Eden Crafters - PC Review

Eden Crafters by developer and publisher Osaris Games—PC (Steam) review written by Valerie with copies provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

---

Hello out there! So sorry for the long delay in getting a review out as nothing new has come my way yet. Since I did a preview for this game, I thought I would do a full review with all my likes and dislikes, score, and the coop factor. My partners in crime for this game are: Susan N. and Bryan. So, Eden Crafters, one of the many survival-crafting games that I love to play is the topic of this one.

Well, in the start of the game we still build items to unlock recipes and the planet we are on in our family game is Aetheria. On this planet the enemy is asteroids. We have to get our Rocket Launch platform built to intercept and destroy the oncoming asteroid intent on taking the main island in the sky we start on. When the asteroid does come in the beginning, our progress remains and we can continue on. The cinematic is awesome though!

Currently there are 4 planets to choose from: Echo Prime, Ocean, Aetheria, and Nova Terra. I really enjoyed Ocean planet both in the prologue and in its first playable stages. Our family game is on Aetheria and I just started to play on Nova Terra. 

Aetheria was released December 2024 and I've been having a whale of a time flying around to get to the different areas of this 'planet'. The way this planet is set up reminds me of an asteroid belt more than a planet. Then the terraforming process for breathable atmosphere and voila! A new place to live, build, and explore. I've had a lot of practice with the starting ship and now I feel better about landing on that tiny landing pad. I didn't have to build four pads together to make a large enough surface in the new game! More on this later.

In our coop game we are having some weird graphic issues, like in these three images. The left one at the target radical is a tree up in the air. This is in our family game on Aetheria, on the main land body. And in the second image, Bryan is looking at a refiner that is processing basalt. There's also a graphic glitch where you can see the ship on top from under either the landing platform, or the rocket launch platform. 

As before, I am still having terrain issues, and in our family game it is even evident inside the buildings! It feels so weird walking across a gap in the floor as you can see in the images below. It even causes me to avoid it through a long tunnel that was created to get to a resource we needed. The only thing my son Bryan will comment about the game is the terrain. "The voxel terrain with the character pathing over it constantly gets stuck. Still needs improvement."

I am still getting stuck on the terrain as I traverse it in search of ore deposits. I found that sometimes when I am stuck I can just 'dig' myself out, but other times? Nope, I have to respawn or die to get out of it. Thanking my lucky stars that we are playing on Normal level that allows us to keep our inventory when we die. 

Now on Nova Terra, which came out in June of this year, there is a mystery to solve. I love it! Letters left in buildings, and all sorts of equipment in ruins! Made my day when I started on this planet. As with Echo Prime, you travel to the different islands to hunt for resources and set up equipment to make the water clean and the atmosphere breathable.

As you advance through the game unlocking all sorts of equipment and resources in increments, not all at once, you can track that progress through the Tasks page under the Crafting guide. One other thing that we were wishing for in our coop game was the ability to text chat. 

Let's talk about some of the new items that are now in the game. There's an extra vehicle to play with! Ok, long vehicle! Yes, I am talking about trains! This will definitely make it interesting in our family game, and I'm sure we will make it work! I'm looking forward to using them on Nova Terra, so we shall see how that goes!

Recently another new thing to use is conveyor sorters. I can work with this since we use them a lot in both Satisfactory and Space Engineers. There's also a neat feature with the drone and conveyor belts where you can lift them to extend over terrain or your own spaghetti of conveyor belts. Of course, you have to use the terrain, ie: rocks, or machinery to do it! I wasn't able to hold alt or ctrl to lift it on its own.

Another thing I've noticed that is still popping up is the grass inside the shelter. It became prominent when we built the Material Analyzer which also advances our progress. I took a couple of screenshots so you can see what happens after the Material Analyzer is placed.

While playing on Nova Terra, the music is the same throughout. Relaxing and atmospheric. The environment hazards have a louder track, but you are still not stressed out by it. 

Circling back to the flying that Susan N. is having trouble with. I'm sure there are a few others out there with the same issues, so I shall impart my way of using the ship. Its pathing has changed with the recent fixes, so, it makes it that much easier to fly. Before the recent fix to the flight path, as you head toward a mountain or land body that is high up, the ship would pitch up on its own and level out. After the patch, the ship levels itself and you are the one using spacebar to fly up and over the mountain.

The main tip I found that is the easiest to manage is to use the spacebar to get into the air and just tap the forward direction key (W) so that the ship is just barely going forward. Don't just hold the forward key and barrel through the skies if you're not used to it because you definitely overshoot your target landing area! Take your time. The keys A & D are your left and right. No, there isn't a reverse. That's your fancy flying turn around to get back to where you want to be. Sometimes I have found that it is a very 'wide' turn!

