Daniel Dickinson, Author, Adventurer

I had the privilege of playing several play tests this past month. Crosswinds, and then StarRupture. And let me tell you, we're about to get some great survival games.

StarRupture is a Sci-Fi survival game from the house that brought us the deadly GreenHell survival game. Blending in elements of classic survival elements such as exploring, eating, drinking, and running from creepy crawlies, StarRupture adds in factory management. Stranded on a world where everything is trying to kill you, from the ground to the neighboring star, you're tasked with building a factory, mining for minerals, and then shipping them back home to pay off your debt. Pretty sure there's a political message there somewhere.

Anyway, this game so far has a bunch of cool mechanics. The idea of building a factory in a survival game just seems natural. It doesn't feel forced. This works, and I'm all for it. I'm not one for factory games generally; games like Dyson Sphere Program or Factoroids just don't do it for me. I'm not about micromanaging a factory. But StarRupture makes it seamless and unintrusive. Not to say it doesn't have its downside, though.
Where it starts to get kind of tiresome is when you get past the tutorial stage of the game, and it expects you to follow the loop. Build more complex machines, to make more complex items, ship them home, collect points, rinse, repeat. Balancing the constant need to expand resources, gather them, forge them, and ship them gets tedious real fast. Not because it's boring, but because it starts to slow down your exploration. And for me, since I tend to be OCD about building, I tend to let finding food and water take a backseat.

This isn't a huge complaint, but it was something I noticed. Probably the biggest issue I had was that the game crashed, and I lost an hour or more of gameplay. I don't know if that's just a quality-of-life fix that is planned, but my save game that I restored from was several hours old. That irritated me a bit.
Regardless, this game is a must for any survival game player. And I will be happy to pick it up on release day.

Let me preface this review with a few caveats. First, this game is in the Alpha stage and has recently allowed players to test the game and its servers. I am no stranger to alpha releases, and the game, by extension, is in a state of flux. Because of that, I may need to return later once the game is fully released, to correct or expand on some of the items I’ll be pointing out here. Later on, I would like to point out some of its flaws, not to be critical of it, but in the hope that it’ll improve. Again, this is an Alpha game, and I don’t KNOW what Crosswinds Crew has in store for fixes.

When I first saw Crosswind drop, my immediate thought was, “THIS is what I wanted.” A survival game, set in a pirate world, with ship-to-ship combat and boarding. Something Ubisoft apparently couldn’t handle. But I’ll elaborate more on that in a minute.

Crosswind starts you off on a nice island, with some very lovely birds that want to kill you on sight. Once you’ve gotten a weapon, they quickly realize you’re the apex predator and start to give you room. The story so far is actually really good. The building elements are there, and like most new building games, it comes with quirks you have to get used to. Crafting is on par with most other games of its genre, and there is a wide variety of things you can build. I’ve completed the first story mission and reached the Iron Age of Piracy, which unlocks new items and gear. I have to say, this game has its bright spots so far. Melding together AC: Black Flag, Velhiem, and Enshrouded games together into a spectacular Pirate survival game.

The ship-to-ship combat feels excellent, the boarding is serviceable, and overall, it's an Alpha state game. It is VERY well done. The vision is there. THIS game is what I’ve been waiting for.  I can not stress that enough. And if you have too, then you need to add Crosswind to your Steam wish list right now.
Alright, let’s get into the nitpicking. I’ll point you to the caveats at the beginning as a reminder.

The game starts off on a small-ish scale. You fix up a small skiff, and can pretty much start sailing around. This is my first nitpick. Is this how the game, when it is finished, will start? If so, then my concern is: This first boat felt way too easy to get. It didn’t feel rewarding. How can it be fixed? Make the island slightly bigger, which encourages exploration more. Break the ship up into quest pieces, but don’t tell the player that those parts are there, or where they are. Let the player stumble across the pieces as they explore. After all, you’re marooned on the island; getting off it should feel rewarding. This theme of rewarding needs to also carry through the rest of the game, and is, in my opinion, the biggest issue I see so far. When you find the next ship, on a different island, and it needs repairing for me, I will get it almost immediately after repairing the skiff, which leads me to the next issue I have. The cutter was pretty much the same; there was no reward in getting it built. On top of that, there’s no crew, so being able to use the cannons is really immersive, shattering.

