[EDIT:] Updating my review to a positive one. The servers are much more stable now and there are more of them. The DDOS attacks seem to have been defeated, too. Progression is now stable enough for me to reccommend the game, but it IS still early access, so bare that in mind!

This is a really fun game. I thoroughly enjoyed the playtests and spent many hours designing mechs to protect vital parts, breaking into fortresses, fighting off pirates and tensely watching the horizon for plumes of smoke. Also the sound design for the tramplers when they move is fantastic. Like a giant high-tension electrical pylon come to life. But BUYER BEWARE – this game wears the early access badge for a reason. It’s riddled with bugs, there are still issues with items vanishing on extraction and the player base is sweatier than a War Thunder forum. You WILL get screwed out of progress, but the devs seem to be working very hard and quick to make the game experience the best it can be.

I had this great run where I found a bunch of rare loot, some extra cannons, fought off a pirate boarding attempt and had to extract under fire from 2 tramplers on the ground … only for the servers to crash in the final seconds of the extraction, booting me back to the main menu and costing me an hour’s-worth of progress and loot. By the looks of some other reviews, I’m not alone in this kind of experience.

I’ve seen others comparing this game to Sea of Thieves (but in a desert) and the devs could escape that branding by focusing on the PVE side of the game, rather than the PVP (particularly for the solo experience). Lone players could have to deal with sand storms, big alien beetles, giant sand worms, maybe some flying enemies that you can use the 40mm autocannon against. Perhaps to balance it out, the loot is slightly less valuable and the rarer stuff is only available on multiplayer servers? Dunno. I only worry that the same sweatlords that made Sea of Thieves impenetrable for new players or those who don’t have enough free time to ‘get good’ are going to cause this game’s population to crater a similar fashion.

Tldr; This game has the form and function of a rusty razor. It works (in theory), but it can be incredibly painful and it will take you many, many hours to actually accomplish anything with it. I look forward to watching it develop though. Best of luck with the future development.