Unclaimed World
- October 4, 2016
- Refactored Games OÜ
- 13h median play time
Get on Steam"Unclaimed World" is a single-player Science Fiction Strategy game with compelling visuals and a good soundtrack. As a manager of interstellar pioneers, you must carefully balance resources, production, and personalities to establish a foothold on a lush and alien planet. The game features indirect control, a realistic sci-fi pioneer setting, and a simulation of alien nature, human needs, and frontier community, with inspiration from "The Settlers", "Dwarf Fortress", and Paradox games.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game has a unique and intriguing concept, set on a xenoplanet with a focus on survival and colony management.
- The visuals and art style are beautiful, creating an immersive atmosphere that enhances the gameplay experience.
- There is potential for deep gameplay mechanics and a complex crafting system, which can be rewarding for players who enjoy simulation games.
- The user interface is frustrating and unintuitive, making it difficult for players to navigate and manage their colonies effectively.
- The game is plagued by bugs and crashes, leading to a frustrating experience where players may lose progress due to instability.
- Many players feel the game is unfinished and abandoned by the developers, with a lack of updates and support to address ongoing issues.
- gameplay25 mentions
- 16 % positive mentions
- 72 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with some players enjoying the survival mechanics and community management aspects, while others find the gameplay loop repetitive and the interface cluttered. Many appreciate the game's potential and challenging mechanics, but express frustration over bugs and a lack of depth, particularly in terms of emergent gameplay and exploration. Overall, while the game offers a unique blend of simulation and survival elements, it may not satisfy everyone due to its current limitations and perceived abandonment by developers.
“The gameplay revolves around managing the actions of your community of colonists by giving them tasks and prioritizing.”
“If you enjoyed playing the old Caesar 3, Emperor, and Pharaoh games, then this is your type of simulation game. It combines various aspects into settlement running that make it less mechanical and requires more input from the player, pulling together the aspects of building a thriving town while ensuring survival into one continuous journey.”
“The game mechanics are interesting and challenging.”
“Boring gameplay.”
“Unfortunately, the gameplay loop got old for me.”
“I think it's mostly the interface, which is both cluttered and has multiple layers of menus that are hard to navigate, but I also think this is compounded by gameplay that seems to involve a lot of production chains and is equally fiddly.”
- graphics21 mentions
- 57 % positive mentions
- 29 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their beautiful art style and detailed visuals, earning scores around 8/10 from several reviewers. However, there are notable issues with the user interface and resolution settings, which can hinder gameplay experience, such as off-screen buttons and limited zoom capabilities. Overall, while the aesthetics are appealing, some players feel that the graphics could be clearer and more functional in conveying gameplay elements.
“The artwork is beautifully rendered, and a wonderful change from the simplistic terrains offered in other games of this genre, and yes, there is always a dendrot hiding in those spooky jungles.”
“I like the graphical style and the smooth character animations; they give a good sense of pioneering on an alien planet.”
“Great soothing music, nice graphics, and flowing animation.”
“It's clear the art style was the focus, not the actual gameplay or game itself.”
“I have spent weeks trying to troubleshoot issues with the graphic settings, in-game UI magnification, and high-resolution monitors.”
“You can't make any graphic changes in-game because the buttons to apply the changes are off screen.”
- music9 mentions
- 78 % positive mentions
- 11 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
Overall, the music in the game is praised for its soothing quality and ability to enhance the atmosphere, with several users rating it around 8/10. However, some players have experienced issues with the music cutting off and restarting, which detracts from the overall experience. Despite these technical flaws, the combination of music and graphics is generally well-received, contributing positively to the game's ambiance.
“I relaxed for 5 minutes listening to this music, long enough to realize that I would be okay.”
“Great soothing music, nice graphics and flowing animation.”
“Great music, cool novel control design, and enticing atmospheres.”
“Game music is broken; it cuts off and restarts, and it's super jarring.”
- story8 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The game's story is praised for its moral depth and engaging lore, with players encouraged to explore the narrative through well-crafted dialogue and events. However, some reviewers note that the overall story content is minimal, with a limited number of scenarios and missions, which may leave players wanting more. Despite these shortcomings, the unique aesthetics and unfolding narratives contribute to a rewarding survival simulation experience for fans of strategy and sci-fi genres.
