I cannot recommend this game.

[Silocia]

If you're a trophy hunter, DO NOT get this game. If your sole purpose is to platinum the game I cannot recommend it at all.

Its one of the worst games I have platiumed and I've platinumed Wolfenstein: Young Blood.

 

Let me just start by saying this game has some massive potential its just a shame about the dev team. First of all joining a co-op game is the hardest thing to do, there is no option to host a game, the game just decides whether or not its going to let you. I've been playing this with my buddy and the amount of times we've had to close the game and open it back up again so that by luck the game lets us host is a joke. Right now, we've been in a party for 20 minutes and restarted the game 10 times, in those 10 times it has hosted me once but refuses to let him join, it just sticks on the main menu and this happens every. single. time, either doesnt host or doesnt let people join. When you do get in the performance in co-op is horrible. Theres a delay getting in and out of vehicles, it just stops everyone doing whatever they're doing until the person is in or out of the vehicle. This extends to the render distance, although this appears to have happens recently as it wasnt like this before. Everything and I mean everything spawns at your feet, you can be driving along and then suddenly you're falling because the game has decided that there was a hole in the ground, or you go head first into a mountain. Sometimes planets dont spawn as a whole while in space so you literally cannot spawn on half the planet.

 

Your stuff can just despawn. Thats right, rare materials, drill bits, and one time an entire storage panel just up and went and everything that was attached to it. Poof, gone. For no reason, it was there before we left but the game never spawned it in. It wasn't new, it had been there for weeks but this one time logging in. Gone. The game is riddled with bugs like this and when checking it out on twitter the devs just meme on it rather than fixing it.

 

In regards to the controls, they're horrible. I dont know why devs think people with a controller need help with everything but this game takes it a new level. The game has a snapping feature, you cannot turn it off and its horrible. When you pick something up, things snap, for example, if you want to put a research chamber onto a large platform the game takes over and snaps it on there for you. This gets messy very quickly, when there are multiple 'snapping points' in a confined space, the game doesnt know what to do, it'll just put it wherever it wants and not in the slot where my cursor is even though thats a viable option. It causes you to constantly drop things because again even though my cursor is on the thing I want it to go on the game just say no and drops it on the floor. Numerous times I have tried grabbing something and the game has picking up something behind me, not even in camera shot. Why cant I just put it where I want, why do I need a snapping feature, PC doesnt have this from what I've seen in the videos.

 

After all this, when you fight the game constantly, theres NO content, the things I'm doing at the minute is for the trophies and thats it, if it wasnt for the platinum I wouldnt be doing it. You have to access the engines (1 on each planet core) and gates (6 for each planet and 2 for each moon) thats the content and nothing changes. Theres 7 planets with varying degrees of difficulty but there isnt anything different between the planets and definitely isnt anything that makes it more or less difficult. Each planet gate needs more power than the last, thats the only thing I can see where difficulty comes into play but even then theres zero point (apart from the trophies) to activate these gates, they're all done in the same way on every planet and theres seemingly no point to them.

 

It isnt fun at all and it has so many problems that its one of the only games I cannot recommend.

 

Edit; Okay, so I'm aware that this is still the top post within this games community and I have previously gone back to 100% the game and my points still stand. However, the devs have now set up a years worth of updates and fixes. I've posted the most recent below, I dont expect to be doing this for every update however as I will only be returning to the game each time new trophies are added. Just note that before you start @'ing me, I posted this in August 2020 and any points you want to "call me out on" could very well be fixed.

 

Patch News March 31 2021;

 

 

Spoiler

 

Missions

Missions have been added to aid players in the exploration of the world and the tools used in their journeys. Missions provide helpful rewards for those who undertake them and can help boost progression.

Mission Log

• New control panel used to track missions and progress of objectives 
• Missions Logs attached to Landing Pads are used to claim physical rewards 
• A Backpack Mission Log is accessible via the new Action Wheel interface and can be used to claim Bytes & schematic rewards 

Rewards

• Missions provide a variety of rewards including Bytes, schematic unlocks, and physical items 
• Rewards must be claimed at a Landing Pad 

Notifications

• UI toasts and tags appear when there are changes in mission or objective status, or new missions are available to pursue

 

Big Power

Multiple new power generating items along with a full rebalance of power generation and consumption.

New Items

Large Wind Turbine

• Byte cost: 3500
• Recipe: 1x Aluminum Alloy, 1x Glass, 1x Ceramic
• Printer: Medium

Large Solar Panel

• Byte cost: 4000
• Recipe: 1x Aluminum Alloy, 1x Glass, 1x Copper
• Printer: Medium

XL Wind Turbine

• Byte cost: 4500
• Recipe: 1x Iron, 1x Ceramic, 1x Graphene, 1x Aluminum Alloy
• Printer: Large

QT-RTG

• Rewarded by missions and rarely found while exploring.

 

Compass

 

The compass has been completely revamped and enhanced with dynamic navpoint tracking!

