Recent reviews by Masti

[Played approximately 400 hours of earlier playtests ever since the first one]
Game is good now, Devs figured their balance, gameplay loop and mechanics out.
Game also out on 3 (technically 4) different platforms (Steam, Epic, Blacksmith and the other one) with seamless crossplay (and cross-platform saves finally implemented).
No circles, more focus on dungeondelving, no getting ganked by a geared to the teeth squad due to different gear pools on normal dungeons, no more random portal spawns but rather static exit spawns including stairs, ropes, boats and triple blue portal tablets, game just feels good and flows well.
Highly recommend getting back into it if you tried it in earlier playtests and said something like "game trash me no play", since it's actually good now.

As much as I liked the original desktop version, this one just doesn't seem to be getting any love or much anything else. Bought in hopes of getting multiplayer soon after release, it's been 2 years of absolutely nothing. Can't even refund because I've bought it not 2 weeks but 2 years ago.

Unironically the most enjoyable Soulslike I've experienced.
Great characters and story coupled with good mechanics.
Awesome references, secrets and deep thought-provoking dialogue made fun.
All of this in a good complete experience that doesn't overstay its welcome, something that is really rare these days.
Shells off to the devs, what a great game you've made.

Sony came and rescued the whole account linking fiasco, game is now allright again.

I remember playing this on release for a good bit, recently watched the Fallout series on Amazon Prime and like quite a few of my friends, booted this back up for the nostalgia and immersion, however after reinstalling, doing the intro sequence, noticing the mouse smoothing, the locked 30 FPS without any options to change them, not to mention the jank af controls, I was already quite ready to quit, but as the game crashed just as the tutorial elevator got to the bottom, I just said f*ck it and uninstalled. Guess I'm waiting for the next game.

I'd been looking for a coop roguelike dungeoncrawler for a good while before I ran into this, glad to say it checks all the boxes and then some.
Some of the wackiest references and funniest achievements I've seen and it was an absolute blast doing most of them.
The devs are unfathomably based and very close to the community especially on their official discord server, if you ever have technical problems, run into bugs or need some tips, don't hesitate to visit.
It has a pretty tight learning curve and mastering all the different mechanics (Scrolls, Magic, Ammo, Tinkering, Alchemy, Bartering, Companions, Hats) can take some time but are very essential to improving your runs, especially for some of the hardest achievements.
Definitely a game you want to play with friends and possibly over multiple sessions since the full game completion can take anywhere from 2-6 hours from your average group, and that's assuming you and your team don't get continuously filtered by the gnomes. You'll know what I mean when you get there.
Game's already a steal for 20 bux but especially so if you're a fan of permadeath roguelikes and want that spoopy dungeon crawling experience either solo or with friends.
The DLC and their unique races and classes add a ton of fun and variety when you've got the feel for the base cast.
Personally, highly recommended. Especially if you ever see this thing on sale.

They recently added the ability to use seeds for getting to practice the same dungeon layout if you're struggling and multiple different challenges and events that rotate from daily to weekly and have some very fun modifiers during some of the Event challenges, like being a glasscannon with a +99 enchanted arbalest but negative armor, or starting at a shopping district with 10000 gold and max bartering to kickstart a run. Sometimes the leaderboards' clear objectives range from beating the game with a specific class or race to simply breaking enough furniture.

Absolutely fantastic game, obviously recommended for anyone that loves spiders, but also for people who might hate them just so the game can convince you not to.
Plenty of cool secrets scattered around, collectables with cute and fitting rewards and a nice and short, simple story.
Doesn't expect you to sink a hundred hours into it for some arbitrary reason, the achievements are reasonably achievable as to not overstay its welcome and make you hate the game before you've gotten them all while still offering replay-value.
Leave your mark on the world, every single thread you weave is a permanent part of the world and will stay where you lay it unless something were to alter or snap it.
Absolutely 11/10 adorable short indie game that you should definitely give a spin (of a web).

TL;DR Try the Demo if you're even the least bit curious, that's why it's there and this is a prime example why demos work.
Note that it may be an older version before the QoL update hit, so if something feels jank, it's probably already been fixed in the actual game, like having to take modules off your slots to upgrade them, etc.

I was very sceptical since at first glance it looked like a Subnautica base building sim without monsters and not underwater, would not have bought it straight-up even on sale but thanks to the free demo the game has, I decided to give it a whirl and was hooked after the first 3 hours flew by and had to buy it to find out how deep the rabbit-hole went.

I love the exploration elements and how worthwhile and dynamic the developers made it throughout the game.

Every single gripe and nitpick I've had with other similar games have been preemptively solved here before the game is even released, never did the game feel jarring or boring after it quickly started rolling.

There's no arbitrary reason to try and upkeep machines with whatever fuel or mechanic once you get them running, no reason to drag power-lines or pipes spanning across the entire planet to make everything run, it just works™.

Everything is really intuitive, also a lot better than many similar games.
A few people seemed to complain about no tutorials or in-depth explanation in the reviews but there's simply no need for them if you have a few working brain-cells and are willing to to just plop something down and see what happens, the game gives you the basics and those are everything you really need.

The journey has been a blast the whole entire way from creating my very first temporary shelter to having transformed an entire planet from a barren wasteland to a beautiful blooming wonder and running an automated empire.
It kept on getting better and better all the way until the last stages I'm at right now, especially after you unlock the automation elements and no longer have to trek between your outposts fetching whatever it is you need from there.

