The Planet Crafter Review - Building a Better World

The subject of terraforming — transforming a planet to be more Earthlike — has been addressed in a handful of games over the years, but few titles are truly dedicated to exploring the concept. The Planet Crafter is one of these games, and it provides an interesting (albeit soft sci-fi) take on terraforming from a first-person perspective

The Planet Crafter is an indie game that has been publicly available on Steam Early Access since May of 2022. Created by Miju Games — a small indie developer of just six people — it has been gradually updated and expanded over the last two years. Now, we finally have our hands on version 1.0 and a concrete ending to the game.

Bringing a World to Life

In The Planet Crafter, you're a convict who has been sentenced to terraforming an entire world by yourself. You're unceremoniously deposited on a dead planet with a vacuum suit, a futuristic multitool, a crafting station, and a few days of supplies.

At first, you're going to focus on basic survival. You don't have anywhere near enough supplies to stay alive for very long. Once things get a little more stable, though, you'll start building machines to start the terraforming process and a power network to keep everything online.

Although the pace of updates was a little slow, each new major update added some new, fun piece of content to explore such as spawning frogs or building an army of drones to carry your items for you.

Unlike some of the factory simulation games out there, The Planet Crafter does not require you to build miles of pipes and wires to connect everything; everything just works. Build a solar panel half a mile away and it will count toward your total power generation. Is it realistic? no. Is it a nice compromise that saves casual gamers from mucking around with wires? Yes.

These easy logistics extend to all aspects of gameplay. You can get back 100% of the resources of anything you've built simply by deconstructing it. You can un-craft crafted items using a special machine. Even truly expendable resources such as food and water can be manufactured infinitely once you unlock the underlying technologies. It's not realistic, but it's fun.

An Engaging Experience

I've put a ton of time into The Planet Crafter. It simply takes a lot of time to progress through the Terraformation Stages and unlock everything you need to complete the terraformation process and leave the planet. What's particularly magical about this game is that you barely notice the time passing at all.

There is always something to do in The Planet Crafter. You would think that waiting for machines to heat up the atmosphere and generate air pressure would be tedious, but it's not. You'll quickly come to the realization that you can speed up the process by building even more machines, so you'll get moving on that.

Build a solar panel half a mile away and it will count toward your total power generation. Is it realistic? no. Is it a nice compromise that saves casual gamers from mucking around with wires? Yes.

You'll soon want to start building automated mines so you can spend less time collecting resources. And then, perhaps, you'll build a teleporter network or a bunch of drones to make collecting your items even easier. All the while, you'll be expanding your base and carefully sorting the hundreds of materials you need to keep your operation going.

As your automation increases, you'll explore using the trading system to earn money. Then, you'll unlock the Portal Generator and start exploring distant wrecks for rare loot. Before you know it, it's 4:00 AM and you've somehow spent an entire day puttering around on a virtual alien world.

A Handful of Odd Design Quirks

I once lamented that there wasn't enough to do in The Planet Crafter in my preview last year. The new content with a portal system and the addition of animals has put an end to those complaints, but some longstanding problems still haunt this game.

I'm more than willing to suspend my disbelief for fun, but one thing I can't stand is when buildings just don't line up correctly. Having two connecting buildings ever so slightly off can be an annoyance, and unfortunately, the problem of geometrical misalignment runs rampant in The Planet Crafter.

At the most basic level, the Living Compartment simply does not align with the Foundation Grid in any neat way. Every single building you create will be slightly askew. And if you build a tall structure as I did, you'll find building a staircase becomes a nightmare once you try to navigate this maze of misaligned buildings.

The biggest problem of all, though, is the lack of transparency on what your next goal should be.

The jetpack is another fun tool that can be frustrating to use. You can't truly fly; rather, you hover a certain distance away from the ground. If you're on the roof of a building and float down, you'll descend to your maximum height. And, for some reason, you fly higher when you're looking up.

The biggest problem of all, though, is the lack of transparency on what your next goal should be. You can look at a screen and see that you're increasing atmospheric pressure and the amount of biomass at a certain rate, but it doesn't tell you precisely how much you need of each metric to advance to the next Terraformation Stage.

Without this guidance, it can sometimes be difficult to intuitively understand what you need to do next. Should you be building more heaters or should you focus on planting more trees? What's the best way to rapidly advance your terraforming? The game doesn't tell you in any useful way, and this badly needs to change in a future update.

The Planet Crafter Review | Final Thoughts

The Planet Crafter is by no means perfect, but its flaws are a small ding on an otherwise entertaining experience. I've played this game on and off since before it was released on Steam and I've thoroughly enjoyed my time with the game.

Although the pace of updates was a little slow, each new major update added some new, fun piece of content to explore such as spawning frogs or building an army of drones to carry your items for you. Miju Games plans on continuing with some post-launch updates, and I'm sure that the major content drops will be equally as robust.

I think that The Planet Crafter will be a must-buy for fans of survival games, factory games, or exploring virtual worlds — all the more so for the kinds of gamers who prefer to play games that are free of violence and conflict. I had tons of fun playing The Planet Crafter over the years and I'm sure you will, too.

The Planet Crafter was reviewed on PC with a copy provided by the Developer over the course of 335 hours of gameplay — all screenshots were taken during the process of review.