When you use the S key to bring the ship lower down, if you are careful enough, you can use that to your advantage so that you line up with the landing area. As you get down low enough (because the ship is in automatic landing mode) tap the forward key a couple times to go forward again and then S to land. Took me a few tries to learn this trick, but it has helped immensely with easing my frustration in landing! 

There are new upgrades to the map and a couple of them I am both not fond of and hopeful that a color change will fix them. The sulfur and the gold are almost identical in color. I wish they would use a darker with a bit of brown in the yellow for the sulfur. Also, the graphene & basalt grey fades into the terrain when you are zoomed out making it harder to plot your course for that resource. My suggestion for the sulfur color would be #7e6815. For the basalt and graphene, use black and/or an image of the resource itself.

And now a few words from the newest member to the game Eden Crafters. Susan N., what do you think of the game? Did you have any issues at the start?

--

Hello!

I got my hands on a copy of Eden Crafters a little while ago when a friend of mine gifted the game to me. Naturally, I had to hop into the game and see what it was all about.

My adventures began on a planet that has large bodies of water with tons of radiation and immense heat. Unlike in the family game where we can erect water collectors to feed the greenhouses and ground fertilizers to create a breathable atmosphere, I had to place several water pumps and purifiers to have the same results. Trying not to die to a high level of heat still takes me for a ride.

Now, some of the aspects I like about the game are things pertaining to ease of placement and a couple modes of transportation that aren't available in other automation games like the aforementioned Satisfactory. For example, you can get a land paver, which is not something you can get in other titles. I am also a fan of a steady progression system that doesn't give players too many options. Although, with the good things like transportation and the ability to remove or add sand to the area, there are some minor gripes I have. For one thing, in single player and in multiplayer modes, the game doesn't always register if parts of a building are present. What I mean is there are times where the floor is missing a panel or certain parts of the terrain will peek through the walls as though they aren't solid objects. Yet, there are points where entering the drone mode will cause the camera to get stuck inside wind turbines or solar panels on the roof of a building you're in. 

Another minor issue that we encountered in multiplayer occurred when my brother would place a building extension, but my mom and I would still see a solid wall. I'm uncertain if that issue is due to the connection between our computers or something else, but it would sometimes fix itself with a restart or after leaving the area and returning.

Although, those minor issues I mentioned above don't fundamentally change the enjoyment of the game, they just add to strange elements that hopefully see improvement over time. But there are some features I wish we had in the game. In multiplayer, it would be wonderful to have a distinct icon or indication of who they are on the map. This could be as simple as each person chooses a color that they would appear on the map in, or perhaps their work uniform is a randomized color set by the game which would carry over onto the map. Another way this could be achieved is simply adding the players username or initial on their icon. 

There is only one thing that bothers me the most about Eden Crafters and that has to do with your ship controls. I don't know what it is about it but I'm not a fan. I prefer to walk or use a buggy or sit on a conveyor as it takes me to my destination instead of using the ship that I actively avoid using. Honestly, I couldn't begin to explain what it is that I don't like about it, but I know that some people will need to adjust to the flying in Eden Crafters. Perhaps with time I'll improve, but for now I avoid it like the plague.

All of that said, I love the graphics style and the ability to terraform the planet sand piece by sand piece. Watching the foliage and trees grow as you progress towards a breathable atmosphere is highly satisfying. I enjoy being able to fulfill automation dreams in Eden Crafters and the Warehouse is a game changer of a building. Honestly, more automation games need this sort of feature, because as you get to late game, running back to storage for resources is a pain in the butt.

Another thing I oddly enjoy are the asteroids. It creates a level of urgency without making you go crazy. Though, I will state that I didn't experience the asteroids in my solo game, and only saw the mechanic in the family game - which is definitely unique for this genre.

Overall, I enjoy Eden Crafters immensely and I can't wait to explore the other worlds and build an epic facility both in my single player game and in the family game. Honestly, I think while the game is not perfect, I think it deserves at least an 8 or even 8.5 out of 10 because I'm having a blast playing the game when time permits.

~~~~~ 

And that wraps up our review of Eden Crafters! My last thoughts are; I'm having a whale of a time in this game. The graphics, the survival and building aspects, the new tools, and the trains. The small little fixes to the map where we can see how much power we have in each grid, the water consumption, and the newest icons for resources found with the new tool. Even my flying gets a nod in the enjoyment of this game. I’m also going to give it an 8.5 out of 10 score. 

 

Score: 8.5 / 10