Pacing has been perfectly executed, no point felt jarring or grindy nor did I ever feel like I was stuck against a wall, spacing and distance worked very well and no walk was ever too long at the stage I was at with the mobility at hand at the time.
Since there are no vehicles (yet?) and the mobility options you do get don't really shrink your worldview all too much at any point the sense of scale is still relatively the same throughout the game.

The secrets that gradually opened up and that I still keep stumbling onto add a lot to the world feel, ambience and backstory and still get me excited due to how well the scaling reward-system has been implemented. I haven't had that "Aw man I found this cool place/secret/thing and got some trash I don't even need anymore" even once, there's always something useful no matter what stage you're at and due to very good design revisiting older points of interest will also be a very worthwhile endeavour, especially once you find a way to restore power to various wrecks.

I recommend treading off the beaten path and taking a slightly different route to your destination each time as much as you can, especially if you're just running between previous locations, you're bound to stumble upon something cool or useful on the way each time.

I have been playing this nonstop each day as much as I possibly could and it was always very hard to notice how fast time passed when you're completely absorbed in this ever-changing world which you are shaping each passing moment.
5/5 and the game's not even out yet, not to mention multiplayer just got announced yesterday.
So hyped to play this with friends!

TL;DR
+ Simple yet satisfying combat, forgiving parry timing (if low ping)
+ A LOT of critters to fight, tame and/or ride
+ Events for extra challenge
+ World-feel and scale
+ Straightforward quest system and progression
+ Neat NPCs with their own specialisations and recipes
- Netcode (Only problematic with horrible internet/ping)
- Endgame grind for a big pet is quite long
- The grind for Contribution Points (111.1h to max ONE faction if farming events perfectly as they pop up) is insane.
(Make the factions more relevant already from early game,
reduce points needed for Tier 1 by 90% and Tier 2 by a lot.)
- Pet management/command menu is horrible
(needs a dedicated pet command wheel at least, look at Barony)
- Respeccing is limited to late game
(Just make it free and let players experiment and have fun like Wukong)
- Crafting is jank (ditch having to click the claim button on the table and make it instantly pop in your inventory if craft time is set to 0, who even thought craft times were a good idea)
- Still can't repair, upgrade or build from your base's resources even though crafting from storage items is possible, come on guys
- Your own pets will walk over and destroy your spikes and damage/break your buildings if they're between them and their target
(Improve the AI pathing around buildings/traps or have friendly bugs deal 0 damage to them as a quick fix)
- They've yet to fix the Healer set's regen values on half the pieces
- No "Repair All" option for gear or structures

Long version:
It's like if Grounded but more free and with the ability to have meaningful pets, combat allies and mounts instead of the little inventory expansion minipets in the other game.
Smalland isn't afraid to let you have fun with the exploration, the NPCs are unique and memorable, each representing a bug type's faction with their own perks and rewards for sticking to their cause.
The progression and pacing is made really well (excluding lategame and factions) and the game keeps older tier materials relevant instead of having to simply toss or forget everything you just spent ages to collect, you will likely need most of that later too.
This also adds to the whole world-scale, you'll be revisiting areas you've already been through so you get a better sense of immersion compared to feeling like you're on a speeding train only being allowed to look at all the amazing nature in passing.

The aforementioned pet and mount system is awesome, but really needs some polishing.
They STILL need to add a command-wheel for your pet, making them either aggro everything on sight, be passive and stick close or to cower away as not to get mangled by a bigger & badder bug by accident.
It happens a lot, especially at the start.
At least they seem to have made the bugs respond to the whistle even in combat, calling them to your side before running back to get sliced regardless, but it's a step in the right direction.
The only way to "command" your pet is to interact with it with the same interact key as everything else and using a clunky interact menu that will close if the pet so much as takes one step during you trying to scroll over to the right option, making it very hard to manage it when it's scurrying around in combat or flying around somewhere when you're just trying to get on it. All this could be easily solved with some simple pet commands in any form really, whether a command wheel or bindable keys.

The only real downfall of this game is the netcode.
Everything is server-side down to stamina regen and inventory management, which means if you're playing with someone out in the boonies or just happens to be shafted by a bad connection you're going to have a bad relatively worse time.

Just higher ping is going to make your experience worse, although depending on the host's connection, it might not be completely unplayable due to ping alone. Just say goodbye to trying to parry or dodge enemies and resolve to simply facetanking everything with enough healing items.
From rubberbanding to enemies hitting you from two miles away and it being impossible to dodge or block/parry attacks to being unable to even swap your weapons, I have no idea why they didn't just make most of this clientside and simply send the updates to the server like any game with a proper good netcode.

3/5 would highly recommend for any fans of survival sandbox games that won't mind a few bugs creepy crawlies and have a decent ping and a stable connection if they're trying to play multiplayer. Cross-region is perfectly fine but will give a somewhat worse experience than playing with fellow countrymen, from EU to NA or otherwise it's been mostly fine even in public servers.
Once they iron out the few negatives mentioned it's an easy 4/5 and would highly recommend it, but right now even as the game is released it's plagued by the same problems it's had since early stages of early access and then some.

It has rocks and stones, what else do you need