Preview: Volcanoids in Early Access is a unique underground adventure
Source: Volcanoid
Building or setting up bases is a core part of every survival game. They provide protection and the space you need for processes like upgrading, so having them is crucial. However, one downside to bases is that they’re static. Because you can’t take your base with you, your ability to safely explore is reduced the farther away from your base you go.
This is not the case in Volcanoids, a new PC title in Early Access, however. Unlike other survival games, your base — which is a giant drillship — comes with you everywhere you go, both above and below ground. And thanks to your drillship’s mobility, the fun of exploring Volcanoids’ weird and wacky world never stops.
Drill through the Earth
Volcanoids
Salvation lies underground
Volcanoid blends the joys of mobile base-building with fun combat and exploration, making it a compelling and fresh survival experience.
Surviving in a volcanic world
Source: Volcanoid
Beneath the surface, you’ll need to hunt for important materials that will allow you to unlock and upgrade gear. Within your drillship, you can design a storage space, engineer automated systems to produce things like important parts for machinery, work towards researching new technologies, and more.
Thanks to the mobility of your drillship, you’ll never go too long without finding a new location to explore. The world is filled with unique caverns, caves, and other interesting places to find, and when it’s safe, you can also explore the surface for as well. In fact, you’ll want to go back above ground when possible to get all available resources, so you shouldn’t hide forever. Overall, the gameplay loop of loot-drill-explore works very well, and it kept me playing much longer than I initially thought it would.
Take down robot foes
Source: Volcanoid
You can construct special defenses on your drillship, too, which will help prevent it from being assaulted by enemies. The combat is overlal enjoyable. The gunplay feels a little too weightless, but the smart enemy AI and the weapon variety help offset that.
Initially, your goal against the COGs is to simply survive. However, as you get further in the game, you’ll discover that the COGs and the volcanoes erupting are directly linked. Your goal from then on is to discover how to reduce or stop the volcanic eruptions by taking down COGs in key areas. This is accomplished through a series of quests that help you find the right places to travel in order to unearth the secrets of the world.
The road ahead
Source: Volcanoid
In terms of performance, Volcanoids runs well. Due to its Early Access state, Volcanoids lacks polish in some areas, such as the animation and graphics department. However, the game still plays smoothly and is very stable. This isn’t something you can say for a lot of Early Access titles, which makes Volcanoids all the more impressive.
Final thoughts on Volcanoids
Source: Volcanoid
Volcanoids is available now on Steam Early Access.
Drill through the Earth
Volcanoids
Salvation lies underground
Volcanoid blends the joys of mobile base-building with fun combat and exploration, making it a compelling and fresh survival experience.
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