Steam Early Access: Space Engineers Impressions

As the list of early access games on Steam grows ever larger, more and more gems come out of the woodwork, making you wonder why you ever need to buy a finished game again. And here I introduce to you one of the finest early access games on offer in the marketplace today: Space Engineers!!

Space Engineers is a sandbox space sim inspired by LEGO, which fully utilises a destructible environments along with building, dissembling, repairing, surviving, mining... the list goes on, and that's only part of what makes Space Engineers such a joy to play. If you've ever wanted to build your dream 100 engine spaceship, or a sun blocking monolithic space station, then go ahead, provided your rig can handle it! As the updates rack up, I think they're on about one a week, we see more and more of what this game has to offer, with vital inclusions such as multi-player, a health and death system, meteor showers and random encounters with currently unmanned ships being some of the most recent and important updates as of yet. There's still a heck of a lot of potential in this game which remains to be sapped by the developers 'Keen Software House', but I'd say that they've done a great job so far.

Much like other games of this sort, one centred on construction and realism, there is no set aim, but in nearly every server that I have joined, the player have managed to create aims, and assign jobs to each other to complete the, for example I'e come across people creating industrial powerhouses, perpetually churning out more resources than you could ever use, and for what? To create a better ship? To upgrade your mining gear? No matter what it is undeniable that at this early stage you do fall into the circle of mine, create better mining gear, mine, refine gear, mine, refine gear, and so on, but the fact that the core mechanics of the game, the mining and the creating and assembling is so good that it keeps people playing for so long, wanting to play more is certainly a feat. I found myself happily content with my mining ship, then suddenly discover some cool new tool I can attach, like ore detectors or beacons to navigate with, then spend the next couple of hours gleefully finding the resources to be able to make it, rinse and repeat, and at this early stage of development I have no issues with this, I'm just excited to see what can be added next!

It's vitally important to mention the Steam workshop when it comes to games like these. The community really have created some utterly fantastic things here from this:

To this:

The sheer amount of cool stuff available to make is mind boggling, and a great challenge in survival mode, as the amount of mining you're going to need to do to create something like what you see above is pretty crazy! Overall, Space Engineers is an incredibly ambitious game which the developers have started fantastically, and kept fresh through regular updates and the integration with the steam workshop, I can't wait to see what they can come up with next! Let me leave you with this lovely creation!

Steam Early Access: Betrayer Impressions

 So recently i saw a trailer on YouTube of an upcoming game which is made by the people who made the FEAR series, and 'No One Lives Forever'. I was intrigued by the video, as it looked as if the team were really trying to do something unique, as I guess you can tell from the black and white 'filter' over the entire game. This is what the team said about it:

Betrayer is a first person action adventure game that takes you to the New World at the turn of the 17th century.

The year is 1604. You sailed from England expecting to join a struggling colony on the coast of Virginia. Instead, you find only ghosts and mysteries. What catastrophe blighted the land and drained it of color and life? Where are the settlers and tribes who lived here? And who is the strange, silent woman in red who aids you from afar?

Clue by clue, you must piece together the story of what befell this doomed settlement and find a way to set things right. You will be hunted by corrupted Conquistadors and ravening shadows as you explore an expansive wilderness in order to trace the brief, tragic history of the colony and search for survivors.

Anyway, the reason that I am bringing it up now even though the alpha was actually released earlier in the month, the 14th I think it was, is because only now have i actually had the chance to play it, and....I love it. The reason why i love it so much, is because of something which i find critical in a game...ATMOSPHERE! This is primarily why S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Call of Pripyat is one of my all time favourite games. The atmosphere of S.T.A.L.K.E.R is totally enveloping and i managed to see some of that in this game, admittedly the atmosphere is of a different disposition, instead of total darkness, you are treated to bright, and at times almost never 'truly' dark gameplay, very much unlike S.T.A.L.K.E.R, which was often very distressing. What also aids the graphical style is the use of important objects, and enemies (which i will get to in a second) being highlighted in red, which contrasts amazingly, and often beautifully, to create a very striking style of pointing out what you need to survive.

Now, the enemies of the game, the  corrupted Conquistadors, made to enhance the feeling of unrest on the island, and once or twice i really did feel chills tingling down my spine as I heard a distant groan, and ever fastening footsteps, and to turn around to see this red man sprinting at me. While this is still a very nice effect, and what adds even more tension to the situation, is the fact that you die in one hit. This adds a slight 'rougelike' element to the game, which I also enjoyed, being a big fan of games like FTL.

So far, from the little gameplay I have experienced, I have found 'Betrayer' to be a very promising game, considering the very well decided art direction and, to be honest the graphics are 'very' pretty for a game so early on in its Alpha release. Altogether, i think that people who enjoy a well thought out game, with a very good idea of what it wants to be, as well as fun combat and a chilling atmosphere, then this game is for you.