Exopanet: First Contact is a singleplayer, story-driven third person action RPG with survival elements set in a space western universe and is currently being developed by Alersteam. These descriptors may seem convoluted upon first examination, yet a short time with the game will make them as plain as the driven sand of K’Tharsis (the desert planet that the player begins on).
You play as Jack Sharp, a gunslinging Indiana-Jones-lookalike that is presented with a vast alien environment to explore and survive in. The game itself draws from a myriad selection of sources, some more obvious than others like Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls and Fallout series, and games like Red Dead Redemption. The story so far is familiar to alien survival games; work for a massive space-faring corporation or fight the powers-at-be and side with your newfound alien buddies. Simplicity in games can sometimes equate to brilliance and one can hope that Alersteam will capitalize on such a simple premise by fleshing out the canvas they have established.
The game is currently in early access and is fully backed on Kickstarter. Bug fixes and updates seem to come out at a decent pace per the community on the game’s steam page. With this in mind, take the critiques that follow with a grain of salt; anything and everything can change at this stage in development.
Upon initial introduction to the game, the player is met with a simple quest; finding your pants. This style of crude humor mixed with practical survival cues are Exoplanet’s main strength. Too many survival games take their own storylines too seriously in an attempt to say something poetic; a design choice that often deflates the immersion of being in a new and interesting world. Still others send the player on seemingly endless “fetch” quests where the object being retrieved often has little personal interest to the player or in-game value to be worth the completion time. Hopefully Exoplanet: First Contact can continue to skirt the line between humor and practicality that strengthens the rough-and-tumble space-western aesthetic.
Polish is lacking in certain areas although again the game IS early access. Animations aren’t as accurate as the perhaps should be, sound levels can be startling for certain events like fall damage (although the options allow for some tweaking), and I glitched into terrain more than once. Combat is a weak point currently as well in the sense that it is very simple and one often just defaults to melee in order to save ammo which is both costly and scarce. The HUD is almost non-existent but one often has to juggle a series of menus in order to find anything useful, a trade-off that can seem overwhelming at first.
As for some good things there is plenty here to like. Dialogue and decisions are text-based which opens up a huge window of opportunity for creative questlines and difficult choices that can actually impact in-game outcomes. The ambience is simple but convincing enough to set the mood. Furthermore, there is a wealth of inventory slots and tons of materials even in current state. This combined with the various survival mechanics imply that there might some big plans for future tech trees and gameplay options.
All in all, the game is limited in its present state. Currently there is roughly 10-20 hours of content to try out depending on how fast one plays. Yet, the foundation seems solid enough, and if Alersteam can craft a world that is unique, interactive, and charming enough to keep players immersed, then Exoplanet: First Contact might in time be a solid addition to gamers’ story-driven survival libraries.
