Recent reviews by McSniffles

Pros:
Graphics, physics, simulation, maps. Everything feels like some chunky Soviet diesel trucks. The way the mud deforms actually creates new terrain there that you can get stuck in the second or third time through. Water is a volume that'll smack your truck when you try to cross a river or stream. You have to basically learn how to manage when to use differential lock (press Q), when to use automatic to save fuel, and when to use all-wheel-drive. 90% of this game is actually doing your best to not get stuck in mud and figuring out the best paths to get unlocks and objectives. Also, don't flip over. If you flip over, don't flip the truck you brought to flip the first one back. If you flip the second truck, don't flip the third truck you brought to help. Also dont put 3200L of fuel in a cistern and try to pull it with the RWD Type-B through muddy hills, you WILL just sink into the mud and not move forever.

Cons:
The camera takes some getting used to and if you play with buddies and one of them disconnects and re-joins, every truck they have is wiped from the game and they start fresh at whatever the starting garage is. This can be frustrating because you will disconnect at some point probably, especially if you alt tab. I've seen it on many occasions, so do your best to not alt-tab out of the game once you start.

I've only been playing for 18 hours and I don't need any more time than that to tell you this is one of my favorite games from my library of over 160. Communication, teamwork, and basic mechanical knowledge rewarded with such consistency that my buddies and I running 4-man crews have only lost about 5-6 games in the full 15 hours we've played. Everything about this game feels good and every role feels very important. Nobody can do anything in this game without the rest of the crew. The art style is great, the graphics are great, the way the airships feel is great. If you have any trouble being by yourself, you can always ask in global chat in game for a mentor or take to the subreddit and you'll find a crew in no time. For me all it took was a couple videos on youtube and just reading all the mechanics on the wiki to start basically dominating every match (still <lvl 8 novice matches). Even the worst of engagements can be turned around with teamwork.
I also recorded one of our matches

The Mood:
Once I started playing, I could not put this game down. Its a heavy game. It sets the mood perfectly and there's never a moment that you're waiting for something. You are always in need, on edge, and nervous about how bad its going to get trying to obtain that next thing. Your characters may have a very difficult time with a lot of situations, so its not really about how you feel about what you're doing, its about how the people in the story feel about whats happening. Killing or stealing from the innocent will have long lasting effects on the person committing the actions, as well as the rest of the group once they hear what happened. Some characters will need to smoke to keep their sanity, others will drink coffee. Sometimes when something terrible happens you may need to use some survivors to comfort the others. Perhaps you want to build a guitar for a group member that can play and lift everyone's spirits. Maybe build a radio that has some contact to the outside world. The crafting system is very deep and intuitive and all survivors have some special trait about them. Everything has an emotional impact and it grows an attachment to the characters more so than I wouldhave imagined.

The Combat:
The combat in this game mechanically is nothing special. You select what you want your survivor to wield when they're out scavenging. Based on what you're wielding, you will get different options. For example, if you have a gun out your guy will take aim at anyone in range and it will display you a icon to fire. If you're hiding or behind someone you'll get an icon to attempt a backstab attack. None of this is particularly innovative or interesting, however there's one BIG difference compared to a lot of games.
If you engage in a fight with someone else and they take a hit or you take a hit, often times, both parties sort of freak out and try to leave because nobody wants to die needlesly. You're rarely just going to areas to kill bad guys and then take their loot, it plays out a lot more humanly (is that a word?) than that. I was in a situation where i was looting and some people didn't like where I was doing that. One came at me with a knife and he made me bleed, I hit him with a hatchet and he seemed to immediately just want to run away. Neither of us wanted to fight any more really, just take as little loss as possible because medicine and bandages are hard to come by for everyone.
TLDR: Combat isn't about killing the other guy, its about surprising and damaging them to the point that they run away, unless the situation really calls for some cold blooded murder.

Replayability:
I'm pretty sure I marathoned a 15 hour single playthrough. Now thats only one playthrough with 1 group of survivors, of the 6 total starting groups. You have different endings for each character based on how bad things got and how close you were to not making it at the end. The war ends at some random time based on your group, you have to listen to the radio to know when its coming. The locations that you're able to travel through progressively widen as you play the game, and even though the locations on the map are the same, the layouts and the scenarios that happen at these locations vary each playthrough. There is a lot of randomization to keep things fresh. Loot, trader visit frequency, some variation in scenarios at all locations, if other survivors come to visit your shelter, you get the idea. I'm definitely looking forward to my next playthrough with a different group of survivors.

