I was just wondering if anyone else has had a go at Staxel? If you haven't heard of it, it's basically a cross between Stardew Valley and Minecraft.
I do like the cute nature of the game and I think it has a lot of potential but it's definitely an early access game. There just isn't a whole lot to do at the moment. Some things I think really need to be worked on are:
- Some kind of story or progression. There just doesn't seem to be much incentive to do much. Any farming is rendered pretty moot when you can get a quick and easy source of cash by catching bugs or fishing.
- NPCs. Don't really exist for any reason other than a couple of quests you get at that start. No quest log means you're not always really sure what you're supposed to be doing at any one point.
- Difficulty. No monsters, no health, no hunger, no survival aspect whatsoever. Even falling asleep in some random place doesn't seem to affect you whatsoever, but I'm guessing they'll implement a penalty at some point. It even gives you the option in the menu to instantly teleport to your base at any time.
- Exploring is pointless. There's nothing really to find. No ores or cool gems. There was one mine on my map with some wood and a broken house that I pillaged for supplies. Other than that you're not going to need to venture far from home.
- Bugs. Game doesn't always start up properly forcing a few restarts.
Like I said I think it's got great potential but I don't think it's worth picking up at this point. Might put it on the back burner and come back to it in a few months to see what's changed. My Time At Portia is another game on a similar vein that was recently released into EA that looks a little more fleshed out and might be worth a try. No MP support however.
(Note to self, stop buying EA games)