Lightyear Frontier

I really want to like this game, but it made me uninstall it several times. The core game is a constant run towards failure unless you're a strategist and you know what's gonna happen and prepare for it. You want more powerful robot? You end up spending more and more fuel and capacity (capacity is needed to power up and mod the robot and you unlock it slowly for every mission you complete). Every crafter machinery in the game is ridiculously slow for the amount of materials you need in the game (up to 3 minutes for a SINGLE ingot). So you might want to put more machinery of the same type...BUT this requires energy for the most advanced ones. And what do you think energy is gained? With fuel consumption. The same fuel that makes your robot move. And the best fuel gives around 5 minutes of energy in a game where you want energy constantly and fuel of that type crafts in 1 to 2 minutes at a time. And, for some reason, machinery consumes fuel even when not in use...they only need to exist in the farm to consume more fuel. So yeah, if you like to take these kind of games EXTREMELY slowly, then no problem. Ah, wait...you have to water each field by hand up to the 8th milestone (that you achieve after a set number of successful missions) where you unlock the drones that do that for you. And what does drones consumes PER PATCH OF EARTH? Fuel and water. And when you do a patch of 10x5 to grow any resource you need to refuel the drones quite often...and what's the point of having a dog and barking yourself? Eventually you can automate the water intake...at the cost of more fuel and the second to last available milestone. On top of it all, this game seems to want to die on a pretty peculiar hill regarding these kind of games: You can carry only a set amount of weight on you that you can upgrade...that's normal. But why in the name of all motherboards do storage containers have a limit in weight too?! Storage containers, since the dawn of history that I remember, have a limit in spaces occupied, not weight. So, in this game, you end up with a whole patio with 10-20 or 30 identical containers that you want to upgrade as soon as you can. After 20 hours of game I had to cut half a forest to make a road and the wood I got from there was 2k units. Those units weighted me off so I was slowed and I arrived eventually at my farm...those 2k units became divided in 2 and a half different lockers because a single one could not hold the weight. These facts plus the slowness of the machines puts the clutter in any farm through the roof and it's a MESS that I no longer wish to think about, as an OCD with hoarding behaviour. As soon as the game is finished and maybe mods arise for the tasks I need, this game is a BIG nono and waste of potential.

Unfortunately this is no longer the game I started. The developers have taken the game in a completely different direction, which has created a game I no longer desire to play. If I wanted an automation game I would've gone and played Satisfactory. I wanted a peaceful farming and exploration sim, with the ability to build cute decorations and make a really pretty farm, I wanted my wooden mech, I wanted to explore the world and find the information about the people who came before me, I wanted the soul of the original concept. Now it's just another automation game, soulless and dull. That's really sad because they had something really special here...

Honestly, the premise of the game is so cool. The application of it, piss poor. The gameplay loop and balance is just bad. Its unreasonably grindy, for no reason. They discourage automation by locking it behind the very endgame, and discourage exploration by enforcing very strict weight restrictions. The balance doesn't make sense at all, and the game progression doesn't actually do anything beneficial. By the time you unlock new mechs, you can't use them due to power restrictions, so you're always a tier or two behind. Movement sucks; the mech physics are unfun, you trip on pebbles constantly, can't run through forests, and running uphill makes you fall. Overall, don't recommend. I stuck it out for 17 hours HOPING it would get better. It does not.

the games not bad, but it suffers from pretty severe quality of life issues. without 3 or 4 friends to play with, its going to suck late game pretty hard.

I recently logged back into this game and it has gone in a completely direction. All of the skins I logged in for over development are gone. The simple, straightforward mech upgrade path has been overcomplicated now. The map is completely different and the progression has been entirely reworked, erasing the time that I played previously. Reading through the release notes, it appears that the devs caved to some FOMO and from all appearances, a small group of vocal players. That's really sad, because this game was a lot of fun in its former incarnation. I'm giving it another try and perhaps that will change my mind, but I'm not a fan of the new system, so far. The old game was a cute, relaxed gather and build scenario. Now it feels like it's trying to compete with Satisfactory. I already have that game...

Right now, as of version 0.8 of early access (automation update), I can't recommend the game. The features shown in every trailer and in the main game page are only unlocked once the game is almost finished. The game requires alot of repetitive mind-numbing grind with resources that are obtained the exact same way as the last one used. For example, you start collecting copper and some plants for them get access to nickel, iron, and some other plants. Every single resource is basically the exact same with the same recipes only reskinned. The player needs a very high number of each resource to actually progress and unlock things. By the time you actually unlock the cool stuff, like automation machines and robot tools that can operate in massive scale, the game is already finished. You take basically 15h of very boring grind with most basic tools to actually finish the game and only them unlock the stuff that are cool and showed in the trailers. Not good at all. Finally, the building aspects of the game are clunky and need work. Overall this game needs alot of work and updates. The main concern of the devs should be actually moving the tools that are in the end of the game to be obtained earlier so the player can use them.

I am quite a stranger to automation games (granted, I haven't reached proper automation in Lightyear Frontier yet), but I am no stranger to farming sims. This game is good. A stable 7.5/10 for me and IMHO deserves more than 74% positive reviews (game score not related to game reviews). It has interesting mechanics (crop rotation, the mech itself), it somehow feels slightly overencumbered by the interface (something the devs are working on atm), and it takes just enough of my brain activity to not feel bored while I'm working. Pros: the mech is cool and feels awesome the crop system is neat and i like it the building mechanic is pretty nice and stuff looks cozy and farmer-pilled overall i enjoy playing it, hopping on and off in-between work tasks Cons: the production time is pretty long for the materials. it's okay with me since i have other stuff to do but i can understand the frustration of waiting for three minutes for one iron bar the progression is kinda all over the place, it's either too long or too quick or you get half of what's important and the other half you open 20 hours later the mech moves cool but the tripping mechanic is kinda wonk. I didn't mention any issues that the devs are openly working on, like the mech customization, or the issues which can be fixed by the player themselves, like the fuel consumption which can be lowered in settings (just as I did). Overall it's cool and neat and I like supplying colonies with food in exchange for kind words and goodies. I think you would probably like it too. Oh and if the DEVS see this review by any chance, lemme just put my own two cents: 1. Pls make a dedicated fuel slot in the inventory, I'm tired of autosorting my fuel in some chest 2. Pls make an option to look at everything you have on your farm/farms, like a list

I really, really, really tried to give the benefit of the doubt since this is early access, but I can't anymore. Too many things just drive me insane to keep playing anymore. This is a farming game with pips of automation sprinkled through-out, but each upgrade is detrimental instead of helpful. Don't be fooled by the pipes, pumps, and windmills. You don't get access to ANY automation until about 15 hours into the game. Where you are blessed with a single drone and a water silo that takes energy to STORE WATER. Oh you want to pump water? That's two more milestones down the road. Oh you want to automate a process? Well your boxes can only hold a certain limit of pounds and will fill up on 2 trees worth of materials. I can work past all of it, but the thing that broke me was the mod for 'Water-surfing' it allows your mech to surf on water for a limited time. However, that's not what it does, it keeps your moment going forward, and will only activate by "running" into the water. Where you become a jet-ski with no control over your momentum, but if you stop, you sink. All I wanted was my sunken cart back man... There is still potential here, but the mile-stones need to be looked at and really understood in terms of progression. For instance, don't give me crafts that require steel, when steel is still locked to me.