Gaia

About

"Gaia" is a single-player Role Playing game offering approximately 3 hours of playtime. As a treasure hunter seeking the ancient planet of Gaia, you must navigate a crashed ship, harvest alien resources, and build modular bases, while encountering three distinct AI storytellers providing varied gameplay experiences. Crafting items, vehicles, and blueprints adds depth to this immersive quest for ancient technology.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

57%

Audience ScoreBased on 136 reviews

gameplay8 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

The game has a lot of potential with interesting gameplay concepts like natural disasters and character customization.
Despite its flaws, some players find the game addictive and enjoyable, especially for a solo developer project.
The developer is responsive to feedback and has shown commitment to improving the game through updates.

The game suffers from severe optimization issues, including lag, clunky controls, and outdated graphics.
Many players report a lack of content and bugs that hinder gameplay, making it feel unfinished and unpolished.
The tutorial is poorly designed, leading to confusion and frustration for new players trying to understand the mechanics.

graphics
38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
58%
21%
The graphics of the game have received overwhelmingly negative feedback, with many users describing them as outdated, reminiscent of 90s visuals, and poorly optimized, leading to lag and a clunky experience. While some players acknowledge the charm and potential of the graphics for an early access title, the consensus is that significant improvements are needed in textures, effects, and overall polish to meet modern gaming standards.
- “The graphics are decent enough for a budget game and it has a unique charm, I must say!”
- “The graphics could do with improvements, but for a very early access game, I've enjoyed the 8 hours I've spent playing it.”
- “+ World and creature graphics are good.”
- “Worthless game that looks even worse than the trailer... extremely limited to what you can build, terrible optimization and constantly lags, graphics that would make the 90s want to stop gaming, horrible UI.... seriously a 9-year-old could make a better game than this.... it's not even a real survival game.. straight garbage.”
- “It is a basic sandbox planet explorer game with abominable storage and inventory problems, minimal inventory stacking, and still jerky graphics with enough fogginess to everything that playing feels like running around with minor nearsightedness at all times.”
- “Extremely outdated graphics in multiple fields, most notably textures, effects, and animations.”
gameplay
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
67%
9%
Gameplay in this early access title features a mix of interesting concepts like natural disasters and unique trading mechanics, but is marred by serious design flaws and a lack of secondary activities, such as quests or NPCs. While some players find the gameplay engaging and relaxing after understanding the mechanics, others criticize it for being clumsy and reliant on outdated gameplay loops. Overall, the game presents good ideas but struggles with execution and polish.
- “Some gameplay concepts like random natural disasters and base raids keep players alert, while trading is done in a unique way, which is interesting.”
- “Gameplay is divided into session preparation, exploration, management, trading, and combat.”
- “It's become a nice and relaxing game to play now that I understand the mechanics and concept.”
- “Serious design flaws regarding several gameplay aspects.”
- “Absence of secondary activities to break the main gameplay loop: no quests, locations, or NPCs.”
- “Overall, Gaia is a sandbox with some good ideas and concepts, but for the most part fails to execute them properly and is overwhelmed by design oversights, lack of polishing, and flawed gameplay mechanics.”
story
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
68%
19%
The game features three distinct narrators that offer varied storytelling experiences, which is a unique concept. However, the plot has notable gaps, such as the unexplained inaction of merchants, and the overall narrative feels underdeveloped, lacking cut-scenes and depth. Players engage in resource gathering and survival challenges while gradually uncovering the world’s story, but the execution leaves much to be desired.
- “Three different story narrators make the game play out somewhat differently and is a nice concept too.”
- “Something where you gather resources, struggle to survive, build up a base, and have to deal with increasing challenges - fending off raids on your base, traveling to increasingly more dangerous areas, contending with weather and mother nature, all while working towards a goal and uncovering the story of the world.”
- “Why the merchants don't just save you from your situation is beyond my comprehension and a huge plot hole.”
- “No cut-scenes or story to speak of at this stage of the game.”
- “There are three separate 'storytellers' that create a very different game experience.”
optimization
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
50%
30%
The game suffers from severe optimization issues, including excessive RAM consumption of 16 to 18 GB, long loading times, and frequent lag, leading to a frustrating experience. Many users express disappointment with the graphics and overall performance, deeming it unacceptable and in need of significant improvements.
- “Optimization problems with loading times and RAM consumption.”
- “It needs serious optimization to bring its performance to an acceptable level.”
- “It needs serious optimizations to bring its performance to acceptable.”
- “Significant optimization problems: the game managed to constantly consume an outrageous 16 to 18 GBs of RAM while running.”
- “[*] Optimization problems with loading times and RAM consumption.”
stability
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is a mixed bag, with many users reporting significant issues such as game-breaking bugs, particularly with saving and a buggy tutorial that requires restarting the game. However, some players have experienced only minor glitches like FPS drops and occasional stuttering, suggesting that while the game has serious stability concerns, it may improve with future updates. Overall, it is not recommended for those seeking a polished experience in its current early access state.
- “Buggy game breaking one where your save won't save; you have to quit out of it. It gets better now that the save won't load. Game-breaking, not happy, limited building options.”
- “I could also live with the buggy tutorial, but I had to restart several times as it got stuck - and each time you have to quit the entire game for that.”
- “The tutorial is buggy.”
music
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
40%
The music in the game has received high praise, with users describing it as "lovely" and "amazing," highlighting the soundtrack as a standout feature that scores a perfect 10/10. Overall, the music significantly enhances the gaming experience.
- “The music is really amazing, to be honest.”
- “We scored a real home run with the soundtrack.”
- “10/10 for the soundtrack.”
atmosphere
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players appreciate the game's dynamic weather system, which significantly enhances the overall atmosphere and ambience. The nostalgic soundtracks evoke memories of the old Bristol sound, contributing to a slick and immersive experience that resonates positively with players.
- “I really enjoy games that have a very dynamic weather system; this adds a lot of atmosphere and ambience that is the icing on the cake for me.”
- “There is a good atmosphere, and the game gives me a good feeling when I play it; it's kind of nostalgic in a way.”
- “The initial tracks remind me of the old Bristol sound—Massive Attack and Tricky—and there is also a very slick atmospheric sound.”
monetization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization aspect of the game is generally positive, as it features no ads, allowing for an uninterrupted gameplay experience. However, some players feel that the game's mechanics, particularly aiming, are floaty and inaccurate, which may detract from overall enjoyment.
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be somewhat excessive, though opinions vary, as some enjoy the repetitive nature of the gameplay.
- “The game can be a bit grindy, but at the same time, some people enjoy that aspect.”
- “The game can be a bit grindy, but at the same time, some people enjoy that aspect.”

Buy Gaia

Gaia
$19.99
See offer on Steam

3h Median play time

3h Average play time

3-3h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 2 analyzed playthroughs

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Gaia

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