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Planetbase

Planetbase has a handful of minor flaws, but the overall presentation is excellent despite these tiny problems. A fun game for people who like building and managing communities.
77%Game Brain Score
gameplay, graphics
story, stability
77% User Score Based on 11,546 reviews
Critic Score 75%Based on 1 reviews

Platforms

PCMac OSPlaystation 4Xbox OneXboxWindowsPlayStation

About

Planetbase is a strategy simulation game where players build and manage a colony on distant planets. Overcome challenges such as low oxygen levels, extreme temperatures, and hostile alien life forms to ensure the survival of your colonists. Expand and upgrade your base with various structures and technologies to create a thriving, self-sufficient colony.

Planetbase screenshot
Planetbase screenshot
Planetbase screenshot
Planetbase screenshot
Planetbase screenshot
Planetbase screenshot
Planetbase screenshot
Planetbase screenshot
Planetbase screenshot
Planetbase screenshot
Planetbase screenshot
+15
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77%
Audience ScoreBased on 11,546 reviews
gameplay400 positive mentions
story38 negative mentions

  • The graphics are charming and immersive, enhancing the gameplay experience without being overly demanding on hardware.
  • The gameplay mechanics are engaging, offering a compelling balance between resource management and base expansion that keeps players invested.
  • The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its immersive qualities, effectively transporting players to various alien environments with distinct challenges.
  • The AI is poorly optimized, leading to frustrating gameplay disruptions and bugs that can make the game unplayable at times.
  • The game lacks a compelling narrative or engaging mission structure, resulting in a repetitive experience after the initial hours of play.
  • Many players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, especially in the late game where meaningful achievements are scarce.
  • gameplay
    1,406 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of "Planetbase" is characterized by its straightforward mechanics and engaging resource management challenges, appealing to fans of simulation and colony-building genres. While many players appreciate the addictive nature and depth of the gameplay, some criticize the AI behavior, pathfinding issues, and a lack of content that can lead to repetitiveness after initial hours of play. Overall, the game offers a mix of fun and frustration, with potential for improvement through updates or expansions.

    • “The straightforward gameplay combined with the challenge of resource management keeps it engaging from start to finish.”
    • “The balance between managing resources, expanding your base, and ensuring the survival of your settlers creates a compelling gameplay loop that is hard to put down.”
    • “With its stunning visuals, deep gameplay mechanics, and immersive world-building, it stands as a shining example of what the simulation genre can achieve.”
    • “There really isn't enough gameplay to justify the price tag.”
    • “The mechanics are poor that you really have to turn off almost any possible distraction for your colonists when you really want to push production on something.”
    • “The gameplay does get repetitive after a while, and sometimes you can get frustrated by the AI not doing what you want to, but overall a decent game.”
  • graphics
    916 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of "Planetbase" have received generally positive feedback, with many players praising their aesthetic charm and smooth performance even on lower-end systems. The visuals are described as cute and immersive, effectively complementing the game's space colony theme, though some critiques mention a lack of depth and variety in graphical detail. Overall, the graphics are considered solid for an indie title, enhancing the gameplay experience without being overly demanding on hardware.

    • “With its stunning visuals, deep gameplay mechanics, and immersive world-building, it stands as a shining example of what the simulation genre can achieve.”
    • “The graphics are very nice and make the game more immersive.”
    • “The graphics are clean and polished for a sim game and I really enjoyed my first 20 hours or so in game.”
    • “The visuals are, to be blunt, poor.”
    • “The graphics are basic and unappealing.”
    • “I get it's an indie, but I just can't get past the potato graphics... it just seems like a low-res port of any other space sim game but with less interest.”
  • story
    352 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game lacks a traditional narrative or storyline, with players primarily focused on survival and base-building without any overarching plot or character development. While some players appreciate the challenge of managing resources and colonists, many express a desire for a more engaging story or mission structure to enhance immersion and provide motivation beyond arbitrary milestones. Overall, the absence of a compelling narrative is a common critique, leaving the gameplay feeling somewhat shallow and repetitive.

