

Unlike Valheim, another game that removed the survival grind from exploration and base-building, there are no bosses that soft-gate regions. You can quite literally burrow into the planet’s core and keep going until you emerge on the other side. You can terraform weird cliffs and launch yourself off of them.

You can spelunk deep into caverns for mineral resources. With these tools, the potential for exploration in Astroneer feels nearly infinite. This is key, as most of my time in Astroneer involves roaming around the world’s beautiful, vast map using a special ray gun to modify the environment and collect resources. The colorful, low-poly art style translates beautifully to the console. In most respects, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Astroneer on Switch. But if you’re looking for more intense base-building, Astroneer is still a better title on Windows PC, which benefits from more precise controls and greater processing power. 13, offers largely the same fun experience but in a portable setting, giving the game an edge for casual, creative play sessions.

The new port to Switch, which is out on Jan.

The game plops an astronaut onto a procedurally generated planet where players harvest resources, build their base, and explore the vast nooks and crannies of space. This has made Astroneer ideal for players who enjoy crafting and base management, but would rather pursue those goals in a low-pressure setting. In adventure mode, you die when you run out of oxygen - a gauge on your backpack shows the remaining supply - but oxygen is easily available through buildings, vehicles, or crafting tethers that connect players to an oxygen line. Astroneer may be a survival game, but it has always had more of a sandbox feel, thanks to the lower pressure of its “survival” elements.
