In the modern day, there are a lot of genres I’ve found myself not clicking with as much as others. Two that are at the top of that list are sandbox survival games and extraction shooters. Sure, there are exceptions to both, like Minecraft and Marathon, but as a whole, the gameplay experiences that both offer aren’t really something that I’ve enjoyed too much.
So, when I was presented with Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions, I wasn’t too sure what to think. It seeks to combine the resource gathering and survival mechanics of Astroneer with the desperate pace of an extraction shooter. To be honest, after playing for a few hours, I’m not too impressed by this unconventional combination.
Overly Simplistic
The Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions gameplay loop can be summarized pretty easily. When the game starts, after a short tutorial, you’re sent to a space station that functions as a central hub. Here, you can interact with other players, customize your character, and most crucially, accept quests from NPCs. Once you accept a quest, you have to complete it by going to a specific region on a specific planet. As you progress, you get access to more regions and more planets, but in the beginning and for a good portion of the early game, you only have access to one: the Planet Tephra.
You can ready up with other players or try to go by yourself to explore the planet below. You only have thirty minutes to explore, gather your resources, and then leave. A lot of quests early on require you to find a certain amount of a specific material or craft a gadget that will help you in future runs, but they’re overall pretty simplistic. That word, “simplistic,” can easily be used to describe the overall experience of playing Astroneer Expeditions.
For starters, each mission feels the same. Having to go back over and over again and collect the same resources, open the same chests, and investigate the same monsters is exhausting. Other extraction shooters escalate the challenge as time goes on, and really make you feel like an underdog in a world of overwhelmingly impossible odds. However, the difficulty level in Astroneer Expeditions feels strangely stagnant. I played countless runs, and at no point did I ever feel in danger of dying and losing my items. Rather, I spent most of my expeditions leisurely walking from area to area to gather resources.
I never felt challenged when playing Astroneer Expeditions. Instead, I felt bored more often than not. I mindlessly waded through each quest, and didn’t much care when I completed a task. That lack of satisfaction mostly stems from the lack of any meaningful rewards. All I got at the end of a quest was some materials and currency, and as such, I never felt like I was progressing in skill level or capabilities. Instead, after a quest, I would go back down to the planet and do the exact same thing again. It felt frustratingly monotonous more often than not. However, despite the moments, there were some moments where I found myself enjoying some of what the game had to offer. Yet, these stray instances were buried beneath a game that ultimately suffers from severe identity issues.
Scraps of Potential
Even if I’m not a fan of how the core loop of Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions functions, I think the overall mechanics are really enjoyable. The process of gathering resources, for instance, feels very satisfying. Rather than having to constantly wack away at a specific point in the map, like a tree, you instead dig through the world with a unique tool. The ground deforms beneath you with the push of a button, and you absorb the resources that you’re attempting to collect with a distinct “popping” noise. Even if it feels like the collecting tasks don’t provide a worthwhile reward, I still enjoyed the mere act of doing them.
In general, Astroneer Expeditions excels at maintaining a feeling of discovery. Planet Tephra is a very specific biome with crystalline structures and long slopes that you can slide down, and there were numerous moments where I stopped and stared to appreciate the broader environment. Thankfully, despite the fact that I played the game on Steam Deck, there were only a few moments where I felt the visuals were compromised. The creatures you encounter help to add even more variety to encounters, with the small carrot creatures in particular being ones that I never got tired of interacting with. The moments where Astroneer Expeditions leans into the survival sandbox elements are where it shines the best.
The problem with these moments is that they’re undercut by just how jarring the extraction shooter elements are. The game tries to create a feeling of desperation, as you only have a limited time to explore the planet, but I never felt desperate because of just how generous the 30-minute time limit is. Furthermore, I never felt like I had a chance to appreciate the different aspects of the world design because I was so focused on completing tasks to progress. At the end of the day, it feels like the inclusion of extraction mechanics is actively fighting against the survival sandbox.
Now, the tricky thing about early access games is that all of these instances where I took issue with Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions‘ design choices could be fixed in the next month or two. Certainly, System Era Softworks promises to add new regions, story missions, and minigames at the moment. That said, any early access game needs to have a compelling set of offerings at launch to make the prospect of following it as it grows seem enticing. As it is, though, I don’t think Astroneer Expeditions does a good job of justifying a purchase just yet.
…One Lackluster Leap for Mankind
Despite my aversion to both the survival and extraction genres, both have started to win me over as of late. The feeling of desperate panic that I get when playing an extraction shooter and the relaxing, laid-back nature of most survival sandbox games have been much needed on days when I want to try a different kind of gaming experience. However, these are not genres that I think need to be combined, and while I admire Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions‘ attempt to experiment, I don’t think it has paid off just yet.
Yes, the moments where the game utilizes that feeling of exploration you’d expect from the survival sandbox genre are great, thanks to the variety in biomes and creatures. Yet, the monotonous loop, lacking challenges, and the borderline brain-dead difficulty meant that I felt more bored than enamored when taking part in an expedition. Maybe these issues will be sorted out in the coming months as its early access journey continues. As it is now, though, I don’t think Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions is a particularly good survival game, nor is it a good extraction game. I can only hope that its attempts to deliver on its promise work out more in the future.
Disclaimer: Devolver Digital provided a PC (Steam) early access copy of Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions.
