Nominated for "Labor of Love" 2024!

Penkura is a unique survival game with a great story and missions. A casual, easy start is stress free for the most part.

Built with Unreal game engine, the environment and textures are luxurious! Unreal's textures and colors are different from all the Unity-based games. I've loved that environment and feel since I played the first Unreal on DVD ROM back in the Way-Back.



Development:

Top-notch Developers are closely involved with the community and respond quickly on the Steam Forums. Regular updates and consistent roadmaps! I'm not into Discord and Social Media but they have all that, too.

The game has been in development for a few years and has flown under the radar. With it's small community, this is a project that you can support and have a voice. Unlike those big, AAA projects that feel more like a Kickstarter- where you really don't interact with the team.


Features:

Robots to help with gathering and carrying items.

Advanced crafting system with a well-designed queue. You can set-up long chains of different components to build one after another.

Recycle organic materiel to make food and fertilizer. Grow plants for food and building components.

Discover new technology, base and equipment upgrades through a blueprint system.

Awesome weather with fog that doesn't melt down your computer and lag out the game!



Gameplay

I cracked off a quick 40-hour week in the game, and after many hours in survival games, everything is about where I would expect it to be.

One exception is the base power management system. It is different- modular to each section of the base, but also traditional power sources like Solar, and Wind. I got hung up and confused with it, and the Developer was right there on the forums to help me get the hang of it.

Oxygen, thirst and hunger are easy to manage. There are plants that can be gathered quickly to keep you going until you can craft food in the constructor.

Enemies are very simple and easy at this stage of development, but this game is serious about dying! You lose everything when you die. No backpack to go back and find. So, don't carry all your food and water, ammunition and equipment.


EDIT: Actually, there is a backpack drop when you die, I must have forgotten where I got wrecked.


The story is very interesting and fun to play. It is still being written, and you will work through it quickly. Take your time and enjoy every step.

There is a starter base all ready to go, you just move in, take over and add modules to the base. I'd rather build everything from scratch.

As an avid builder, this game is very fun to play after the main goals and story are completed. I am always hopeful that advanced base-building is a part of the story, so players are encouraged to expand.

These survival and crafting games can be enjoyable for the building, resource collection and just hanging out. Very often, I don't feel like figuring things out, solving problems or saving the world. It's a lot of fun just to collect the supplies, make sub-components and store them for later use, when I do feel like taking on the challenges.



Art Style:

Very well-done! The Menus, Load Screens, and UIs stand out with a glowing, VHS effect that is just fun to look at and use. Icons are easy to see and recognize while navigating the menus.

There is no HUD, or status bars to muck up the view while playing. All of that info is brilliantly displayed on a smart watch. You just hit the TAB key to bring up your arm to see the watch. Take awesome screenshots without having to hide the HUD!

The base buildings and modules look like they are standard issue Unreal assets. They are nice, and have a homogeneous look. Some of the buildings are small, leading to a "jammed in" look. This is the highest level of nit-picking! I'm a designer and I would love to have a building that is 3 times the size, and empty so I can do my own base layout. Actually, 3 empty buildings in small, medium, and large is the way to go LOL

You can tell there's a lot of experience in world-building, biome creation, and landscapes. The world of Penkura is lush and beautiful. You will definitely be immersed in this world from the start- it really jumps out.

I think that more Fauna, LOTS more - on a level of Subnautica- where there is tons of life everywhere would be a great look for this game. Yes, I invoked the Name of Subnautica- it's that good.



Performance:

Good optimization and performance. With all graphics at maximum, I had 40-50 FPS, consistent in all areas, using devices and combat.

My PC Specs

Intel i7-7820X @ 3.6 GHz
1 TB SSD
RAM: 32 GB
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti
G-Sync Monitor, Res: 3840 X 2160, 60 Hz


Highly Recommend!