Beyond Contact

About

Beyond Contact is a single player and multiplayer open world action adventure game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Playcorp Studios and was released on September 20, 2021. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

"Beyond Contact" is a science fiction survival crafting game where players join the Space Corps, a division of the United Worlds Congress, to complete missions and help determine game features through a public bug tracker and upvoter. The game uses a top-down art style and encourages players to join the official Space Corps Discord server for orientation and to discuss their experiences.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Skip User Reviews

71%

Audience ScoreBased on 590 reviews

story92 positive mentions

grinding93 negative mentions

Beautiful graphics and vibrant environments that enhance the exploration experience.
Engaging crafting and research system that encourages players to gather resources and experiment.
Interesting storyline with voice acting that adds depth to the gameplay.

Excessive grind for resources, particularly food and oxygen, which can detract from the overall enjoyment.
Combat mechanics are clunky and lack depth, making encounters feel tedious.
Limited inventory space and item durability lead to frustrating management issues.

story
286 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
67%
1%
The game's story is a blend of survival and exploration, featuring a structured campaign with voice-acted dialogue and cutscenes that revolve around uncovering the mystery of the alien planet Ketern. While some players find the narrative engaging and immersive, others criticize it for being simplistic or lacking depth, with repetitive missions and a grindy resource collection process that detracts from the overall experience. The dual modes—story-driven and sandbox—cater to different playstyles, but the execution leaves some players wanting more substantial content and variety in the storytelling.
- “The story campaign provides a structured experience, complete with voice-acted dialogue, cutscenes, and a clear narrative goal centered on uncovering the mystery of Ketern’s decay.”
- “The story presents intriguing moral dilemmas and objectives reminiscent of contemporary science-fiction films, and it does a great job of immersing the player in the game world.”
- “The world is beautiful and immersive, the quests are interesting, the characters are all memorable, the mechanics are satisfying, resource and inventory management is pleasing.”
- “The story was only made for Quinn in mind, so there are no story voice lines for any of the other characters, leaving you hearing Quinn as a force ghost speak instead of your character.”
- “The story is relatively basic but it's keeping me interested when I want to break away from base building and other miscellaneous survival tasks.”
- “The story is basic but decent.”
gameplay
140 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
70%
7%
The gameplay of "Beyond Contact" combines survival mechanics with base building and exploration, offering both a story-driven campaign and a sandbox mode. While the core gameplay loop of gathering, crafting, and combat is engaging, many players have noted issues with repetitiveness, bugs, and a lack of variety in mechanics, which can detract from the overall experience. Despite these flaws, the game features beautiful graphics and a solid foundation for enjoyable gameplay, appealing to fans of the genre, though some may find it grindy or frustrating at times.
- “The game blends the intensity of survival mechanics with the creative freedom of base building and exploration, offering both a story-driven campaign and a sandbox-style conquest mode.”
- “I enjoyed my first 70 hours or so, since the game has a nice implementation of all the gameplay elements I expected (resource gathering, progression via research, story-driven quests, base building, territory capture points, hack-and-slash style combat, etc.).”
- “The gameplay features a robust crafting and research system, allowing players to create an array of tools, weapons, and structures to aid in their survival on the dying planet of Ketern.”
- “40 minutes of gameplay, already encountered several bugs, including one game-breaking bug where all my keys stopped working in-game. I couldn't even press escape to close the game properly. I can't recommend the game in that state; it should be in early access at best.”
- “It's very repetitive because there isn't much variety in gameplay: what you start the game doing, you keep doing with a slightly higher price tag.”
- “Total bad raid mechanic is the sole thing that can make you turn from initially liking the game, enjoying the atmosphere, and surviving, to hating the game and wishing that you could finally end the campaign if you could leave the base for a second!”
grinding
97 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
2%
2%
96%
The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed feedback from players. While some find the resource gathering and crafting processes tedious and repetitive, especially in the late game, others appreciate the balance and variety in grinding activities, noting that it can be enjoyable with friends. Overall, the game is considered grindy, particularly in the early stages, but opinions vary on whether this detracts from the overall experience.
- “It's not grindy, and with a little bit of planning, travel is easy too.”
- “I finished the game with another friend, and it was really fun. It wasn't stressful, not too grindy, not too difficult, with a nice story and beautiful art style.”
- “If you don't mind grinding, then you'll be fine, but for me personally, the grind just got way too much way too fast.”
- “All the survival elements, which should be reasonably fun to overcome, become a tedious chore to be repeated endlessly.”
- “The combine grind of oxygen, nutrition, and durability makes the core loop very tedious instead of challenging.”
graphics
82 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
66%
30%
4%
The graphics of the game receive a mixed reception, with many praising the beautiful art style, crisp visuals, and attention to detail that create an immersive experience. However, some users report issues with optimization and performance, noting that the graphics can be poorly optimized and may require third-party solutions to run smoothly. Overall, while the aesthetic appeal is highlighted, there are concerns about technical execution and gameplay integration.
- “Beautiful graphics, absolutely top-notch voice acting and some nice gameplay.”
- “The graphics are gorgeous and game audio is +++.. can't wait to give the multiplayer option a go too.. this is going to keep me occupied for ages :)”
- “With its top-down art style inspired by pulp science-fiction comics, the game offers a visually distinct and immersive experience that sets it apart from other titles in the genre.”
- “The game's graphics are poorly optimized and lacking in a lot of settings; I had to use a third-party program to limit the framerate to keep my PC from trying to fly away.”
- “Graphics disappear and many more issues... the worst is if it happens, your progress is ruined.”
- “The graphics are a mix between 2D and 3D, and it's horrid trying to navigate using WASD instead of your usual mouse.”
music
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
71%
17%
12%
