So after reading all the reviews I was very sceptical about buying this game, but after playing the alpha for a few days, I wanted more, so I decided to bite the bullet and buy this full release. When I tell you I was shocked at how so much of the backlash against this game is unjustified. You would think this was a completely unplayable mess but it is so much like the alpha that I don't understand why it gets so much hate.
The most notable difference is the levelling up system. Instead of earning xp for each kill, your progression level is tied up with the weapon and items you have equipped, and I think this makes for a unique level system that I haven't seen a lot of. There are so many more mobs that are fun to discover and the terrain is so much more varied, there are new structures, the respawn points are in little ancient Greek style temples, some even on floating islands that I haven't figured out how to get to yet (near them is an alter type structure with an eagle statue so I'm sure later when I progress more, there will be an item to activate them somehow.) And also there are a lot more wandering npc's in the world, some friendly and some foe, and this just makes the world seem more alive.
Another plus is npc's, both in towns and in the world, are actually useful to interact with. A lot of times I will speak to someone and they will add a quest to the map for an item to get or someone to save, or even just a rumour they heard, and it feels very dynamic, not just "oh here's a quest, check it off, here's your reward".
Something I noticed as a minor downside is I think the lighting as changed from the alpha, because I noticed there isn't the same hazy shadow on everything like there was in the alpha, but this is so insignificant that it isn't a reason to not like the game.
As someone who was absolutely obsessed with the alpha when it came out, I 100% recommend buying the full release. It's not that expensive, if you want to wait for it to go on sale whenever, do, but don't be fooled by all the negative reviews that are only based on nostalgia. This game came out 5 years ago and I didn't buy it on release despite waiting years because of all the backlash, and all I can think of is all the time I wasted, because Cube World is an amazingly fun game.
