by The freedom of being let loose to explore, build, and carve out your own little niche in an open sandbox world made games like Minecraft and Terraria tremendously addictive. Deepworld attempts to capture that same magic by injecting the formula with a post-apocalyptic steampunk vibe, and while there’s plenty to do both above and below the surface of this fantasy realm, this online crafting adventure doesn’t quite click in the same way as the games it emulates.
Dropped into a persistent online world with a steam-powered rocket pack and a pickaxe, you’re free to mine for resources, craft items, design and build structures, and put your mark on the land. With lots of things to build, ranging from decorations and house elements to more practical things like weapons, tools, and gizmos, the hunt for materials drives exploration from the get-go.
Various players will come and go as you build out your world, which creates opportunities for interesting interaction as well as a few challenges. Teaming up with other players can make battling the robotic automata and slithering creatures of the deep more enjoyable, but the downside is that anyone can come and wreck your meticulously constructed buildings. Buying your own private world is another option, but it’s not a cheap endeavor at 500 crowns a pop, which is nearly $10 if purchased outright rather than very slowly accumulated. Individual items, including protective beacons to guard your stuff, are reasonably priced, though the more robust materials packs will cost you a pretty penny. Protectors are a double-edged sword too, since running into other players’ warded-off areas limits your ability to explore.
Other limitations can make the gameplay frustrating at times too. Navigation with the jetpack via a virtual thumbstick is a bit of an unpleasant chore. Upgradeable skills offer a cool means of character progression, but the way they’re tied to achievements leaves much to be desired. Each achievement you earn gives you a skill point to spend on nine different stats, and until you upgrade these skills, you’re limited in what you can build and how far your can dig below the surface. It’s not clear how to get achievements without digging into the game’s online forum or actually unlocking one, which brings up a temporary notice with several other achievements to try for. Even then, you can only access skills up to a certain point, keeping you from digging past a certain depth without spending $5 to unlock the premium upgrade.
The bottom line. Deepworld is indeed deep, but the gameplay isn’t quite as tight or as satisfying as the other sandbox-style games it’s attempting to riff on.
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