• Object Tracking: Certain objects (such as Shelters and Beacons) are automatically tracked.
• Compass Navpoints: The closest objects of each type are displayed on the compass as navpoints, showing the distance, elevation, and direction to each object.
• True North: North on the Compass now points to the correct pole of the planet.
• Odd Stone Labels: Chambers on the Odd Stone are now labeled with their location on the planet (North, South, Equator).
• Enhanced Probe Scanner: The Probe Scanner now displays a navpoint for the probe it is tracking whenever the Scanner is active

 

Power Generator Changes

Small Generator

• Output increased to 2.0U/s
• Duration per Organic increased to 120s.

Small Wind Turbine

• Output increased to 1.5U/s.
• Recipe changed to 1x Ceramic
• Byte cost reduced to 300.

Small Solar Panel

• Output increased to 1.0U/s.
• Byte cost reduced to 300.

Small Battery

• Recipe changed to 1x Zinc.

Power Cells

• Recipe changed to 1x Graphite.

Medium Generator

• Output increased to 9.0U/s.
• Duration per Carbon increased to 120s.
• Byte cost reduced to 2000.

Medium Wind Turbine

• Output increased to 5.0U/s.
• Recipe changed to 1x Aluminum, 1x Ceramic.

Medium Solar Panel

• Output increased to 4.0U/s.
• Byte cost reduced to 2000.

Medium Battery

• Throughput increased to 5.0U/s.
• Capacity increased to 512U.

Solar Array

• Output increased to 14U/s.
• Recipe changed to 1x Copper, 1x Glass, 1x Graphene, 1x Aluminum Alloy

 

Power Consumer Changes

Portable Oxygenator

• Draw decreased to 1.0U/s.

Smelting Furnace

• Draw increased to 5.0U/s.

Large Printer

• Draw increased to 5.0U/s.

Soil Centrifuge

• Draw increased to 6.0U/s.

Chemistry Lab

• Draw increased to 10.0U/s.

Atmospheric Condenser

• Draw increased to 20.0U/s.

Medium Shredder

• Draw increased to 5.0U/s.

Large Shredder

• Draw increased to 7.5U/s.

XL Shredder

• Draw increased to 10.0U/s.

 

Action Wheel

 

Following the success of the emote wheel, we’ve added a new interface for accessing a core set of tools through a single key/button.

Actions

• Catalog (Still available through the dedicated shortcut key/button)
• Mission Log
• Compass
• Drone (Creative Mode only)
• Terrain Tool Menu (Creative Mode only)

Quality of Life Changes

Along with the Compass and Mission Log, the Catalog can at last be opened while seated in a Shelter or Vehicle, when opened through the Action Wheel.

Selection Wheel Improvements

The Action Wheel adds some usability improvements that we’ve also extended to the Emote Wheel.

• Hold/Toggle Option: Added a menu option to open selection wheels with a key/button press, instead of a hold. Selections are made by pressing the selection wheel key/button a second time, instead of releasing the held key/button.
• Quick Access: The last selected option can be reactivated by tapping a selection wheel key/button.

 

Bugs

The following bugs have been fixed as of version 1.19.134.0:

UI

• [AS-14628] Fixed a typo in the catalog description for the Oxygen filter
• [AS-14373] Added the power draw on the Portable Oxygenator to the catalog description
• [AS-14686] Fixed a typo in the credits
• [AS-14104] Fixed a bug where the HQ Mode warning in the settings menu was overlapping the scroll bar in some languages
• [AS-14168] Fixed a bug where broken shelters were missing an Astropedia prompt on the tooltip
• [AS-14171] Updated the item description for Power cells to remove a typo
• [AS-14388] Fixed an issue where the keys shown on the Shuttle speed tooltips would not change when the keys were rebound
• [AS-14463] Fixed an issue where the tooltip on the Portable Oxygenator just displayed as “Oxygenator”
• [AS-14491] Removed some old tooltip text from plants on Atrox that should have been cleaned up after the October 2020 event
• [AS-14688] Fixed a bug where beacons would stop displaying after a player used the “Respawn at Starting Shelter” option while on a planet other than Sylva.
• [AS-14530] Fixed a bug in the store where the controls in the bottom right would not properly update when using the keyboard to navigate

Power

• [AS-14788] The Portable Oxygenator no longer uses double the required power while in the backpack
• [AS-14760] Fixed a bug where the backpack battery would drain before generated power was used

Inputs

• [AS-14169] Fixed a bug where the D-pad on controller was not consistently increasing the size and speed of the terrain tool in Creative Mode
• [AS-13988] Fixed a bug on PS4 where input was not locked immediately after trying to join a multiplayer game

Crashes

• [AS-13818] Fixed a crash that could sometimes occur when flying to another planet in a shuttle
• [AS-14520] Fixed a crash that could sometimes occur when saving and quitting a game session
• [AS-14666] Fixed a crash that could sometimes occur when attempting to join a server while already in game
• [AS-13953] Fixed a crash that could sometimes occur due to tether placement

