The Planet Crafter Review (PC)

It's one thing to send a whale into space and have it sprout entire colonies from the cracks of its shell, but to manifest, mold, and essentially evolve a network of planets for the sake of ushering in a new era of hope and prosperity is another story altogether. As it turns out, though, this is exactly what The Planet Crafter strives to encapsulate: a honeycomb-like stepping stone on which fledgling world builders and architectural aficionados can unleash their inner workings on a global—no, an intergalactic scale. This is, in short, the outer core of Miju Games’ latest base-building project, and it’s currently making its rounds over on Steam.

The Planet Crafter bears all the hallmark qualities of a traditional survival-crafting game, in the case that, gameplay-wise, it invites you to not only forage for supplies and embellish valuable structures from the rubble of an inhospitable planet, but generate the blueprints for a sustainable biosphere that can elevate its inhabitants’ longevity to new and unimaginable heights. Suffice it to say that, from a top-down perspective, there’s a great deal to marvel over here, and thrice as many daring ventures to chew through. But, is it a journey worth taking the time to embark on? Well, therein idles a question that we’ll need to unpack over a series of momentary tidbits and bio-centric voyages. Care to join us as we explore it? Then let’s press on.

Welcome Home

The Planet Crafter drops you into an “inhospitable” world that’s seemingly starved of oxygen, warmth, and the general infrastructure needed to make even the most basic of life forms flourish and survive. Either alone, or with the aid of several other folks, you must embark on a world-changing adventure that will see you shaping the climate and making gradual changes to its natural habitat, whether it’s through the colonization of its vibrant boroughs, or through the creation of innovative terraforming technologies that can transform the bare bones of an uninhabited surface into a full-fledged landscape for the masses. It’s a job that doesn’t come without its challenges, for sure, yet one that’s all the more rewarding due to its unique and, on occasion, rather hefty incentives.

Like a solid portion of base-building and survival games, The Planet Crafter begins with little more than a vast open landscape to explore, and a flip book of tools, blueprints, and general upgrades that bear the power to elevate the roots of the planet to grander heights and beyond. It’s getting to that point, however, that’s the hard part; it isn’t a short trip, and it certainly tests your ability to persevere and maintain the core values that uphold the planet’s natural beauty.

In a similar vein as Minecraft, perhaps, a lot of the true colors only really come to shine after you’ve spent a significant amount of time sharpening the tools and paying the taxes, of which there are many to hack through with a chisel and knife. But, if there’s one thing I came to learn during this awfully long journey, it was that I always had an anchor point to work towards—a milestone that would allow me to flex my creative wisdom and go one step further.

Making Mountains Out of Molehills

Aside from the general base-building and forming of sustainable biosphere aspects, The Planet Crafter also coughs up several other items for you to work through—having to terraform an entire planet, for example. For the most part, your objectives include shaping the environment around you, as well as foraging for the necessary resources to facilitate the growth of several crucial ecological systems. What’s more, there’s also the need to keep on top of basic human needs, too, like oxygen management, for example. To keep a lid on all of this, you essentially need to embrace a nine-to-five cycle that consists of traversing through unknown territories, and sculpting powerful automated systems that will help you to develop revolutionary equipment and a self-sustaining rota. A lot easier said than done, mind you — but that’s hardly a surprise.

It comes as no surprise, really, that this is a game that has the potential to make even the most prolific players feel the urge to keep on trucking and devising new ways to squeeze the contents of all their natural goodies. What makes The Planet Crafter all the more impressive, though, is its enormous range of customizable features and its generous selection of tools and pathways to carve through; it has so much of everything, that it manages to churn out hundreds, if not thousands of hours worth of content — and that momentum never really grinds to a halt, either.

Of course, The Planet Crafter probably isn’t going to be to everyone’s liking, as it does make it a mission to eradicate certain keystone elements from the equation in order to let easier, and slightly less invasive tasks to shine through the margins of the script. It isn’t a massively difficult game by any stretch, but that doesn’t mean it’s without its curveballs.

To Infinity and Beyond

Fortunately, The Planet Crafter does come pre-equipped with a difficulty slider, which can of course help alleviate certain issues and allow the general process of building a bio-friendly environment to be all the more accessible. In addition to that, it also comes gut-loaded with a surprising amount of online tools, all of which can be divvied up between an entire troupe of players or, failing that, an enterprise of robotic engineers. Suffice it to say that a helping hand is never all that far away in The Planet Crafter — even for those with a history in the field.

In the so-and-so hours that I was able to pour into the development and conservation of my planet, I had endured more than enough solo adventures to last me a lifetime; similarly, I had developed a long line of friends who also helped to carve out the best possible outcome for the project at hand, too. Regardless of the associates whom I chose to pair myself up with, I often found that the experience was equally as rewarding and fulfilling, and at no point did it ever begin to grate on the soul or dip into monotonous territory. And it was because of the sheer quantity of content that I was able to create for myself, that it never felt like a chore, but rather, an open canvas on which I could use to paint idyllic portraits that would serve as vessels for my deepest desires.

The Planet Crafter is not an overly difficult game, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that its best qualities are those that are handed to you without merit; naturally, its greatest strengths are those hidden behind numerous layers, and it doesn’t take all that long to realize that perseverance, really, is the paint thinner.

Verdict

The Planet Crafter stands tall as one of the best world-building games on the current market—a statement that I’m more than willing to make after countless hours of absorbing several of its core features and still somehow managing to find new ways to bleed them dry for additional materials. Herein lies a product that’s not only unique in its own right, but marvelously reminiscent of its near-perfect sandbox alternatives, thus making it an instant cult classic that deserves to be treated as such. Add the fact that we’re still relatively early in the game’s natural evolution, and you’ve got more than enough reasons to up sticks and plant roots in its ever-evolving climate, for sure.

There’s a tremendous amount of potential with this one, I’ll say that much. It’s also in line to dethrone Minecraft, which of course speaks volumes for its ability to power to conceive a genuinely interesting game and run with it, despite all odds being stacked firmly against it. Sure enough, it does have one or two technical issues, but that often comes expected from this caliber of game, and therefore I’m willing to let bygones be bygones and roll with the punches, if only to shower praise on the lion’s share of its positives, of which there are more than I could dare fathom, truly.

If you are looking to scratch that post-Minecraft itch, and aren’t entirely sure which plot of land to cultivate, then you needn’t dig any deeper than Miju Games’ The Planet Crafter. It’s beautiful, bulky, and oh-so addictive, thus making it a real treasure for those with a heart for the genre.