I started playing Empytion: Galactic Survival under Josh's recommendation the other day, and it's reaaaaaally really cool. I feel like the developer is a huge fan of space games and picked up Minecraft one day and wished he could fly to the moon. Aside from the Minecraft comparisons I'm gonna make, it has a ton of its own features and a unique feel.
The game mixes survival and space exploration fairly well. You crashland on an alien planet and have to forage and hunt for food and survival supplies while fending off attacks from alien drones in the beginning, which plays much like Minecraft in survival mode. Survival becomes more and more trivial as you mine more ores and build enough technology to sustain yourself in your Base, which you build from scratch. The game has a really cool aesthetic that really makes it look like you're building a sci-fi base- and you don't just use cubes; you have the option of several different 3D shapes for each type of block that lets you create more realistic looking structures.
In addition to building structures, you can build ships that let you leave the planet and visit other plants!!! We went to the moon last night and it was sooooo cooooool. A lot of the materials you need to make ships that can exit the atmosphere don't naturally spawn on your first planet, so we had to raid an alien base to earn them. The game progression feels more meaningful than some other sandbox games because it gives you access to significant features of the game- you have to be a certain level to build weapons to raid alien bases, to build equipment to leave the planet, and to eventually build a ship that can go into warp drive to visit other systems.
My only criticism its the game's really steep learning curve. The UI, especially crafting, is messy and could really use an experienced UI/UX designer to clean it up. You also have a ton of features thrown at you at the same time- you have to survive and eat and build, and since it's going for a more life-like sci-fi feel than Minecraft, these systems can be a bit complicated. That being said, once you gain a few levels and you're able to easily raid alien bases and build sophisticated weapons and structures, it almost gets too easy. The difficulty of defending yourself against and raiding enemy aliens doesn't scale up with your level, at least from what I've experienced so far. That's more of a balancing tweak than an innate design flaw, though.
Overall, it's fairly feature-complete for being at such an early stage. I would definitely recommend giving it a try.
Also, corndogs are a plant native to all planets....
Empyrion on Steam
Ship Inspiration Pinterest!! (send me stuff)
"You’ve got to work on something dangerous. You have to work on something that makes you uncertain. Something that makes you doubt yourself... because it stimulates you to do things you haven’t done before. The whole thing is if you know where you’re going, you’ve gone, as the poet says. And that’s death."
- Stephen Sondheim