Audio

• [AS-13853] Fixed some missing SFX when walking on foliage
• [AS-14363] Fixed a bug where terrain tool audio would persist for clients if they left and reentered relevance while another user was deforming terrain

Miscellaneous

• [AS-14464] Fixed a bug where the terrain tool would sometimes load with the wrong color palette
• [AS-14322] Players can no longer research medium resource canisters in the research chamber
• [AS-11907] Fixed a bug where autopull was not always working on other sources of a resource when an attached resource canister had output disabled
• [AS-14372] Fixed an issue where gas canisters slotted on the Chemistry Lab were not properly saving their states
• [AS-12437] Fixed an issue where the Soil Centrifuge would become broken if it lost power during its spin cycle
• [AS-11985] Fixed an issue where terrain would sometimes disappear in multiplayer games after dying or flying between planets
• [AS-4304] Player indicator lines should now have the correct color for both host and clients

 

•  

 

 

Edited March 31, 2021 by Silocia

[LydieCakes]

I actually like the game. (Not from a trophy hunting aspect, but just overall playing) I have spent hours lost and just roaming around.

 

Yes, rendering is a big issue. Thats 100% true. PC had rendering issues (look near the core videos). 

 

I agree the controls are also wonky. It can be frustrating trying to put things in a place that U want them.

 

As for co-op matches... there is an Astroneer community group where U can join people pretty much anytime.  It's not perfect but it did knock out a bunch of trophies (both multi-player and solo play) when U get in a game.

 

I agree. Not a trophy hunting game but for $20 at GameStop... its a good goofing around and time killing game.

[Rezzua]

If it wasn’t for the platinum, you wouldn’t be doing things like powering up portal chambers and engines? The literal objective/story of the game is to build up from nothing, power up the planets and reach the end-game by using the Geometric Triptychs you’ve acquired from each engine.

 

So your apparent frustration in that regard seems to come more from the fact you’ve misunderstood the actual purpose of the game. To say it has no content would be like saying Minecraft has no content.

 

I agree the performance of the game is nowhere near as clean as it could be and needs continuous improvement. I’ve had endless hard system crashes and lost numerous saves over the months I’ve played this on/off however to say it isn’t a good game or I wouldn’t recommend it would be both unfair but also untrue.

 

 

[Ich1994-1994]

Is the Performance also bad when you play alone?

[Silocia]

On 19/11/2020 at 5:32 PM, Ich1994-1994 said:

Is the Performance also bad when you play alone?

 

I couldn't fairly comment, I havent played the game since getting the platinum and have no idea how the game has been patched since.

[Bigbossman1202]

I just bought the game about a week ago & after playing it a good bit, I can't say that I've had any issues. I haven't tried multi-player yet because I'm still learning how everything works in this game. I'll honestly say that I've had fun playing it.

 

While I like to trophy hunt, I also like to enjoy what I play too. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes exploring wide open places.

[VacuusDeus]

Is it 60fps on PS5?

[Darling Baphomet]

I find it a fun enough game, personally. Multiplayer can still be a bit iffy on PS4 (I made the mistake of letting my friend host), and it's not the most stable game, but it's a fun time with a friend or two. Not sure it's a game I'd enjoy playing alone, but building a base and scavenging for resources is pretty fun when you have someone along for the ride.

 

On 6/4/2021 at 1:07 AM, VacuusDeus said:

Is it 60fps on PS5?

 

Very late response, but unfortunately no. We PS5 owners get the authentic 1080p / 30fps slog.

[Reaper55]

I found the game fun, but we ran into a serious bug. Didn't have items disappear or too much of a performance issue on PS5. 

 

A co-op breaking bug and we were able to fix it.  There was a Xenobiology lab update in February 2022.  I would recommend anyone to AVOID the entire Xenobiology Quest line (including planting the research station) until this gets patched.

 

We were doing the G. Planet: Recovery missions where you have to get the pets from each planet.  After the 3rd or 4th one G. Calidor: Recovery multiplayers could not join co-op anymore.  The game got really stuttery and laggy, we decided to rehost it and they couldn't log in anymore.  The Host is fine to play without co-op, but when they log in they can't get past the loading screen. When they are connecting it would cause the host to stutter, and it would fix the host immediately when they quit out of their game. 

 

In order to fix the bug and enable co-op to work again:

 

The host must complete all the remaining creature missions (missions Final Entry, and All Together Now) and turn in the creatures to the top of the Research Station.  This can be pretty time consuming to do solo.  You would need to get the creatures on each planet (one planet needed ~5 explosives, other two needed the ability to power and collect atmospheric resources , as well as a collection of hazard seeds to catch the creatures).  This took 3 hours with a well stocked base, but I imagine it can take 6 hours if not prepared. 

 

After we completed the mission, I saved, closed out of the game, and re-hosted.  Co-op worked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 3, 2022 by Reaper55