Game: The Planet Crafter
Genre: Action, Adventure
System: Steam (Windows)
Developer|Publisher: Miju Games
Controller Support: Yes
Steam Deck: Verified
Price: US $ 24.99 | UK £ 19.99 | EU € 24.99
Release Date: April 10th, 2024
A review code was provided, thanks to Warning Up.
Planet Crafter is a Relaxing Crafting Survival Game
Planet Crafter is a first-person survival game where your main goal is to terraform an entire planet. Survival games have been around for some time but still prove to be hugely popular on Steam. Ever since games like Minecraft rose in popularity, players have seemed to like chopping down trees and building cabins. Of course, there is more to it than that.
Planet Crafter has been in Early Access over the past couple of years. During its development, it received multiple updates and even claimed the rare accolade of ‘overwhelmingly positive,’ on Steam reviews. So, it seems the game has already accumulated a very passionate fan base. It’s quite clear from playing the game how it managed to amass so much praise. Planet Crafter is an ambitious and addictive survival game that will particularly appeal to players looking for a more relaxed experience.
Starting Out
You play as some space explorer who has been dropped onto an unknown planet. On stepping out of the drop pod, you’re greeted by a barren wasteland of a planet. But in the distance, you can see the wreckage of another ship, indicating you are not the first explorer to step foot here.
Your main goal is to terraform the planet into something livable. But in order to get to that point, you will have your crafting work cut out for you. Though the planet starts out pretty lifeless, there is a plentiful supply of minerals literally scattered all over its surface. You can suck these up using your hand-crafting gun. Then, quickly transform these resources into various structures. Build a space shelter and a sci-fi-looking crafting table. If you are familiar with crafting games, you will know what to expect here.
In order to advance towards your terraforming goal, you will need to craft various mechanical structures to transform the planet. Craft drills, heaters, and oxygen pods to put plants into will all contribute to the process. You can craft a handy computer screen to monitor your progress. Even in the early stages of the game, you are given a checklist of tasks on what to do to get things moving.
Controls are fairly easy to pick up if you’re used to first-person games. But it might take a bit of getting used to if you’re new since there is no tutorial on button prompts. I played most of Planet Crafter with a controller and found this to be a good fit for me.
Coming to Life
The real joy for me in playing Planet Crafter is slowly but surely seeing the dead planet slowly morph into life. First, the sky will turn blue and then fill with clouds. Then, before you know it, vegetation will sprout out of the ground, and life will begin to flourish. It was a different and optimistic feeling experience that caused some warm fuzzy feelings as I progressed. From screenshots, the game may not look like this terraforming process, but it is quite beautiful to behold.
There isn’t a lot of narrative to get in the way of gameplay. Still, as you advance, you will pick up lore from computer terminals about the reason your character really is on the planet and what happened to the previous residents. You don’t have to engage in this, but it’s there for the players looking for a bit more depth in the experience. The focus is heavily on gameplay, which you can take at your own pace. The harder you work, the quicker you terraform the planet, but if you choose to take time, things will naturally progress.
Explore and Progression
It’s not all about terraforming, though. Exploration is very much encouraged. Stepping out into the far reaches of the wasteland, you will find various spaceship wrecks and boxes. Which you can dive into to hunt for additional resources and loot. As the planet begins to terraform, new paths will be revealed, allowing you to explore new areas of the planet.
In terms of progression, new content is constantly being trickled out as you terraform the planet. This includes new blueprints to craft more elaborate structures and machines, including some cool ways to zip around the planet. In addition, you can craft and equip character upgrades to improve various stats like mining speed and oxygen capacity. You’re never short of anything to do. The only minor niggle is sometimes gameplay can be repetitive and tedious while you wait for the next cool terraforming thing to happen.
Difficulty
So what’s the challenge? That comes in the form of monitoring your thirst, hunger and oxygen meters. If you’re not careful, you can even die by falling meteorites. For me, the most likely cause of death was being too ambitious with my exploration and running out of oxygen. I’d be searching a ship not monitoring my levels, only to see my screen cut to black and wake up back at one of my nearest bases, losing some of the stuff I found. How much this challenge impacts your game is really up to you.
Planet Crafter provides multiple difficulty options, including a custom difficulty that allows you to tailor the game to your playstyle. This includes easing off the survival elements if you choose. Or, if you prefer, go hard, and death means the end of your game, period. I opted for the standard difficulty and found this to be a good balance.
The tone of the game seemed quite relaxing. I quite enjoyed taking things at my own pace, squeezing a few sessions here and there on the Steam Deck. You are able to save absolutely anywhere at any time, making it suited to busy gamers. Planet Crafter is, of course, a massive time sink. You’re not coming into Planet Crafter for a few hours of gameplay. This is one of those games that will likely keep you busy for hundreds of hours. If you find it bites, you’re likely to be in this for the long haul until you start dreaming about collecting minerals in your sleep like I did. The game does feature co-op online multiplayer, which sounds great, but I only tested the game in single-player.
Conclusion: Bring Life to the Survival Genre
The Planet Crafter provides a free new injection of green life to the survival genre. As opposed to starting in a forest and chopping trees down. You are instead creating that forest from nothing. The game employs familiar crafting and survival elements that have been seen in many other games.
I think the only deterrent to some players is there is a lot of busy work in this game that may not click with people not taken with the genre in previous attempts. However, if you are new to the genre, Planet Crafter is a great starting point. And if you are a fan of the genre, it brings plenty of that addictive crafting gameplay and exploration, which will keep you hooked for some time. Add onto that the ability to play with friends, and you may just have your next online game, a night game. As for me, I can see myself jumping on this on Steam Deck for some time in the coming year and possibly beyond.
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot
Do you like our content? Support LadiesGamers on Patreon!
Check out our Tiers and Benefits and join us.