My opinion is to make the cutter only repairable after getting the first crew, at the end of the Copper Islands. Think the sailor's name was Hands? Maybe there’s a capstan you need to find there, in order to repair the ship. Then, between Hands and the doctor who appears, you have a crew of three.
The ships and sailing. Please remove the snapback while steering. When you turn left or right, the wheel snaps back into the neutral position. I’m sure this is done for the simplicity of programming. But it breaks the immersion, and also limits the vessel in its maneuverability. Also, speaking of the wheel… And this is funny because when I first saw the sailing, I commented on this very thing. Slow the wheel spin animation down. Its turning speed and the speed of the vessel turning don’t match very well. It shouldn’t match perfectly, but slowing the animation down, maybe by like, 5 frames?  

When I first played Assassin's Creed 3, I remember thinking that the ship portion of the game would make an amazing Assassin's Creed. I was rewarded with Black Flag, which, in my opinion, was the best Assassin's Creed game. Then, I just begged for them to remove the assassin stuff and make a Black Flag game where I could roam the seas, be a pirate, raid, pillage, and fight other ships. But somehow, they ignored all that and made Skull and Bones. All they had to do was what Crosswinds Crew is doing, and they would have had a hit. So I’m glad Crosswind is coming down the line, I can’t wait to see what the dev team has in store.

I’m going to be honest with you: I’ve never read the Dune series. When I saw Dune: Awakening announced, I was stoked. Why, you may ask, would I care if I’ve never read the series? Because Funcom was making it. And that was enough for me.
Dune: Awakening was the follow-up survival, MMO, and PVE game from Norway’s Funcom. I have thousands of hours in their Conan Exiles survival game. Any new entry into their particular formula had me sold. So yeah, I was going to pick this up on day one.

Dune Awakening is an open-world, survival MMO set in the Frank Herbert world of Dune. With intrigue, sand, and spice flowing from every corner. It takes place similarly to the movies, where you, taking the place of Paul Atreides, must go to Arrakis, where you must find the lost Fremen, who apparently disappeared. That is basically the story in a nutshell. There is, I am happy to say, a pretty decent story layered into this game. It's far better than the crumbs you get in Conan Exiles. Let’s break down the different aspects.

Building. First and foremost, when I start playing any survival game, how does the building aspect work? Is it easy, or is it stupid… Looking at you, Ark. Anyway, no, this game is simple and straightforward, with responsive snapping to the building material. Walls, foundations, etc. They all work wonderfully with the environment. And the extra icing is the sand that surrounds you, can completely destroy your base if you’re not careful. It’s a nice touch. The only critique I have about the building is the staking system. It’s got a few interface issues, and it’s pretty vague on how it works.

How is combat? Between swords, shields, and guns. I’ve seen very little issue. The skills you get help you slide easily into close quarters if you desire. While shooting from long distances is also possible. Even the classes of Soldier, Mentat, Swordmaster, and Jesuet feel perfectly in tune with the combat system. They all have their strength, and even multiclassing has some synergies that just make sense. Shooting feels impactful and gratifying. Using a sword against a shield requires slow, methodical attacks. There is no button mashing here.

Survival, another of the core mechanics of the game, is pretty well done. I was afraid water would be an issue. Once you progress fast enough through the game, or specifically through the trials, Water becomes a non-issue. Worms, another staple of the Dune universe are of course, something you need to watch out for. Piss them off, and don’t give them the respect they require, and they will eat you. However, even they are predictable enough and become less of a threat later on. The danger comes from balancing all this with being out in the sun and the traps the surface of Arrakis hides. It’s not Green Hell hard, so take that as you will. I would like to see a food system, though. Just add a new layer of difficulty and balance. It’s odd that it was omitted.

Now, what about that PVP? It’s changing as of writing this, so while the game launched with a massive chunk of endgame placed behind PVP, it's become less of an issue. The biggest complaint I have comes from the Landsraad. This is Funcoms version of doing dailies in MMO’s, or Mobile games. And its… Well, for a guild of two, it’s impossible to complete. And you want to complete them because new content, weapons, items, armor, etc., are all in there, waiting for you to claim. But in order to do so, you have to turn in items that, again, for a party of two, are simply impossible to accomplish. We have day jobs, and we can’t be farming materials needed to make some of the high-end, tier 6 items the Landsraad houses require.

Aside from the Landsraad, Dune Awakening is off to a very solid start. I have no doubts that the game will grow and get better over time with fine-tuning and community feedback. Conan Exiles did, and it’s an amazing game. I still play.