Building A Cozy World Above The Clouds
Solarpunk is a lite survival game. It is full of simplistic exploration and resource gathering, with an emphasis on cozy crafting. Players start on a floating island with a picturesque skyline and beautiful views waiting.
The island is scattered with trees, rocks, and more to be gathered by the player as they begin to tame the wilderness they find themselves in. First steps are to gather enough resources to build a modest home, as well as some tools like a hoe to start on a garden. From here, players will continue to gather and expand their homestead. Much of the progression for Solarpunk is tied to a research table that will be constructed early on.
Research, Crafting And Expanding Your Settlement
At this table, new items are unlocked, from tools to new structures, to decorations. Unlocking all the items in a single tier gives access to a tier upgrade, and once player’s progress through the tiers enough, an airship station and airship are unlocked. These allow the opportunity to then explore the world of Solarpunk.
Solarpunk’s strengths lie in the variety of decor options it offers players. This ranges from indoor furniture to outdoor planter items, many of which feature design variations that allow players to build the cozy village of their dreams. As the name Solarpunk implies, the progression system focuses on using renewable power generators, and the aesthetic is built around that. Players can build wood, glass, and brick structures, as well as plant crops and create a solar farm for keeping the community alive.
A Relaxing Game Held Back By Its Systems
However, while the aesthetic of Solarpunk is phenomenal, it struggles in several major areas. For starters, the UI is a bit basic. The build menu uses stacked radial menus that are finicky to access and get used to. Shortcuts and object placement can also be awkward to figure out and use. Most players will probably be confused when they need to place their first structural foundation – at least I was.
To place foundations, they need to be selected from the build menu. So far, so simple. But foundations do not auto snap to the ground and looking at the ground doesn’t adjust build height. The way placement height is adjusted is by holding up on the D-pad and then using the analog stick to adjust the placement height. It’s awkward to say the least, and the game doesn’t always clearly explain everything.
This is a similar issue with basic things like quick movement shortcuts. After pressing every button on the controller while trying to figure out how to quickly move a stack of items between inventories, I finally just looked it up and found out that it was RT plus A to quickly move a stack of items. A little icon in the corner of the screen showing the appropriate shortcuts in the menu would be a small but welcome change.
Beyond that, progression feels tedious. Now, the game is admittedly not long, and the developers have even gone out of their way to specifically state that Solarpunk will not be for players looking for a huge amount of exploration or endless progression systems. In fact, this is a game for those looking to build little settlements and just customize things to their hearts content.
The issue is, that resource gathering at first is fairly slow and tedious. For example, cotton and cloth are essential items early on, and are needed for progress unlocks as well as specific structures that will unlock access to the flying ship. Seeds can’t be crafted until later in the game, so resource production is set at a hard cap for the early game. This limits progression so players can’t just farm resources to speed up progression. On top of this, plots need to be manually watered until sprinkler systems are unlocked – which is done via an energy research table that is traded for and has its own progression.
An Airship That Never Quite Takes Flight
The airship is also fairly lackluster. The upgrades only improve travel range and the ship itself is rather unimpressive; it feels almost unnecessary as a feature in the game. The first upgrade gives players access to a second floating island and then a trader ship with a trader bot where upgrades and blueprints can be traded for – again by farming resources.
But this second island is small and chiefly serves as a source for copper. In fact, it can be explored in about a minute.
The devs might not market Solarpunk as a grand adventure, but the fact that the first expedition in the airship is essentially just a glorified resource run took a bit of the wind out of my sails.
Airship upgrades need to be unlocked to expand the travel range, at which point larger islands are unlocked and there are finally more options for exploring and building.
Beautiful To Look At, But A Little Too Restrictive
Overall, the gameplay is a bit slow and while the aesthetic and range of building options within the game are great, Solarpunk struggles with tedious progression, minimal content, and UI design issues. There is an amazing foundation for a game here, and something I would love to see expanded on in the future. But as it is, only very specific players are going to really get hooked by the gameplay loop that Solarpunk offers.
Adding a creative mode and letting players just explore the world would also go a long way in making it a more enjoyable experience. As is, the survival aspects and progression roadblocks aren’t necessarily difficult, just tedious.
And I hate that there are so many things to criticize because Solarpunk does a phenomenal job providing aesthetic options for building. Houses and even the landscapes can be transformed and decorated to create incredibly cozy spaces.
At the end of the day, enjoying Solarpunk is a matter of managing expectations. Some parts of the game feel like they are still early access, and initial progression is incredibly tedious. But if you are looking for an indie game that focuses on building cozy abodes, there aren’t many that nail the aesthetic as well as Solarpunk.
Important Links
Renewable Energy Powers Solarpunk’s Sky-High Game Pass Adventure – https://www.thexboxhub.com/renewable-energy-powers-solarpunks-sky-high-game-pass-adventure/
Download through the Xbox Store, via Game Pass if you like – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/solarpunk/9n8brh7pgjmj
