The Thread of the Early Access Games

[EDUSAN]

Reading another thread (the one about planet explorer) i thought it would be cool to have a thread in which everyone could share their thoughts about the games that are in early access.

The idea would be to say what you think of a game in early access that you bought or were able to play and discuss a bit about them and to let everyone know what early access game could be worth buying when released or while still in this alpha stage.

Under the Ocean: I had the chance to buy this game. Which seemed to be yet another Minecraft in a 2d view, but the graphics were cool and with some cool concepts. When i played it the game was like absolutely lacking in stuff. You couldnt do more than just running around and attach a light to a stick to have a torch (or throw the stick as a spear to kill crabs).
But then, suddenly, the developer decided to change the view RADICALLY, swiching from 2d platform to a 3d isometric view. I think that the change hasnt been implemented but there are a couple pics here and there from the dev. So i would recommend to stay away from this one until the dev decides what to do with the game

Interestellar Marines: a Futuristic FPS that, supposedly, had some Shark-type alien race, but they are no where to be found at this stage of the game besides in a test map that is there to show the graphics on a idling model. The game currently has 1 map in TDM/DM Mode, and 1 weapon (at least the last time i checked it a couple months ago)
The game seems to be in really early stage since the graphics are not much to talk about, as well as weapon models and effects (although the map have a day/night cycle while playing that is pretty cool)
It has already been bundle so probably a ton of people have it already (which could be a good thing upon release)

StarForge: I bought this in the latest summer sale and downloaded it asap. The game is a Minecraft like FPS in the future with physics and some kind of Tower defense type of game instead of just "hiding" from the enemies like the other survival games.
I tried it, and the game is still in super early stage. I ran around a bit, chopped a tree and create 5 cubes of wall. The game ran kinda slopy and the fps were pretty low on my midrange pc

Steam Marines: A game with the word Steam in steam cant be bad, Gabe woulnt allow it, so this game is pretty badass.
Its a Roguelike game set in the future, in a spaceship. It features a whole Squad to command and its turn-based.
This game was supposed to be released in april according to the dev but it hasnt been released yet and changesa and new features are still being developed.
I had a ton of fun with this game at this stage, played it like 12 hours even though its not even finished.
Im a sucker for Roguelikes, and i love turn-based games, so this game was a must for me.
The graphics are old school with pixels, and the sounds are a bit chunky but the game is HARD as hell, 1 bad move and one of your squad members is a goner. You need to be really careful with the fog of war and take the tanks first and be cautious with the grenades. Your squad members level up and you assign stats and skills to them. When one dies you can keep playing with the remaining ones but the game is hard as it is with your full squad. With some luck a new member can join you in between levels but he would be lvl 1 when everyone else is higher level.
I totally recommend it

 

[WiseUp216]

Good idea for a thread. I can add some later.

Hopefully we can save the criticism of Early Access for other threads and just focus on games.

 

[Patre]

This is a good idea for a thread!!


I was going to ask about War Face in here, but I saw the other thread on it, and the game looks like a :thumbsdown:....

 

[Revolution 11]

The Stomping Land: This game was a impulse buy on my part, paid the full $25. The concept of the game is very interesting, tribal hunters on a pretty big island filled with dinosaurs. Most of the dinosaurs can not be killed by a single hunter so this forces players to join together into tribes. You can make a tribe with a totem and force your respawn location based on where your hut is made. Stealth and persistance are big end-goals for the game, the concept is almost like DayZ in the Stone Age but with dinosaurs instead of zombies. There are a variety of weapons that look interesting, in theory.

I will say that the mechanics are very wonky right now, hit detection is clearly laggy, dinosaurs and even players can clip through major objects, and there are a host of minor issues and bugs. More importantly, you will exhaust the available content in less than 3 hours, maybe double that if you play cautious. The island does have secret caves but there are not very many and they are in prominent or easily located areas. On servers with low populations, the game loses its initial appeal.

As a result, most players group into PvP mode and start killing each other. If you are after the PvP experience, it can be quite good on servers where the tribes move inland and start hunting each other in dark jungle/forest. But on most servers, the players stick near the beaches where the long sight ranges remove all stealth or planning. The PvE servers are better, when you can find one with more than two players, and you can get the whole server moving together as one loosely cooperative tribe.

It is definitely not worth $25 right now.I recommend that whoever is interested in this game wait at least six months before jumping in to see if the players stick around or if the developers are fulfilling their promises. It seems like the player base has shrunk to a third of what it was a month ago. A pity, considering the modified DayZ concepts here.

 

[EDUSAN]

well..i didnt know about that stomping land game.... and it does seem to be a really interesting concept from what you described... ill have an eye on it for the future

 

[NekoRinChi]

FortNite: Looks like a hybrid sandbox game with Orcs Must Die? Essentially what I got from looking it up was you build your own fort, stuff comes, and you need to defend it. It's in Alpha now but it looks like it has some potential.