The music in the game is widely praised for its ability to enhance the overall atmosphere, featuring ambient synth melodies and tense combat cues that keep players engaged. Reviewers note that the soundtrack is both relaxing and immersive, making it enjoyable during various gameplay activities, from exploration to combat. Overall, the music contributes significantly to the game's enticing and entrancing world, complementing its impressive graphics.
- “The soundtrack enhances this tone, with ambient synth melodies and tense combat cues that keep players on edge.”
- “The music is also nice to chill out to whether you're exploring, building, crafting, or in combat.”
- “The soundtrack makes the game world feel enticing and entrancing.”
- “1) Expand bio-specific music for day/night cycles, etc.”
- “Initially, with the music and the AI, I got vibes of Subnautica. The saturated lighting I loved coupled with a cool sync-style music.”
atmosphere
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
43%
21%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive and richly designed ecosystem, striking a balance between indie and AAA aesthetics. Players appreciate the colorful environments, engaging sound design, and the sense of discovery and danger that permeates the experience. However, some frustrations with gameplay mechanics, particularly related to raids, can detract from the overall enjoyment of the atmospheric elements.
- “From the very beginning, the game establishes an atmosphere of discovery and danger, immersing players in a richly designed ecosystem where every step forward feels hard-earned.”
- “The atmosphere of the game isn't too indie nor full AAA, just a nice medium where you aren't expected to get into intense fights or build for your life.”
- “Tiptop atmosphere, it really feels like a foreign planet.”
- “For players who value atmosphere, depth, and the thrill of building order from chaos, Beyond Contact offers a rich if occasionally uneven adventure.”
optimization
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
36%
43%
Overall, the game's optimization is a mixed bag; while some players report decent performance and minimal bugs, others experience significant frame stuttering and poor graphics optimization, necessitating third-party solutions. Many users express a desire for further improvements before fully engaging with the game, indicating that optimization remains a critical area needing attention.
- “Decent controls and performance, seemingly no glitches found yet.”
- “The story is complete, new player characters with unique features added, and the performance is better than ever.”
- “It's also very well optimized.”
- “Also, the game's graphics are poorly optimized and lacking in a lot of settings. I had to use a third-party program to limit the framerate to keep my PC from trying to fly away.”
- “Poor optimization, tedious grind, limited skill trees, and even fewer 'unlocks'.”
- “Unfortunately for me, due to poor optimization, I'm just going to wait until the game is more polished before going ahead and finishing the entire thing.”
stability
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
82%
The stability of the game is a mixed bag; while some players report polished gameplay and minimal glitches, others experience significant issues such as catastrophic glitches, connection problems in multiplayer, and various bugs that can disrupt the experience. Overall, the game shows promise but is hindered by its early access status, leading to a range of stability concerns that can affect gameplay enjoyment.
- “Polished gameplay, meaningful and interesting progression (not like the soulless wood weapons, copper weapons, iron weapons, etc. kind of research tree), good graphics, fair storyline, stable and bug-free.”
- “Decent controls and performance, seemingly no glitches found yet.”
- “The occasional catastrophic glitch is really bad, the occasional collision stuck glitches are annoying, and the obelisk-limited respawns is weird.”
- “Just connecting to other players' lobbies can be really buggy, like one time it loaded the startup cutscene then sent me back to the main menu without any notification.”
- “Multiplayer is in 'alpha' and pretty buggy, connection slow, map not loading, crashing when joining/playing, etc.”
replayability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game offers a decent level of replayability, particularly through its flexible modes that cater to both guided storytelling and free exploration. Players can enhance their experience by unlocking different characters and revisiting the game with a focus on building and research after an initial playthrough. However, some reviewers suggest that increasing character variety could further improve replayability.
- “The flexibility of these modes adds depth to the experience, catering to those who prefer guided storytelling as well as players seeking freedom and replayability.”
- “Replayability is there if you focus on the story the first time and then take your time to build and research the second time.”
- “There's always room to improve how you play, and especially with the new game mode from early access, lots of replayability as you improve.”
- “The replayability of the game is probably okay, particularly if you do it multiplayer after playing solo.”
- “Unlocking different characters while playing may even give a basic level of replayability.”
- “More variety to characters would make replayability better.”
humor
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by its witty commentary and the amusing world design, which adds a lighthearted touch to the gameplay experience. Players appreciate the funny elements woven into the narrative, making the overall atmosphere enjoyable and entertaining.
- “The commentary provides moments of humor amid the tension.”
- “Pretty nice and funny game!”
- “I love the ideas and gameplay, and the funny world that has been created to explore.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
100%
The monetization strategy has been criticized for being excessively expensive, with in-game purchases like a single paint color costing 200 units, leading to a slow and grindy experience that feels designed to encourage microtransactions.
- “The monetization strategy feels overly aggressive, making the game slow and grindy, as if it was designed to push players towards microtransactions.”
- “Purchasing in-game items, like a single paint color, costs an excessive amount of units, which is quite frustrating.”
- “To buy one item (in-game purchase), such as a single paint color, costs 200 units, which is extremely unreasonable.”
- “The game is slow, boring, and grindy, and it feels like it was specifically designed to push microtransactions.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development is enhanced by diverse voice acting, including ESL actors, which contributes to a multicultural atmosphere. The unique designs of the aliens further enrich their memorability and individuality within the game.
- “The voice acting features a diverse cast, which greatly enhances the multicultural approach taken in character design.”
- “The aliens are quite memorable due to their unique character designs.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players appreciate that the game effectively teaches new skills without overwhelming them, contributing to a positive emotional experience.
- “The game teaches new skills the right way and never made me feel overwhelmed by the world around me.”