Project Castaway Review (PC)

It isn’t just the elements that bother me; it’s the fact that, with each passing night that I don’t get enough sleep, enough warmth, or enough protein, I begin to hallucinate and succumb to a perpetuating roadblock that ravages me both physically and mentally. Even when I think I have it all worked out, and when I feel that I’ve established a haven to keep me from harm, there’s usually another burden that needs to be taken care of. The loneliness, the bitter climate, and the lack of helping hands — three things that drag me down and keep me in a clockwork state of depression. It doesn’t matter if I have a place to warm my hands at night, or even if I have the tools to broaden my search and explore vast distances over the nautical spectrum. When it comes to Project Castaway, the fundamental problems are exacerbated by nocturnal changes, and the easiest of them are rarely met with positive consequences. Yet, I digress, not because I have to, but because I want to.

It didn’t matter if I had the wealth of Bear Grylls’ survival instincts to hand, or even if I had a hundred of more hours clocked in Stranded Deep. Initially, I figured that, if I could rub a few sticks together and build a twig home from the ashes, I could withstand just about anything that Project Castaway threw at me. But then the night came—the unsettling darkness, the loneliness, and the fear that something would come to claim me during the eleventh hour when I was at my lowest moment. It wasn’t just about finding the materials to build a settlement anymore; it was about withstanding the harshest of elemental threats, the ever-alluring madness, and the lack of resources to keep my head above water the following morning.

Project Castaway gave me a lot to think about. Heck, if I wasn’t thinking about how to survive the climate and how to live long enough to familiarize myself with the ever-growing ecosystem, then I’d be thinking how I’d venture deeper into its archipelago of unchartered waters with whatever resources I had left to share. I didn’t have the weight of an encyclopedia to hand, and I didn’t have the gift of clairvoyance to illuminate the problems before stumbling upon them. I just had the basics to work with—a vague sense of where to go, and just enough sticks to rub together to establish the foundation for a temporary solution for all of my problems. But, it also didn’t take long to realize that Project Castaway wasn’t just about staying alive; it was about broadening my horizons and branching out to unlock vast secrets and innovations. That, in short, is where I stumbled.

From the outside looking in, Project Castaway looks like a casual survival game with rich crafting options and a relatively friendly gameplay environment. Take the time to remove a few of its layers, however, and you soon come to the bitter conclusion that it isn’t so much a walk on the beach, but a ravenous joyride that involves a lot of legwork and a willingness to survive against the odds. And it isn’t just the climate that poses a threat here, but the steep learning curve, the lack of context, and the high volume of information that you must stow beneath your belt in order to find a foothold. Granted, it becomes a little easier with time, but to call Project Castaway a forgiving survival game just wouldn’t be an accurate description of what it is. No, if anything, it’s an uphill battle that rewards you for being patient and learning the ropes, even if it means subjecting yourself to a lot of trial and error.

On the bright side of all of this, Project Castaway does accommodate a ton of great features, including a sizable world and a lot of in-depth crafting recipes and avenues of exploration. It might lack the traditional story and rich character progression that you would typically find in a plot-oriented survival sandbox, but it does make good use of its infrastructure with the addition of some great facets and survival elements, including its impromptu hunger, stamina, and sanity sliders, for example. It might be a bit of a headache, though it does add a lot of extra depth to the overall experience.

The bad news here is that, despite there being a lot of great bones beneath its skeletal structure, Project Castaway does have a few loose ends. Aside from having an absurdly difficult learning curve, the game also suffers from a chaotic inventory management system, poor progression with a lack of milestones, and a general clunkiness in its combat mechanics. Yet, even with a number of loose screws, the game itself still plays incredibly well, with a striking audiovisual element to counter its weakest components. It might not be an airtight survival game, but it is a beautiful one, to say the least. The question is, is beauty enough to counteract its flaws?

Verdict

Project Castaway envelopes the heaviest of burdens in a scarce world where the bitter climate isn’t your only concern, but the kindling to a blazing inferno of harsh psychological realities that keep you in a firm chokehold from the moment you forage for your first few sticks to the second you bravely voyage out to its farthest nautical quarters. In an attempt to keep you locked between a rock and a hard place, it forces you to adapt to the environment—to the scarcity of human life and the fluctuating needs of an isolated being that yearns only to survive against the odds. To that end, it’s a rather difficult survival game, and one that sadly doesn’t take too kindly to shortcuts or safe exits. But, maybe that’s why it works. It isn’t the easiest of worlds to stay afloat in — but it is a rewarding one that paves your journey with brief moments of adventure and satisfaction. It’s finding the time to reap what you sow, that’s the hard part.

Of course, if you’re all for the idea of clambering up a steep hill that’s sincerely lacking in footholds and areas for you to climb, then it’s highly likely that you’ll enjoy learning the ropes and establishing a foundation in Project Castaway. That being said, if you’re hoping to enter a world that holds your hand and gives you a breadcrumb trail to follow, then you might want to opt for an alternate shoreline to cast your dinghy.