    • “What I like most is that it puts me into a sci-fi story mode.”
    • “Did you enjoy Surviving Mars' compelling player-involved storytelling of humanity struggling to establish a foothold on another world?”
    • “But in my opinion, the entire game is the 'plot.' You start off with barely anything and your story is to survive.”
    • “There's no campaign or story, just astronauts dumped on a planet, struggling to survive.”
    • “This game lacks a story and interesting mission objectives (reaching the same milestones on 4 planets like having 300 people, having 1000 money is not fun enough to do multiple times).”
    • “It's pretty much a sandbox game with no story mode.”
  • replayability
    350 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's replayability is a mixed bag, with many players noting that while it offers some initial enjoyment and challenges across different planets, it tends to become repetitive and lacks depth over time. Some reviews highlight the potential for replayability through randomized maps and community-created scenarios, but overall, many feel that once the core mechanics are mastered, the game loses its long-term appeal. Players express a desire for more content and complexity to enhance replay value, suggesting that while it can be fun for a short period, it may not sustain interest for extended play.

    • “Deceptively simple with nigh infinite replayability.”
    • “Great game has replay value -- once you've mastered the basics, the game includes 3 additional planet types that will make you rethink how to play, and also challenge modes to try various handicaps and see how that affects your gameplay.”
    • “With such large variety in planets, conditions and scenarios the game has much replayability.”
    • “Overall, I'd give this a 5/10, worth a few hours and the novelty of trying to get all the milestones on each of the 4 planets, but not much replayability after that.”
    • “It seems neat at first but there is no real replay value.”
    • “In general, yes this is a fun game to get yourself into for a few hours, but replayability is pretty weak, and it can get repetitive quite quickly, also due to the lack of real challenge.”
  • music
    286 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is generally praised for its relaxing and ambient qualities, enhancing the overall experience without being intrusive. Many players appreciate the soothing soundtrack, although some note that it can become repetitive over time. While the music effectively sets the mood for gameplay, a desire for more variety and additional tracks is commonly expressed.

    • “The music is addictive.”
    • “Like the hypnotic music which seems like a cross between Mass Effect and House of Cards, it gently swings in the relaxing breeze to make my compulsion to engineer the better mousetrap a sedate meditation...as if I was just watching the beautiful alien horizons the whole time.”
    • “With all of this there is some very soothing background music that melts together beautifully with the game itself and it enhances the overall quality immensely.”
    • “The only thing more annoying than that is the music, and it is pretty bad.”
    • “The music became a tad annoying so pretty much just opted to have it off most of the time and leave the sound effects on.”
    • “Music gets old real quick.”
  • stability
    202 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's stability is a mixed bag, with many players reporting significant issues related to buggy AI and frequent freezes, particularly when managing larger colonies. While some users experienced smooth gameplay with no noticeable glitches, others found the AI behavior frustratingly erratic, leading to gameplay disruptions. Overall, the game appears to be in need of further optimization and bug fixes to enhance the player experience.

    • “The basics of base building and gradual expansion are simple and relatively bug free.”
    • “No glitches and ran smooth as butter.”
    • “What really gives this game a positive review is that even though there's limited features at the moment, the game is completely optimized and is bug free.”
    • “The ai is extremely buggy, more often than not refusing to actually do tasks, leading to station-wide issues from lack of spares leading to oxygen and power problems.”
    • “At the time, there were numerous ai glitches that made the game unplayable, and I felt the game belonged in early access.”
    • “I'm uninstalling it because I don't know what the hell is running in the background when this game freezes my PC or why the game prevents me from looking at my task manager.”
  • grinding
    192 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The grinding aspect of the game is frequently criticized for being tedious and repetitive, especially in the late game where players feel the gameplay becomes a monotonous cycle of resource management without meaningful achievements. While some players find enjoyment in the initial challenges and base-building mechanics, many express frustration with the slow pace and lack of engaging content as the game progresses, leading to a sense of boredom and frustration. Overall, the game is seen as fun in short bursts but can quickly turn into a grind that detracts from the overall experience.

    • “Yeah, okay, it's kinda grindy.”
    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “Way too tedious with no real achievements worth getting excited about.”
    • “This game isn't horrible, but it's not fun, it's not rewarding, and it's tedious.”
    • “Once you're through the initial difficulty curve the whole task becomes pointless and tedious.”
  • atmosphere
    126 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its immersive and engaging qualities, effectively transporting players to various alien environments with distinct weather challenges and visual aesthetics. Reviewers appreciate the combination of atmospheric design, sound effects, and the sense of urgency created by the inhospitable conditions, which enhance the overall gameplay experience. While some players note that the building mechanics could be more complex, the game's ability to evoke a sense of isolation and adventure on other planets is a standout feature.

