The first few minutes of Planetoid Pioneers is one of the best examples of a non-tutorial, tutorial since Mega-Man X released on the SNES in 1993. The game ingeniously teaches you how to interact with the environment around you through clever level design, and well as thought out controls. Pioneering an offshoot genre of “Metroidvania†dubbed “Physicsvania,†Data Realms created their own engine in order to fully realize their passion project. The game is essentially a 2-D Sci-Fi physics sandbox; leaving you stranded on an alien planet, with just your wits, and a highly elaborate physics engine that allows you use almost all of the environment to aid you on your journey.
Unfortunately, because of the physics engine, computers with lower end CPUs and eight gigabytes or less of RAM will have a hard time playing the game due to poor optimization and frequent crashes. The game actually has a warning on it’s loading screen that computers with eight gigabytes or less of RAM will experience longer load times. In ReviewFix.com’s gameplay session on a rig with an RX580 GPU, Ryzen 5 1400 Quad-Core processor running at 3.2 GHz and eight gigabytes of RAM, the game crashed four times within an hour, and could barely manage a consistent thirty frames per second.
If your computer can manage to run the game smoothly, Planetoid Pioneers offers an interesting and unique experience. Limited only by your imagination; fans of games with no clear solution and no clear objective will feel right at home with this game. With some better optimization, Data Realms will have a sleeper indie gem on their hands.
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