Earth Space Colonies
- July 1, 2016
- Persona and Pixel studio
- 14h median play time
Get on Steam"Earth Space Colonies" is a space-themed strategy and management game. Assemble and lead a team to colonize Mars, dealing with various challenges such as building infrastructure, managing resources, and protecting colonists from threats. Your decisions and actions will determine the success or failure of the mission.
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Reviews
- The game has a fun concept of building colonies on multiple planets, which can be engaging for casual players.
- Some players found the game enjoyable for short sessions, especially when purchased on sale.
- The graphics and environments are well imagined, contributing to the overall aesthetic of the game.
- The tutorial is poorly designed, making it difficult for new players to understand the mechanics and objectives.
- The interface is clunky and lacks intuitive navigation, leading to frustration during gameplay.
- Many players feel the game lacks depth and becomes repetitive quickly, with no compelling long-term objectives.
- story38 mentions
- 21 % positive mentions
- 68 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The game's story is generally perceived as lacking depth and feeling unfinished, with players noting that the Mars storyline is the most developed but still leaves much to be desired. While there are three campaigns with specific goals, the overall narrative is considered too brief and repetitive, leading to a sense of dissatisfaction. Despite these shortcomings, some players appreciate the mechanics and express hope for future updates to enhance the storytelling experience.
“There are three campaigns that have specific goals, and you have a rich story to follow as you play.”
“Throughout the story and your exploration, you will build colonies on these worlds.”
“Each colony had a different storyline.”
“It feels unfinished, with buildings that have no use, several references to 'trading with Earth' which you never can do, and a way too quick roundup of the Mars storyline.”
“The storyline campaign is canned and once you've completed it, all you can do is repeat the same process.”
“Multiple times during the first hours of the game in tutorial/story mode, you're asked to build something and you have no clue how to procure the materials to make it.”
- gameplay38 mentions
- 8 % positive mentions
- 82 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
Gameplay in this colony management game is criticized for being unintuitive and frustrating, particularly due to pathing issues that hinder mechanics from efficiently repairing structures. Players find the need for multiple mechanics per structure excessive, and the crafting system lacks depth, as resources appear without clear sourcing. While the game has potential, many reviewers suggest waiting for improvements before diving in, especially given the current early access state.
“The gameplay, as it stands in early access, is what you would expect for a colony management game, but I have to say that aside from a resource crunch now and then, I never really felt that my colony was on the brink of disaster or that a wrong choice could spell ruin for my colonists.”
“At the beginning of the game, you have 'advisors' who do a great job at stepping you through some of the beginning phases, but the mechanics are designed where you need to be increasingly more creative.”
“The mechanics of the game work well, but the gameplay isn't very intuitive.”
“The mechanics kept getting stuck, so my structures didn't get repaired and were destroyed.”
“Until at least the pathing is fixed, I highly recommend you stay away from this game unless you want a lesson in frustration and a lot of wasted gameplay.”
“Game suffers in several areas of gameplay.”
- graphics14 mentions
- 7 % positive mentions
- 71 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some users finding them mediocre and clunky, while others appreciate the imaginative design and immersive environments. However, minor graphical and audio glitches detract from the overall experience, leading to a perception of the game as lacking depth and polish. Overall, many players suggest that the graphics need further refinement to enhance gameplay.
“The graphics are well imagined, and the environments aid in the suspension of disbelief.”
“The graphics are mediocre, and the user interface is weird and clunky.”
“Oh, please use more sensible graphics that fit with the elements they represent.”
“It feels more like a clicky mobile game with fancier graphics and no depth.”
- stability8 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's stability is characterized by minor graphical and audio glitches, with occasional audio cutouts. While there are no crashes reported, some players find these issues frustrating enough to hinder gameplay progression.
“Has glitches that make the game frustrating and unable to progress in the game.”
“There are astronauts and buggies roaming around with no rhyme or reason.”
“No crashes; audio cuts out from time to time, minor graphical glitches.”
- replayability8 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The game offers limited replayability, with players estimating they could play through it two or three times at most, especially when compared to more replayable titles like Banished. While the sandbox mode presents some potential for replayability, it is essentially a variation of the story mode without objectives, leading to a lack of long-term engagement. Overall, many feel the game does not justify its price due to this short-lived entertainment value.
“I would not pay $15 for this game because it lacks long-term replayability that you can find in games like Banished.”
“The sandbox mode has possible replayability; however, I never ended up playing the sandbox mode since it is exactly the same as story mode, except there are no objectives or story.”
“We love Banished, and while I can say that this does not have the replayability of Banished (in my opinion, I could see maybe playing it through two or three times, whereas Banished has much more replayability), it did entertain me for an evening or two.”
- grinding6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players consistently find the grinding aspect of the game to be overly tedious, with many expressing that it quickly becomes a monotonous chore.
“It's just too tedious.”
“That grew tedious fast.”
“If you think all that sounds pretty tedious, you'd be right.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 100 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The reviews indicate that the game's optimization is a mixed bag, with some users reporting smooth performance on high-end systems while others experience significant lag and frame rate drops on mid-range setups. Overall, the optimization appears to vary widely depending on individual hardware configurations.
