UFG Goes Hands On With Edge of Space!

“Finally, the Kenny has played…another worthy Early Access Title!” Yeah, that sounded better when I was screaming into my imaginary microphone pretending to be the Rock. Still, it does ring true; I’ve been covering a lot of Steam’s Early Access games. And hopefully because my coverage has been so helpful to our readers, you were waiting for me to comment on another one…yeah, we’ll just go with that…

All jokes aside, the game I want to talk about today is Handyman Studios’ Edge of Space. Those of you in the know, probably realized that EoS was released on Steam back in June of last year and are wondering why we are talking about it now. Well, since its release EoS has gone through a number of changes, so much so that it feels like a new-ish game. One of the recent updates included online multiplayer options and exclusive Terraria crossover content (special armor sets, a new boss molded after Skeletron and more). With all these promising new additions, we felt it was a good idea to jump into EoS and  see how things turned out or if it was worth the price of admission. For those of you who are just now hearing about the game, it’s one of the latest action adventure/RPG voxek based titles that are all the rage nowadays. You know, the ones that feature randomly generated worlds, survival mechanics (like mining for materials to craft items), and the ability to manipulate the landscape.  Although calling it Terraria in space would undermine the work Handyman Studios has put into making Edge of Space a unique experience, it best illustrates what gamers can expect.

After creating your avatar, at the start of the game, you’re given the option to play through the tutorial or to skip ahead in your journey. I chose to learn the ropes. Upon waking up from cryo-sleep aboard an Ark Corporation (or ArkCo) space ship I was greeted by an AI/holographic teacher of sorts that filled me in on my current mission. As an ArkCo Operative, my job is to explore the deepest, darkest parts of the galaxy in order to terraform newly discovered planets. I was also taught how to utilize basic gameplay mechanics. This began with learning how to mine precious minerals using my laser pick, how to craft items, and how to interact with important objects. The early part of the tutorial concluded after I was given some starter items and sent down to an unknown planet.

It is the nature of these games to be all about survival in the midst of a hostile environment. And honestly, the idea of making it on your own with little to no help is thrilling. So I didn’t think twice when I was sent down to the planet without a weapon or medicinal items. For a little while I had a good time just chipping away at the planet’s surface; I couldn’t wait to see what I could build out of the raw materials I’d found. Beyond that, it was cool to be able to explore an alien planet, especially one made up of, what I assumed were, giant floating islands. It didn’t occur to me that I had begun a cycle of learning and crafting that would prove to more frustrating than fun.

You see in order to continue with the tutorial, I had to craft a keycard* that would allow me to travel to another training vessel out in space. The first few times this wasn’t an issue; even without a weapon I was able to easily find what I needed without getting killed by the planet’s inhabitants. Additionally, I could store the basic items that the AI would give s each time I visited a new ship. As things went along, I got more proficient with navigating the terrain, fighting off creatures, and mining different materials. I even built a little house with a mechanical sliding door. It wasn’t until the fifth or sixth card that my progress came to a complete stop due to a combination of issues. The main one being that there didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the location of the necessary materials.

Most of the metals are found underground but there isn’t a specific depth at which to find many of them. For instance, going down multiple layers would yield some gold on one floating island, while the next island would have ore closer to the surface. Not only that, but there is only one Biome (regions that house different geographical features, materials and enemies) available right now. This made it difficult to find the seemingly rare materials needed to craft the sixth keycard as I had no clue where to look or a different Biome to survey. On the other hand, it was annoying to find elements to things (like shotgun ammo) that you won’t be able to utilize till later in the game. My searches were basically all guess work. Then there is the fact that I didn’t have a map of the planet. Again, I understand the need to survive but a map would have helped out a lot. To be digging through a layer of rock and to all of a sudden start plummeting to my death like a shuttle reentering the earth’s atmosphere, isn’t fun. It’s actually pretty scary; my stomach would drop as my in-game body would catch fire before crashing into the surface of another island. This wasn’t a big issue once I got my first jetpack. Still, a map would have been great, even if it only showed the places you’ve previously visited.

Another contribution to my halted game progression had to do with the use of schematics. In order to craft something I had to have the corresponding schematic. There’s no way to just learn how to make something, even if you have all of the materials needed. This wouldn’t have been an issue if the ArkCo ships weren’t the only places I could get them (the first few schematics were only found on the ships). So I often ran into the dilemma of needing to explore more dangerous areas but not having the weaponry or tools to do so efficiently for lack of the appropriate schematic. After exploring majority of the top most region of the planet, I started to venture to the lower islands (after finding a safe way down). It didn’t take long before I ran into enemies that were too tough for me to handle. Meaning whatever keycard resource I could have gotten from them wasn’t attainable at that time because I didn’t have a strong enough weapon to defeat them.

The biggest problem I had, which was almost a deal breaker for me, had to do with a bug that would prevent the game from loading. I created a new world to play in to see if I could find the materials I needed for the last keycard. When that didn’t work, I tried to go back to the original world. Unfortunately, the game wouldn’t load when I tried to play on that planet, forcing me to quit the game. This meant that I no longer had access to the items I had stored in my house, many of which were needed to make the keycard. All of my efforts seemed to be for naught as I was now even further from my goal.

It was really frustrating to search for what seemed like a needle in a haystack while trying not to get killed by tough enemies. Especially when this search was just to complete the tutorial – if I had been thrown into the world to fend for myself it would have been better. At least then, what I made was dependent on what I found as opposed to what I “needed” to find in order to progress. Even if you skip the tutorial though, schematics for basic items were super hard to find. While all of the above issues were truly frustrating, I was still enjoying myself.  EoS does provide a grand adventure when it isn’t tripping over itself early on. The reason I needed to note some of the negative things was to show what a new player might go through. While some of the appeal of this genre comes from figuring out how things work, playing EoS can be daunting at times. And with the absence of a guide because of how many changes the game has gone through, it’s hard to recommend this game to anyone other than the most diehard fans of this game type.

That said, I’d still recommend EoS to potential buyers. The reason is because of the speed of which things are being patched. I’ve never seen a developer support a game like Handman Studios has. Some of the things that I would have complained about in this preview where patched before I had a chance to write them down; they inadvertently caused me to take longer writing this because of the changes. As a matter of fact, what is included here is probably obsolete as I’m sure another patch addressing my concerns will be released soon enough. Heck, they even have a timer on the main menu that counts down each update.  They are demonstrating what support for an Early Access title should look like!

I believe that EoS will be a great game that rivals games like Terraria once it’s completed. And with the fact that the developer quickly adjusts gameplay issues based on player feedback, it’s likely to be soon. That said, it is a bit rough around the edges at the moment. I recommend the purchase, just be mindful of the growing pains.

*The issue with the keycards has been addressed in a recent update. I didn’t notice this because it required me to create a new character before the changes would take effect.

Editor’s Note: We didn’t get to try out the multiplayer for this preview. As of right now, you have to invite your friends to your server to play as there are no options to join random games.