Everquest next Landmark: Building looks pretty detailed in this game. Other than that, I haven't seen much of it. It's definitely sandboxy. Again, another game that has potential, but I haven't looked too deeply into it. Feel free to add stuffs :3

 

[HumblePie]

Got into Landmark the other day.... Well sort of. The launcher crashes every time I try to patch so I haven't actually been able to play the game.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Next Car Game - still very early on this, but pretty fun and they did implement local lan support so far.

 

[Revolution 11]

Ultimate General: Gettysburg: This game is one I have been looking forward to for a long time. The developer is DarthMod, a famous modder in the Total War community known for his AI mods. Ultimate Generals is essentially a updated version of Sid Meier's Gettysburg, a great game in its time. The developer has said that there will be more Ultimate General games on other famous battles.

The game itself is simple, you play as either the Confederate or Union forces in the Battle of Gettysburg. There are 3 days of battle, about 6 different "stages" that involve different parts of the map. The performance of the player carries over, casualties and positions. So if half your army gets shredded to pieces, expect depleted or missing brigades in the next stage/battle. The Confederates get a bonus to morale, leadership, and charges, the Union gets a bonus to artillery and volley-fire. As the Confederates, you must show initiative and drive, as the Union, you must be patient and delay the enemy at all cost. Each battle has a number of positions you can take or defend, but some positions are mandatory for victory. The optional positions will determine the choices you get to make for the next stage. This does not mean you are forced into a more aggressive position if you got all the optional positions, you can always pick the more conservative position after each battle.

The graphics are a bit cartoony in style, which I consider to be a good thing. Even 10 years from now, the style will not look outdated. The map is gorgeous, very detailed and accurate to the actual battlefield in 1863. Controls are perhaps the best thing here, you only need the mouse button and most orders are shown as those hand-colored arrows you see in battle documentaries on the History Channel. That is much better than Total War's waypoint system which now seems forced and stilted. Movement orders are now fluid and you can tell a division to patrol the entire perimeter without clicking multiple times with the mouse. And division and unit stats are very simple and clear, you have morale (self-explanatory), condition (equipment and soldier damage and supplies), cover (protection from enemy fire), and reload (percentage of unit ready for next volley). And stats like unit numbers is fully persistent, a unit that was present in the first stage will be useless by the last unless it suffered no deaths.

The last aspect is perhaps the most unique in that most games don't have it. The game has a fully modular AI, nine AI profiles in all which are created from 3 different levels of difficulty and 3 levels of aggression. So a level 1 difficulty and level 1 aggression AI is the "Cautious AI", the easiest one. A level 3 difficulty and level 1 aggression AI is the "Cunning AI", very good at defending. The hardest AI is the level 3 difficulty and aggression AI, the "Determined" AI. I can say that there is a noticeable difference in these AIs, the Cautious AI will just sit there for you while the Determined AI keeps you stumbling to catch up at all times.

For comparison, the Total War AI scales in difficulty by morale bonuses. The AI does not improve, but the unit "resistance" gets higher. There is no such cheating in this game. Even on the lowest AI setting, a properly placed unit on high ground and in high cover will decimate attackers. Even on the highest AI setting, attacking enemy units will get decimated by your high-ground, high-cover units. In AI behavior, the Total War AI is a mixture of the level 1 difficulty, level 1 aggression Cautious AI and the level 1 difficulty, level 2 aggression Opportunistic AI, though neither of these two game AIs will make stupid TW mistakes like non-continuous battle lines and inconsistent application of force.

Future updates = Improved AI, faction balance (Union is too defensible) map and pre-battle presentation, 1v1 multiplayer (!), possibly a multiplayer mode where each player out of 10 gets a small number of divisions like Total War Arena.

TL;DR = Simple and intuitive controls, diverse and powerful AI options, stylish graphics (not the best), accurate map and tactics, persistent stats and positions over six stages and 3 days of combat, player picks 1 of 3 battle strategies for each stage, full game out in 2 months for $10.

Take a cookie if you read all this. :thumbsup:

 

[DarthPader]

Starpoint Gemini 2 is on Steam sale,
Daily deal -33%, only 15.40€

http://store.steampowered.com/app/236150/

Try it people, and enjoy it as i am

 

[Karstein]

I've been playing Frozen Cortex (formerly Frozen Endzone). It's by the same devs as Frozen Synapse (Mode 7).

Actually, I should rephrase - I was playing it - quite frequently - but then the community dropped off a bit due to a considerable lack of updates.

However, the devs just put out a fairly sizeable update, and have some nice ideas going forward. They're also active in listening/responding to the community and incorporating what seems to be best for the game.

Essentially, Frozen Endzone is a turn-based future sport game which has some similarities to football (US-variety), but the devs have stressed their desire to distance the game from being considered that way. Hence, they dub it a 'future sport' game.

The game is played in a series of turns (much like FS, for those who are familiar) where you have to strategically make motions and plays with your players to try and outwit your opponent and ultimately score more than them. The 'field' is dynamically generated with obstacles to make things more interesting, with high boxes (you can't run through or pass over these) and low boxes (you can't run through these, but can pass over them).

Players have a number of stats such as block, speed, intercept ability and so on, and you can customize your team as you wish.

