlands
System: Nintendo Switch
Developer: Butterscotch Shenanigans
Publisher: Butterscotch Shenanigans
Age Rating: T (America) | 12+ (Europe)
Price: $14.99|£13.49|€ 14,99
Release Date: 8th November 2018
Review code kindly provided by Butterscotch Shenanigans
So, what is Crashlands about?Flux and her robot sidekick, Juicebox, are transporting packages for a company when they are attacked by a large alien. The alien demands batteries and steals them from their spaceship. So Flux and Juicebox crash on to a strange planet with monsters and some friendly creatures. They gather materials to make a base and help out the locals in exchange for items and blueprints to fix their ship. There is funny dialogue between the characters so you don’t want to miss a line!
Craft to Victory!
This game focuses greatly on crafting items for survival and story progress. There are materials to collect all around you. The further you venture out you will find different items and stronger monsters. The game lets you go at your own pace and you can take time to build a decorative base.
What you will always need to keep up are upgraded weapons and armor for Flux. You can get other helpful recipes for bombs, potions, and furniture from helping out the locals, defeating monsters, and harvesting plants. The craft stations in your base have a handy feature that tracks an item you want to make. When you mark an item to track, the items you need and have are displayed on the right side of the screen. My only issue with the crafting stations is that it is easy to craft items by accident. I still haven’t figured out how I ended up with some extra items.
Questing is a Must!
The quests given are from Juicebox and the local creatures. The locals also have beef with the alien that stole your batteries and will help you prepare to face him later. Others will want you to find lost things or slay monsters that scare them. Traveling around isn’t an issue with teleport pads scattered on the planet. Once you discover a new teleport pad you can teleport there from anywhere else. I highly recommend doing all the quests because it unlocks useful items to face boss monsters.
Battles and Allies
The battles have a unique system. When the monster attacks a red area appears where damage could be received. This gives you a chance to dodge and time your attacks. You can use a sword, hammer, or axe. There is also a wrench you can hit monsters with to stun them briefly, but there is a cool down time for this item. A second player can join as Juicebox. The game adjusts the difficulty when a second player is added. Juicebox is capable of attacking, but doesn’t take damage, pick up items, or anything else.
What I enjoyed having was a monster ally. They fight alongside you and some have unique abilities. They come from drops from the medium to larger monster types as an egg. When you build an incubator for an egg it will hatch as a very small version of the creature, but it will grow as it fights alongside you. You can keep multiple creatures at your base and switch partners. These allies don’t take damage or die like Flux.
When Flux dies you drop some of the items you collected and are teleported back to your home base. Where you died is marked on the map so you can return to pick up the things dropped. In hardcore mode there is permanent death. I recommend this mode if you enjoy intense survival games like Don’t Starve Together.
Ambient Music Quirky Characters
The game has 2D graphics that are cute and quirky. There are a few biomes to explore. They feature new creatures and new materials to build with. The map has options to highlight characters, places, and teleport pads to make it easy to find where you have explored. The game’s ambient music sounds a little mysterious and sometimes relaxing. The music does change to an energetic tune for boss battles. For a truly relaxed experience there is the game’s creative mode which is unlocked after finishing either story or hardcore mode. You can craft in any biome with unlimited supplies.
Overall
I really enjoyed this game. This crafting sci-fi game is playful, humorous, and relaxing. It was my personal goal to collect monster allies since they are cute. I enjoy customization features in games so building a base to my liking is fun.
The game never rushes you so you can craft and battle bosses at your own pace. I like it a lot, so please check out Crashlands! What other crafting games have you been enjoying?
