WATCHTOWERR

At the beginning with friends the game seems interesting. Time flies while playing mostly because you're constantly managing your systems while on the go. Normal is a very boring experience while Survival feels more like you're actually getting some sort of experience. Your refund time will be over by the time you even get past the tutorial phase which ends after you leave the first system.

In my short time of visiting 4-5 systems (6-8 hours) each planet appears the same being only slightly different. The animals have mostly appeared the same looking only slightly different. The AI don't even walk around, and ships give the illusion the galaxy is alive however all they do is enter and exit stations. Random drones will appear while you're on planets. They'll scan you to see if you're hostile which prevents you from mining because if you fire your miner you're considered hostile. Once you're considered hostile you'll be chased by endless reinforcements until you escape them planet side. If you attempt to flee into space they'll instantly catch up to you. Also, while you're being scanned in space you'll be encountered even if you're in warp. While being close ranged with ships you're unable to warp and are forced to fight any contacts you're engaged with. You're not moving during an engagement other than to move slightly closer to fire on your target. The enemy fighters do not miss a single shot no matter how fast you're going so it's just better to sit still and pick them off. Speaking of combat, the animals that are rather large have no animations and will kill you without warning due to their large AOE. Space combat is absolutely terrible.

Mining resources in space is a major pain to say you're only shooting at asteroids. Your fuel will run dry so quickly you'll constantly find yourself needing to mine asteroids to fill back up. Well, there are multiple resources cluttering the asteroid field so sometimes you might only get a section of everything but fuel. Meaning while you're waiting to get the little bit of resources you need which probably won't get you to the space station and back you'll be attacked.

(14 Hours In)
Once established you can begin exploring or following the path toward the center of the galaxy. By this time, I have a freighter with escort fighters and have the option to purchase additional ships to join my fleet. While being attacked this freighter can launch escort fighters to help you survive. They tend to bug out in the hanger where they don't launch at all. If you land while the alarms are going off on the freighter, you'll be trapped inside until the battle is over. Now. If the fighters bug out who is there to fight the enemy on the outside? No one. You're trapped inside, and you're forced to reload.

Note: It turns out there are weapons on the freighter. They just don't always fire.... or hit anything. Those escort fighters I mentioned are just random vessels that dock on your ship like you're running a space station. You can trade and sell with them even buy their vehicles. You have no control over them and they'll randomly leave whenever. Overall. They do nothing, but will fight any enemy ship if it's around. I'm not sure if that includes the authorities or Planetary PD

Sometimes your friends will be glitched out to where they can't see your ship or the freighter if they're inside the freighter when you call it to your position. Yea, it seems like I'm dumping a lot of negatives here, but this is a $60 game with still hardly any real content. When you consider what you're doing in the game which is exploring or following the quest line then things like base building is tossed out the window. Useless mechanics. Why? Right now, after being on nothing but very hostile planets all I would do is drop the things I need to progress in the tech tree or heal then pick them up before I leave. I'll always need to leave to go elsewhere to progress in the game or just to explore. Is there a point to build?

I received a quest where I was required to fight the randomly annoying appearing AI drones on a random planet. Well. I decided to construct a little base to help some friends each their things started. So I would attack the drone then simply run inside where it completely forgets the encounter even happened. If multiple people attack a single drone it becomes confused not knowing who to fight first or who to target. At times the drones will even glitch around and through the building. To add the story quests bug at times making you repeat them in order to complete their requirements.

MULTIPLAYER HAS HUGE DESYNC

Aside from the issues with the freighter. There have been plenty of moments where my friends are unable to see what I'm shooting at, experience weather differently while in the same area, are able to dock with the freighter, and are misled by icons appearing in the wrong areas where we should be located. At this time I've only been in five systems and have barely found a reason to remain on any of them after I've farmed resources. There isn't much to explore as the scanner reveals identical locations per planet. None of us can say we would play this game alone.

I just have to be real. Anyone who finds this game fun just doesn't know what a good game is. If you've seen one system you've seen them all. I'm a big fan of science fiction games and survival games. I love establishing a base and exploring out into the unknown. This is just the biggest boring sandbox in existence. Since I mentioned building. You're required to unlock blueprints by salvaging technology on planets located underground. Well, there are only so many per planet. Knock yourself out finding them if you want to build a base.