Zenith Expanse

So many screens to read, no tooltips for character cration to explain the stats. First batch of characters in a colony survival sim has a trans character....

This game has a bunch of potential, and I look forward to a time when that potential can shine. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to give it a 'no' for now. It has some pretty severe optimization and interface issues. The tutorials and menus are difficult to parse or navigate. I hope in a few updates I can revisit this review and delete it or even change it to a recommendation. The bones of fun game are here, they just need some meat added to them.

[h2]Project: Zenith Expanse — A cult classic in the making?[/h2] There’s something about Project: Zenith Expanse that makes me want to root for it. It has all the ingredients of a potential cult classic: a compelling sci-fi premise, slick-looking (AI-generated) creature artwork, and a sprawling sandbox that promises exploration, space travel, colony building, alien wildlife, and survival. If you’ve ever lost dozens of hours to RimWorld and wondered what it might look like with a whole galaxy to get lost in, you’ll probably understand the appeal. The premise is right up my alley. You’re a lone survivor trying to carve out a future in an unfamiliar universe, and there’s a lot to like about the collection of systems already in place. There are strange worlds to explore, resources to manage, settlements to establish, and plenty of opportunities to get yourself into trouble. The foundations are here, and they hint at the sort of emergent storytelling that makes these games so addictive. The problem? Right now, the game makes you work a little too hard to enjoy it. Zenith Expanse is rough around the edges, and nowhere is that more apparent than in its interface. Information is scatte…

So far Zenith Expanse looks to be exactly the type of niche I appreciate. It's Sci-Fi, there are survival aspects, trading, ship travel, colonies, task management, contracts to handle etc. The game is at its very beginnings however playwise. The Dev is very active in the Discord and the first patch after launch was in large part influenced by comments from a player. It is clearly a personal love project, so this looks like one of those titles Early Access was actually made for.

This is one of the most enormously, enormously frustrating experiences I have ever had in a game. You start with barely anything, the tutorial has you fumbling about flying system to system so you can unfreeze your companions from crystasis, all while in an emergency state where you have barely any credits, food, or water that are ticking down. Your on board water pump is TERRIBLE, you'll be stuck trying to pump water on board just to keep up, making it a newbie trap. If you use a colony pump, they wear down and break fast and need materials you can either buy or mine..... or try to mine. Credits? well you can try to make some but almost all missions don't pay in credits, they pay in goodwill. Many missions require a deposit, or for you to procure the goods. WITH WHAT CREDITS? Oh and your colonists drain your few remaining credits fast, and then throw tantrums. HOW CAN I EARN CREDITS IF EVERYONE IS MAKING ME SPEND THEM FIRST? You get lucky sometimes and find a mission that doesn't require you to front credits.... but either its a high risk mission or you have to jump multiple systems and your supplies won't last. You try to hunt for creatures or gather plants. And then randoml…

its a bit rough but so far very playable and i love it.