Edge of Space Review

Edge of Space is a 2D Sandbox Platform Game that launched on September 17, 2015. The game started on Kickstarter and has been in Early Access for around two years on Steam. EoS is often compared to Terraria and with good reason as one of the updates for the game pre-launch included official Terraria cross content.  At first glance, it even looks like Terraria in space. However, the games are considerably more different from they look at first.

For starters, it was surprisingly much easier to get started in Edge of Space than Terraria at least for myself. The opening tutorial makes everything fly by and there is quite a bit to do. Crafting is easier than most games because instead of a pickaxe, you have a laser mine gun and jetpack from the start. With these two things, you can move around well and mine easily which racks up Science XP. Science XP is very important since it is what is used to learn new items to craft. Items that can be crafted are grouped into tiers and there is a ton of those. Each tier costs XP to access it. The devices from there are really exotic. The same can be said for vehicles and pets as well as most items in the game. Everything is high tech with occasionally a sense of humor such as the laser shark with people teeth. It not only helps give you quests, but it also help to defend your base.

Like the old saying goes, do not judge a book buy its cover. The wacky stuff and first glance at the graphics may turn off some players before they even start. However, that would be a mistake. Edge of Space has a great deal of gameplay that can not be seen at first glance. This is the type of game that should be given a few hours before making a decision whether to quit playing or not because it has so much depth. The crafting system alone is worth delving through to see all the cool gadgets that you can make. Mining can be even fun with the games great music soundtrack and initial equipment. I was mining in the dark and the music fit the mood perfectly. Thus, I kept going and racked up a plethora of materials and XP. Furthermore, you can build full bases with turrets and drones. The funny thing about that is that we were wishing for that level of defense for our base in Terraria during Ogre Game Time last week.

The gameplay is solid and deep while displaying a quirky personality, but there have been a few potholes for the game. The most obvious is staying two years in Early Access because this was not exactly well received by the player base in general. When you usually spend that much time in development, expectations can spiral out of control and some people can fill alienated because the product is still not “finished. The other pothole in the road for Edge of Space is being termed a Terraria clone and being unfairly compared to Starbound. They are different games in a similar genre. EoS has its own quirky personality and is more in your face than those other games so the comparison may seem unavoidable, but that does not mean they are accurate once you play each game. Just look at the name itself, it just screams a wild intense world on the Edge of Space!  All that said, give the game a real chance and you just may just find yourself enthralled with this underrated indie sandbox RPG.

Here is a video of actual gameplay on launch day:

Key Features:

• Deep crafting system.
• Has cross content with Terraria.
• Jet packs and mining guns allow for players to do more immediately.
• Mining not only gives you materials, but also gives you Science EXP to unlock schematics.
• Open world with a wild personality.
• A vast selection of both vehicles and pets.
• Lots of variety for a base.
• Well done music soundtrack.

Pros:

1. Easy to start with good tutorial.
2. You get a jet pack and a mining gun to jump right in.
3. Crafting is easy because you use Science XP from mining the earth and plants.
4. Characters are bigger and not as childlike as in Terraria.
5. The wacky creatures and machines fit the theme well.
6. Very deep gameplay.
7. New features on launch day.
8. Indie developers that are passionate about the game.
9. The music soundtrack suits gameplay well.
10. Vast replay value.

Cons:

1. Wiped previous worlds and avatars on launch day.
2. Starts in a window and you need to restart it to get it full screen.
3. It was in Early Access for about two years.
4. Minor bugs.
5. Often unfavorably compared to Terraria and Starbound.
6. Multiplayer needs a stronger player base.
7. The User Interface (UI) could still use a little polish.
8. The graphics may turn off potential players.