10/10

I and two other people, in 10 hours, managed to accomplish what I think 3 feudal peasants could have done in real life in about 9 hours. 11/10

This brings back memories from the late 90s. This is the planning stage of Rainbow Six (the original) turned into a game and its done so right. Everything works smoothly and as expected and there is more content than I could have imagined. I'm not even done with all the single player missions (NOT INCLUDING THE CAMPAIGN), never mind having 3 stars on all of them. If you're a fan of top down tactics, you can't go wrong with this game.

Pros:
Workshop support for extra nostalgia addons
Controls
Art
Content Quantity
Content Quality

Cons:
I can't make a Shield Trooper and another trooper go at the same pace automatically, instead the guy behind winds up walking ahead of the shield so then he gets shot in the face a lot. Just requires some pausing and micro-managing.

Overall fantastic game.

*EDIT Jan 12th 2016*
I've played so much more of this game over the years and it keeps getting better and better. I've also written a 5 star guide to help out all the new people at:

http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=353522773

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If you're looking for a tactical FPS focused on realism with guns and kills that feel better than any other shooting game you've played, you've come to the right place.

I decided to not review the game while it was still super early. I backed the game on kickstarter way back and I waited until now to review it. The game is exactly what i expected them to make.

The Good:
I mean there is nothing in this game that I thought would be different based on their initial descriptions and ideas for it. The UI is fantastic, the AI is fantastic, the replay and stats system is fantastic, and the art is fantastic. Much like back in the day with Supreme Commander, I didn't play too much multiplayer so I actually can't speak about it, but I can tell you I've had tons of fun just playing the AI on these randomly generated planets or in Galactic War.
The units are plenty unique and satisfying despite there not being actual seperate "factions."
The commanders (ACUs) got a good amount of love and feel right as they move around.
Every building feels unique and right, despite everything having the low-poly look. They're obviously trying to compensate for the ridiculous amount of units you can build.
My last game, I had created 2400 units and killed 1700 across two planets, few strategy games ever get to that.
In a game with 100s of units on the field, the AI even on the easiest difficulties, backs away when it realizes it can't win an engagement and it kites your units if they outrange you.

The Bad:
It still can't be played offline as far as I know. Everything is generated and hosted on their servers.
No steam friends list integration, you have to find each other in the game and add each other in the propriatery friends list.
There will still sometimes be random glitches in pathing around chasms which might require a few clicks or waypoints to get around, especially for large amount of units.

Conclusion:
If you're a fan of large scale strategy over squad based tactics, this is the game for you. Its basically supreme commander without the same maps over and over with the same choke points you've learned and played around for 1000 times.

*UPDATE 10/9/2015*
This game plays similarly to other survival voxel construction games. You have a tech tree (everything's actually available, just need materials) that you work your way up through via mining and processing. Since my initial review they've added so many large features like oxygen systems, infinite procedural worlds, AI pirate drones that attack you, sorting blocks that let you sort your cargo, programming blocks that let you manipulate almost everything via C# programming, tons of performance fixes and updates, and now soon even planets with atmospheres and atmospheric thrusters. Each time i've played the game i've usually spend about 15-25 hours getting to max tech with friends then again waiting for some large update. Each time I want to do things differently, arrange things differently, and its a blast on every new world.

*June 2014 Review*
Got it on steam sale. Played 10 hours straight. Went to bed at 5am. 10.1/10.

I've been following don't starve since the beta and there is TONS of new content. The most significant additions being caves and season/weather change. There isn't really a point to the game other than finding a way to live another day but the atmosphere, art, and sounds keep me playing. There is a ton of crafting and a huge tech tree to work your way up, you'll be hooked for a long time. Be warned though, its very unforgiving, i've played for 4 hours before and died because i left flint in a chest instead of on my person when night came...

Game is pretty amazing. Dont let the UI or longer queue times (1-5m) drive you away from actually playing the game. One you're in a match, its one of the most fun experiences.