Many different survival games are boring, and many are copies of other good survival games. You always see a new game and find out it’s just a reskin of another title. Let’s look at Astroneer and see 11 reasons it is worth it.
A few reasons Astroneer is worth it are its unique Crafting and Inventory systems, vehicles, and planets. The game’s unique art style and soundtrack further solidify it is worth your precious time.
Astroneer is a survival game that takes everything to a new level, and it is up to the person whether they think the game is for them. Some people may think it is boring, but others might love the game. In my opinion, this game is a unique work of art.
1. Crafting
Regarding crafting in Astroneer, the system is day and night compared to other titles There are two ways to craft items in the game, and the first one is making a 3D printer to print whatever you want in-game. The second way is through your backpack. When you have a certain material, it creates the item that you want.
What’s so intuitive about the 3D printer is how it shows everything being printed. In other games, there is just a timer or you create it instantly using a crafting bench. The way Astroneer does it is unique and fun to watch.
When you make something very big, it takes a long time to print. The crafting system is one aspect of this game that makes it so unique, and it seems like the designers tried to make every other aspect of this game just as original. Crafting makes Astroneer worth it.
2. Unique Inventory System
The inventory system that was created for the game is also unique. The materials you get can fit your backpack in 13 slots. Each slot can hold one item. These slots can hold upgrade materials or mods to give your character new abilities.
You can put all types of items on like solar panels, extra oxygen tanks, terrain mods for your drill, and even batteries to charge your backpack—the limited backpack space forces you to have a more strategic approach to mining.
When your character dies, you can recover all your lost items from where you died. Your backpack will lie there waiting for you to recover your lost items. You can also find other backpacks of previous explorers. These backpacks sometimes have rare or hard-to-obtain items.
3. Vehicles
There are tons of vehicles in Astroneer, and each helps benefit you in some capacity. Rocket ships are very useful in that they allow you to travel to different moons and planets. Also, there are different sizes for rockets, from small to medium and large rockets.
Rovers are very helpful in traversing the harsh terrain of each planet, and can even help you store extra materials if you have too many. There are also small, medium, and large rovers, each with its place.
The tractor can help you go mining by adding a drill mod on the front of it. It can also be used to haul materials from one place to another with the wagon you can attach to it.
Vehicles are a very important aspect of Astroneer because of all the things that they help you do. They are also a very good addition to the game. Is Astroneer worth it because of the vehicles? Yeah, why not?
4. Planets
There are five planets and two moons currently in the game. When you first start the game, you will start on the planet of Sylva, which is a very green and luscious planet filled with plants and materials. It also has a moon called Desolo, with many rare upgrade materials.
As you progress into the game, you can build a rocket and fly off Sylva, and you can go to any planet that you would like to. Other planets include Calidor, Vesania, Novus (Vesania’s moon), Glacio, and Atrox. Every planet has unique landscapes and offers different upgrade materials to the player.
All the planets in the game can eventually be linked together using alien tech, which is found all over each planet, but it is very hard and time-consuming. If you are successful, the reward is worth the time.
5. Weather System
One thing that has been debated about Astroneer is the weather system. You could be exploring a planet, and suddenly, a storm might appear out of nowhere. During the storm, you must find shelter, or you might get hit with a flying object and die.
It’s scary because a storm could happen at any time. It’s especially stressful when you have items you don’t want to lose. There are not many different types of weather other than cloudy or stormy, but more will be added in the future.
6. Art Style
The art direction of Astroneer is very mesmerizing. All the different ways the game pops certain things out at the player help make it more immersive. The cartoony graphics make the colors stand out and also make it very pleasing to look at.
Each different planet you go to has its own plants and terrain that makes for a better experience when exploring. Sometimes I catch myself staring at certain things because they look so good.
7. Base Building
The base building in Astroneer is also very different from other games because there is not an inside area for you to run around in. You start out with a small base and a 3D printer to get you started. The game also gives you a platform to land a rocket at your base.
There is a lot of stuff that you could put around your main bases, like storage, scrappers, furnaces, bigger 3D printers, condensers, science centers, and much more. Everything you need to get is acquired through the in-game currency called bytes.
With bytes, you can unlock almost anything, like upgrades and buildings, and the byte menu can be accessed through your backpack. Building your base is probably one of the most satisfying things in Astroneer and is worth it.
8. Exploration
There are so many things to explore, like the surface of the planets filled with tons of plants and materials. As you get further around the planet, you will run into abandoned bases and rovers that will give you valuable tools to improve your base.
You can also traverse into caves in the world, which will give you a lot more rare materials. Surviving down there is more of a challenge, as there are hostile plants and a limited oxygen supply. You can also make your way to the planet’s core, allowing you to teleport to different parts and eventually to different planets.
9. Different Hazards
Hazards in Astroneer are very different because no actual aliens try to hurt you. Most of you will be killed by plants that shoot out toxic gas or run out of oxygen. You can also count storms as a hazard because you could die by being out in the open during one.
It is scary when you run around on a different planet, and this giant plant shoots explosives at you. Many of the hazards in the game are very hard to see and when you do see them, be sure to stay away. You can either destroy them or avoid them, but both can prove to be dangerous.
10. Terrain Sculpting
When you start, you get a drill and your backpack to collect materials. You collect materials by deforming the ground beneath them and dislodging them from where they are sitting. Once you dislodge it from the ground, it goes directly to your backpack.
Many different mods for your drill allow you to deform the ground faster, put the material back onto the ground, flatten the ground, and even turn the ground into different colors. Everything you can do with the terrain will benefit you as you make your base more organized and simple.
Don’t be afraid if you make a hole in the ground in the wrong place because you can go back and fix it later. The terrain sculpting is a very good add-on that helps you as you play the game.
11. Soundtrack
The music in Astroneer is very relaxing and fun to listen to. It is very simple yet thought through because when it plays, you know it fits right in with the game’s atmosphere.
Some game soundtracks are mediocre, but I am here to tell you that this game has some good music to accompany your exploration.