FortressCraft Evolved Let's Play! Join me as we automate everything and fight off aliens in this gameplay walkthrough of FortressCraft Evolved. This game is a unique blend of Voxel Landscapes.

Thank you for your support!. Access to the Community Reward Pack. This is a DLC that will not be purchaseable, but contains (at minimum - suggest more!) a Player Skin, ARTHER Skin, Spiderbot Skin and access to the TechAxe. There is also planned to be exclusive access to the Patreon-only Creative and Survival Dedicated Servers, once the hosting is live. Patrons will get access to all current and future Expansion packs (Tentatively titled 'Frozen Factory Expansion' and the 'Magma Core Expansion'). Continued DevelopmentFortressCraft: Evolved is a complete, released game. After over 5 years of development, I have finally had to say goodbye to it.

Help us build the Community Pack rewards!I plan to continue releasing patches on the same cycle as currently. This is roughly 2 weeks of frantic feature addition, 1 week of polish, and 1 week of bug testing. This should mean patches come out roughly once a month.Patrons will get access to all current FortressCraft Evolved content if above $10. Once Patreons reach a $100 lifetime contribution, they will get access to the snapshot build of FortressCraft: Phoenix. This threshold will reduce as time goes on.Pledge now and be the first to get the exclusive Patreon skins!;-).

• • Platforms:
  PC
• Developer: Projector Games
• Publisher:Digital Tribe
• Release: November 08, 2015

Unfair though it might seem to review a game in comparison to others in its genre, there’s simply no way to discuss Projector Games’ FortressCraft Evolved without making reference to the “block game” behemoth, Minecraft. Mojang’s simple little game has become not just a favorite among preteen gamers (and gamers of all ages), but a genuine cultural phenomenon, spawning dozens of respectful imitators and downright ripoffs.

When FortressCraft appeared on the Xbox 360 in 2011, Mojang founder Markus Persson and FortressCraft developer Adam Sawkins had a contentious and public battle about how closely Sawkins’ game resembled Minecraft. There is certainly more than a passing resemblance, though four years later and now using the Unity engine, FortressCraft has evolved into much more of its own product.

All the “voxel block building” games — just like physical blocks — tap into that primal human need to make something. It’s just inherently satisfying to take simple raw materials and craft something cool, whether it’s a sand castle on the beach or a thousand piece Lego diorama, making the success of Minecraft or Space Engineer or FortressCraft is entirely understandable. And, since by now just about everyone has some familiarity with the “block building” genre, it’s probably just best to talk about how FortressCraft Evolved differs from or improves upon the formula, if it actually does. Although the game was highly successful on Xbox 360, moving to PC and the Unity engine gives FortressCraft Evolved all sorts of graphical upgrades from the console version when it comes to lighting and weather effects, draw distances, and texture complexity. Bragging about a bump in visual complexity and richness is a little ironic, considering that the original Minecraft was in part a post-modern reaction to the industry’s obsession with graphical fidelity over gameplay.

Stylistically, FortressCraft Evolved has a slightly sci-fi, definitely mechanical vibe, as one of the game’s biggest hooks is the emphasis on building machinery, conveyor belt-driven automated laser-firing ore extractors, and other sorts of cool Rube Goldberg assemblies. Another interesting feature allows the player to use the Workshop — the world’s central building hub — to craft a scale model of a building or room and then have the Workshop fabricate a full sized version. Just like that “other” Craft game, everything comes down to blocks, either mined and culled from the environment, unlocked during game play or specially created by the player. Eventually, once its systems are understood, FortressCraft Evolved allows a great deal of creativity and design freedom. A cursory perusal of YouTube suggests that there are many dedicated FortressCrafter-ers out there and they’ve made some amazing things.

Although one of FortressCraft Evolved’s bullet point is an “easy to use UI,” in fact the game is anything but welcoming to new players and is downright offputting. The “tutorial” level is dark, hard to navigate and doesn’t really explain game systems. It’s all too easy to die of “hypothermia” while simply learning the how and why of simple operations. Of course with time comes the eventual understanding of how ore and other raw materials are converted to power, which then drives other more complex systems. The UI does become more familiar but many tasks involve multiple submenus and combination keystrokes. On PC, the game only partially supports the controller and is best played with mouse and keyboard. The official Wiki isn’t all that helpful, either.

Like Minecraft,Evolved can be played in a forgiving, death-free sandbox mode or in the new Survival Mode, where the player must contend with all manner of natural and unnatural forces and enemies, such as waves of aliens. Mining for rare materials to construct a series of defensive structures connected to a power grid adds a unique tower defense aspect to Survival Mode and is at its best when played co-op.

Closing Comments:

FortressCraft Evolved has moved from being a “block builder” clone to something unique, especially in Survival Mode, which can be played like a multi-faceted tower defense game. FortressCraft Evolved contains the seeds to nurture creativity and imaginative play, but its first few hours are abysmally confusing and its UI is in dire need of a do-over. Not an especially charming or friendly take on the genre, FortressCraft Evolved has a lot of depth and potential for the dedicated player.

Version Reviewed: PC