The thing I probably like about it the most is the option to play asynchronously. This means, you can start one or more games with others and play at the pace you desire. I regularly play moves in a number of games before bed and wake up in anticipation to see what my opponent did. Then, I can spend a few hours at my leisure considering my next move (a good way to make the time pass at work). If you do want to play quicker games, however, there are others out there that prefer that game style and it's more than possible to complete a game within 30 minutes if both parties are on-board.

For those needing more comparison to existing games, think of it as Blood Bowl without the randomness of the dice rolls or the pain of getting your players killed (they can be stunned, though). Like Blood Bowl, don't be scared off at the mention of 'sport' - it's definitely more of a strategy game.

The game still has some way to go, but it's generally bug-free and enjoyable to play at this stage.

Here's an article from RPS after the recent update:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/07/22/frozen-cortex/

By the way, for $25 you get 2 keys to use, so you can split the cost with a friend.

 

[JamesV]

Kerbal Space Program 10/10

After 300 hours, I still find new things to do in this game. You build rockets, planes, rovers, space stations, bases, and just about anything else you can think of with the wide selection of parts (and HUGE selection of player made parts). Everything is affected by physics, and the payoff for actually landing on the Mun is worth it once you finally do it. Highly recommended.

Prison Architect 8/10

I actually enjoyed this more before the latest updates. You start with some money and build a prison from the ground up. Everything from the first holding cell to maximum security showers is your decision; where to put it, what to make it out of, how to deck it out, and electricity and plumbing. Latest updates make it simple to make tons of money, and take away a lot of the challenge, but it is always fun building a new prison, even if you build it for a super-riot of 400 prisoners. 170 hours played.

Maybe you need to enjoy building like I do; the old Sim City games were games I played endlessly. I'm really happy with how much gameplay I've gotten out of these two titles though, and I recommend them to everyone.

 

[smackababy]

Dang! Thought this was a thread to hate on Early Access. =( I am all about that!

 

[Harabec]

I'm enjoying a bit of Starpoint Gemini 2. Still needs a lot of tweaking but the dev seem to be working hard at it while actively posting and listening to feedback.
It is like Freelancer but with bigger ships and slower battles.

 

[toughtrasher]

Dang! Thought this was a thread to hate on Early Access. =( I am all about that!

Why? Early Access is good imo, the only problem with is it some developers decide they can charge us stuff while they're game is still in beta!

 

[AMD64Blondie]

This is actually a Ubisoft game,but The Crew was just released for closed beta testing.
(I got lucky,and snagged a PC beta key from Ubisoft.)

(It's a MMO driving game,with cities from all across the US available to drive in.)

You've got New York,Las Vegas,Miami,Chicago,Seattle..and a whole bunch of other places to explore.

The game is kind of buggy and a little unstable right now...but it's still a blast to play.

It officially releases on Nov.11,2014.

(I already pre-ordered it from Amazon.com.Nov.11 can't get here soon enough..)

 

[yepp]

SpeedRunners, haven't had this much fun since Super Mario Kart. It's basically a platform runner, where you have to out run everyone or stay on screen to survive where the last man standing wins. There are the usual power ups items, where you can hurl traps, missiles etc... at each other. Game can get very intense, one of the few games that makes me grin.

10/10 Pretty much my new drug.

Edited: Game is currently 75% off at Bundle Stars right now: http://www.bundlestars.com/store/speedrunners/

 

[smackababy]

Why? Early Access is good imo, the only problem with is it some developers decide they can charge us stuff while they're game is still in beta!

Your opinion is wrong. Early Access and crowd funding are awful business models (for consumers, at least). I don't think you understand what Early Access is; it is charging for access to the unfinished game, in an event to generate funds to "finish" the game. Yeah, that really worked out for Day Z. Development has been going amazingly well on that one, right?

 

[Sattern]

Out of all of those I think Interstellar Marines looks the best.

I've always wanted a game that had components of real life military scenarios.

I will check back and post again when the list has more added to it.

 

[Kalmah]

Prison Architect (7/10)

This game has been able to consume about as much time as Dwarf Fortress did for me. You start out with a blank plot of land and 24 hours before your first group of prisoners arrive. You need to build holding cells, cells, canteen, yard, showers, solitary, workshops, kitchen, visiting room, cleaning cupboard, security room, armory, dog kennels, power, run power lines, water, run water pipes etc...

You have control of the regime of your prisoners, your guard patrols, dogs, doors, kitchen settings, punishment policies. There is contraband, drugs, clinics to build, therapy offices. Prisoners have addictions, will try to kill each other and your guards, will try to tunnel out and more.

It's a really fun game and is shaping up quite nicely with monthly release cycles. The developers release a video with each game update that is usually nearly an hour long demonstrating all of the new features.(and it's quite comical to watch)

My only fear is that this game is still going to have a big performance problem once it is finished. As of right now, it can run really really bad once your prison gets sizable. My gut feeling is that the game will be too complex upon completion to really be able to tackle much of the performance problems. It's just a hunch though.

I feel like I've gotten more than my moneys worth. I think I've put hundreds of hours into it. I am very OCD when it comes to games like this though. (games like Dungeon Keeper, Dwarf Fortress, Evil Genius)