I want to recommend this game. There's soo much potential to be one of my favorites. But I can't recommend it. Not Yet. It's the small annoying things that are preventing it. It is in Early Access, so maybe this review message is more of a message for the devs. And I do plan to keep my eye on the change logs and come back when the annoying issues are fixed.
The good:
It's a beautiful world, and it's a very fun, engaging take on what a island hopping / waterworld game can be.
It has a satisfying tech tree and the rate at which you advance is perfect. You can upgrade yourself, your gear, your boat, and (Spoiler alert) you can even build a jetski if you want (eventually).
The devs are active and adding more and more content and fixing issues.
The Annoying:
When you're recharging your battery or transferring fuel, the "Press E to unattach" dialog box is on top of the charge/fill bar, so you don't know how much is in the container.
The hitbox on melee attacks is terrible. I feel like I'm playing Morrowind. 1.2m away from target = too close = miss. 1.4m away from target = too far= miss. 1.3m away from target = just right = hit!
There are too many leech things, and they are more frustrating and annoying than actually challenging or engaging.
There are multiple menus, but each menu uses a different button to exit the screen; sometimes it's esc, sometimes it's tab. It should all be the same button.
The developers seem to want to make this game be like a crash bandicoot platformer, but they also want the physics to be super realistic. So if you jump to a small platform and need to turn 90 degrees to jump to the next one, when you turn, your robot doesn't turn on the spot. It takes a step to turn... THEN IT FALLS OFF THE SMALL PLATFORM. This game can be very good without the parkour. It doesn't need it.
The Jetski physics need attention. Again, it seems that realistic physics is being prioritized over fun gameplay. But the Jetski physics are neither realistic nor fun. Real Jetskis don't fly. When a real jetski is turned, its course is altered in the direction of the turn, and starts moving in the direction of the bow of the jetski. In the game, the jetski hits a wave and flies through the air. In the game, pressing the A or D keys only barely changes the course, unless you hold the turn key and after several seconds of barely changing course, the jetski rapidly spins out of control.
The graphics are often choppy. I have pretty good computer, and i usually don't care at all about framerate, but when there's too much going on (like storms near a large island), then my framerate drops to where it gets choppy. Even I notice it, and that's when you know it's bad.
I also would prefer more save slots and more frequent autosaves.