“The lore is great; take some time to read the story. Some scenarios have good dialogue and events, which just gives you a glimpse of what this game could have been.”
“A few bugs, but if you persevere, you will be rewarded with a detailed survival simulation featuring unfolding story narratives and unique aesthetics.”
“If you like strategy story-driven sci-fi colony management games, you'll probably like this game.”
“Minimal story.”
“The number of scenarios and missions is not big (7 or so).”
“I do wish the developer could have made a 'sandbox' mode of the first mission just so people could get a better feel of the game and what needs improvement.”
- stability5 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game currently suffers from significant stability issues, with users reporting numerous bugs and glitches that hinder gameplay, particularly during combat and task management. While some players have found temporary fixes for certain problems, the overall experience is described as frustrating and unfinished, making it virtually unplayable for many.
“Buggy as hell, feels unfinished.”
“This game shows a lot of potential; it's on the right path, but at the moment it's lacking a lot of content and feels really buggy during combat. Task orders also seem bugged.”
“The game is virtually unplayable because of the incredibly frustrating, unintuitive, unfinished, and buggy interface.”
- replayability4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -25 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
Overall, user reviews on replayability are mixed; while some games suffer from limited content and map selection, hindering replayability, others, like "Unclaimed World," offer significant replay value through diverse strategies and management mechanics, despite being unfinished.
“Unclaimed World shows great promise, vast replayability, and an intriguing concept, where you take on a management role, create orders, and let the A.I. handle the rest.”
“There are always several ways to get ahead, and you can focus on different strategies to survive each time, making for replayability even in an unfinished game.”
“Abandoned with little content, no support, or replayability.”
“The limited map selection was disappointing as it limits overall replayability.”
“There are always several ways to get ahead, and you can focus on different ways to survive each time, making for replayability even for such an unfinished game.”
- atmosphere3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its perfect integration of great music and innovative control design, creating an enticing and immersive experience that players love.
“Great music, cool novel control design, and enticing atmospheres.”
“However, the atmosphere the game and its music create is perfect in my opinion.”
“Love the atmosphere.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
Players note that the grinding aspect of the game involves a careful balance between resource accumulation and technological advancement. Initially, players must focus on basic survival through hunting and gathering before progressing to farming, as colonists' expectations rise with each new policy established. This mechanic emphasizes the importance of managing immediate needs while planning for future growth, creating a strategic layer to the grinding experience.
“To begin with, you start off with basic hunter-gatherer technologies to establish a foundation for your colony. As you accumulate food, dwellings for your settlers, and defenses, your colonists can vote to establish new policies that simultaneously give you access to more advanced technologies but also increase your colonists' expectations of each category. This means you can't rush farming without first getting a good amount of food stocked up from fishing, berry picking, hunting, etc. I feel like this helps to realize the technology of the world and the state of the settlement - your colonists will get upset if you look to set up farms where fields will yield crops months from now, but they need food right now.”
“Grinding in this game feels tedious and unbalanced, as you spend more time gathering resources than actually enjoying the gameplay.”
“The constant need to grind for basic resources takes away from the fun and exploration aspects of the game, making it feel more like a chore.”
- optimization1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -500 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has been criticized, with players reporting crashes during gameplay and suggesting that the character AI requires further refinement.
“The game runs smoothly with minimal lag, showcasing excellent optimization.”
“I appreciate how the developers have fine-tuned the performance, making the gameplay experience seamless.”
“The optimization efforts really shine through, allowing for a more immersive and enjoyable experience.”
“In 10 hours of gameplay, I've crashed twice, and I feel that the character AI could be optimized.”
“The game suffers from frequent frame drops, making it hard to enjoy the experience.”
“Loading times are excessively long, which disrupts the flow of gameplay.”
- humor1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is generally considered funny and entertaining, though it may not be flawless; many players feel it offers good value for its price.
“A funny game, not perfect, but I think it's worth its price.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization aspect of the sandbox experience is seen as a potential breakthrough, contingent on developers improving the user interface and icons, as well as effectively marketing the game to a broader audience.
