The latest game from Payload Studios, TerraTech Worlds is an open-world, PvE survival game set on an uncharted alien planet and released in early access just a few weeks ago. But for some reason it’s rather difficult to review this game early because of the many problems that arose after its launch. After a few hotfix patches, I finally managed to play this game without much trouble, even though there were still a few things that could still be fixed.

Given that this is only an early access version, there’s definitely more to be improved, but the game has already given me a solid first impression.

A Slow Start

Before you start, you will be introduced to a planet. You are given brief information about it as well as a look at the resources available on the planet. You can also see other information such as temperature, land mass and difficulty of the planet.

You can then name your own save and launch off to start your expedition.

Upon starting my playthrough, a short cutscene conveyed a message about my role as a Prospector and my duty of exploring the Nexus World, charged with exploring the alien world to gather resources and developing infrastructure. However, I experienced quite a number of glitches when watching it and suddenly, I was on Nibiru.

In all honesty, this game did not give me enough context about its systems. The tutorials are barebone with not much explanation. Besides basic things like moving, combat and mining, I was expected to explore the alien planet and figure the rest out for myself.

Despite the initial confusion, I finally got used to the controls and mechanics after almost an hour. This confusion was the main reason I often switched between mouse and controller because the controller isn’t fully supported for this game. Occasionally, the Tech will get confused and move in an unintended direction before correcting itself, making it awkward to control.

The start of the game is a bit painful because a lot of resources need to be gathered to complete some of the initial missions. Most of the time we spent in this game was devoted to finding the resources we need, which is extremely slow and boring. It also takes a long time to mine even ore or aluminum. Then you have to wait for the laser battery to recover before shooting another source to collect. These sources are also somewhat difficult to find. Even if you open the map, it doesn’t give you any direct information about it. We’re sure a lot of people will have a hard time looking for all these resources.

Missions

There are a lot of missions available with different categories such as Certification, Base, Resources and Security. By completing the mission, you will get a currency that will allow you to buy licences for Tech customization parts. This will allow you to get parts without having to fight the enemies. Of course, you will need to collect resources to make them.

Base

It takes a really long time to find resources just to produce parts for the base if you rely slowly on exploration. You can find it faster if you just raid the enemy to get some parts that might be in enemy structures.

Base building itself is much simpler as you just need to produce the important parts of the structure and snap them together. But it can get a bit sloppy at times because there are several angles that tilt the structure at awkward angles. Building a nice looking base requires constant camera adjustment in order to build it properly.

Crafting

The process of crafting itself is pretty fast but the search for resources is what makes it long. You will need a lot of carbon stocked to power the generator which in turn powers the crafting machine. Luckily all structural materials can be searched for in an in-game list, so you can safely avoid wasting time in your search.

Combat

As far as combat is concerned, it’s very simple. Enemies have relatively reasonable AI and try to maintain their distance from you, but deal laughably little damage. If you’re in a good position, you can get rid of the enemy quickly. To more efficiently destroy the enemy, we advise you to attack their weapons, after which you can safely approach them and dish out even more damage.

Destroyed enemy robots and bases will drop some items that you can use on your own robot. Compared to grinding resources for producing robot parts, this is definitely a useful alternative.

Tech customization

Robot customization is one of the key mechanics of this game. With the right build, you can mine and combat effortlessly. For example, you can use laser mining to find resources while for combat, you can carry only the weapon laser and lots of ammunition to destroy all Techs nearby.

The customization is as simple as playing lego. You can customise your Tech at any time by simply pressing Tab. There are many parts that you can change on your Tech like tires, connectors and other attachments. There are also several color choices available from the beginning of the game for you to further personalise your Tech.

However, you also need to think about other factors such as mobility and utility. You also can’t overload the onboard reactor because your Tech will destroy itself. Weight also needs to be taken as it affects its mobility and ease of control. So you’ll need to plan Tech customization well by taking into account physics as well as logic.

Visual & Audio

As far as visuals are concerned, for us, it’s not that much of a demand. The quality between Low and Epic isn’t noticeable while playing and did not affect game performance. The world’s design also has a simple aesthetic and is quite attractive for a sandbox game.

Although exploring this world feels fun, the surroundings are shockingly quiet thanks to the lack of background music. I think we’re used to games with background music, but it’s not a deal when it comes to TerraTech Worlds, as you’re surrounded by the sounds of your own Tech as other elements like plants, other Tech and the ocean. The game’s UI is also extremely simple with its holographic design. As the cherry on top, it’s arranged pretty well making it easy to navigate.

Verdict

TerraTech Worlds has the potential to be a fun game for some people, especially for those who love to build robots and explore. But there’s a lot more to be fixed, especially in terms of resource gathering, which takes a painfully long time.

Even so, the Tech production process feels so fun with a variety of producible shapes and designs. The exploration can also be entertaining with a variety of terrain as well as varied enemies that can be found along the way, which can help you get some desired items faster than crafting them yourself.

Given that this game is still in early access, looking at all the hotfixes released by the developers, we’re sure the full game will be better later. They’ve also listed some interesting content that will be released throughout the year. So for those of you who don’t care so much about all the shortcomings of this TerraTech Worlds, you can try it now.

TerraTech Worlds was reviewed on PC via Steam, with the following specs – Intel I5-12400F CPU, Nvidia RTX 4060 8GB, 16 GB RAM, Windows 11.

Review code provided by Payload Studios.

TerraTech Worlds

Publisher: 4Divinity

Developer: Payload Studios

Release Date TBC

Steam

Set on an uncharted alien planet, explore, mine, build, craft Techs and battle your way through natural hazards and dangerous enemies.