    • “The atmosphere makes this game.”
    • “Planetbase offers rich planetary atmospheres and challenges that will keep you entertained for hours!”
    • “I loved the atmosphere; it's exciting to see your colonists (and bots) get off the ship on a fresh planet.”
    • “Love the idea, just sadly poor implementation of overall management atmosphere.”
    • “It's a challenging experience with a stranded, desperate atmosphere, one that is tense just waiting for the next disaster that can just end your game.”
    • “There is no atmosphere so you don't have the option of wind power to sustain you through the night, so you must solely rely on solar power.”
  • optimization
    74 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Overall, the game's optimization is praised for its smooth performance, even on older and low-end hardware, with occasional lag noted only in large colonies. While the graphics are considered decent and the game runs well without crashes, some users pointed out issues with AI optimization and UI decisions that detract from the overall experience. Despite these concerns, many players find the game enjoyable and well-optimized for its genre, though they express a desire for further improvements and features.

    • “Optimized performance: even on a Mac, the game ran well, only struggling slightly when colonies reached massive sizes.”
    • “Planetbase is an enjoyable, well-optimized game for fans of survival and strategy.”
    • “The game promotes creativity - while you can still build haphazardly and win, making a beautiful base with a well-planned layout that runs smoothly and efficiently is extremely satisfying.”
    • “Occasional lag in large colonies: performance issues may arise with extensive colonies, especially on less powerful systems.”
    • “The AI is poorly optimized, the tutorial explains very little, and there is an irritating mix of realistic yet difficult aspects and unrealistic yet difficult aspects.”
    • “Guess the game needs more optimization.”
  • humor
    36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is described as enjoyable and often absurd, with players finding amusement in the quirky behaviors of colonists and the ridiculous scenarios that arise during gameplay. While some elements, like the AI's antics and the concept of an anti-meteor laser, provide laughs, the humor tends to fade as the game progresses and becomes easier. Overall, players appreciate the comedic potential but suggest that more engaging content and features could enhance the humor further.

    • “Being a simulation game, one of the interesting bits is watching how the colonists respond to things, learning their rhythms of food and sleep, and just laughing at the stupid things that they do.”
    • “Earth space colonies even had vague attempts at humor with its dialogues between members of your staff and an artificial intelligence.”
    • “Anti-meteor laser is hilarious at first.”
    • “So bad, it's actually funny.”
    • “So bad, it's actually funny.”
  • emotional
    16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The emotional aspect of the game is mixed; while some players find it therapeutic and appreciate the ability to zone out without guilt, others struggle to form attachments to characters, leading to a lack of emotional impact during critical moments. The gameplay elicits intense reactions, ranging from frustration to fleeting joy, particularly in high-stakes situations where characters face dire outcomes. Overall, the game evokes a range of emotions, but the depth of emotional connection varies significantly among players.

    • “This game has made me feel better.”
    • “I've never met a strategy game that made me feel like it was okay to zone out and not feel guilty.”
    • “He carries it to the food maker as his hunger bar slowly ticks down the last few marks. I cry out in joy as I believe he will make it, only to hear the heartbreaking notification noise that a colonist has died, two feet from the food maker.”
  • monetization
    14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The monetization aspect of the game has received mixed feedback, with some players appreciating the absence of microtransactions and DLC, which allows for a more genuine gaming experience. However, others feel that the game resembles a waiting game typical of mobile titles, leading to concerns about player control and engagement. Overall, while some view the developers' approach as a labor of love, there are lingering doubts about the game's long-term monetization strategy.

    • “Developers continue to improve and add content, no whispers of DLC or microtransactions.”
    • “It takes control away from the player and makes this a waiting game like a mobile game, only you don't have microtransactions to speed things up, thank God.”
    • “This seems like a cash grab by the devs to get more money out of people and a very poorly considered strategy if that was their intent.”
    • “My expectations were low, but the advertisement looked good so I thought I would give it a try.”
  • character development
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Planetbase excels in character development by providing a variety of diverse character designs, allowing players to engage with their characters on a deeper level. Additionally, the game enhances this experience through interior design elements, giving players greater control over their base's functionality and aesthetics.

    • “Planetbase does a really good job of scratching that itch by not only offering fun, various, and diverse character designs, but also lets you do some interior design, giving you even more control over how your base functions and looks.”
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22h Median play time
38h Average play time
8-54h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 194 analyzed playthroughs
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