There’s a point in Miju Games’ sci-fi survival crafting title, The Planet Crafter, where everything feels like it’s smooth sailing. You’ve built several heaters, pumped up the O2 supply, gotten a few Tier 2 drills running and constructed a decent range of Wind Turbines and Solar Panels. The sky turns blue, and clouds begin to form on the planet – you even launch a few satellites into the sky. Life is good, right?

However, you suddenly see the requirements for melting the ice dotting your world – how much heat do you need? Suddenly, it becomes a push to gain that oh-so-essential Osmium for crafting higher-tier upgrades and new tools.

"From the outset, it’s all you can do to survive, craft equipment to build a habitation module before expanding into a base, tracking the progress of terraforming, and keeping the lights on."

That moment occurs several times throughout a playthrough. You go from mining a few materials and increasing the amount of pressure, heat, oxygen and electricity to constructing monstrous staircases to surmount cliffs, jetpacks to zoom around the map, grass spreaders to increase the biomass on the surface, a bio lab to grow bacteria and calling down enough meteors like there’s no tomorrow. It’s a simple yet addictive loop, and though it could use some improvements – not to mention a few quality-of-life features – The Planet Crafter is a very good time sink for survival crafting fans.

The story, such as it is, sees the player venturing to an uninhabited, unnamed planet out in the universe. As a convict seeking pardons, your job is simple: Terraform the planet and make it habitable for human life. It’s far easier said than done, especially when barren cliffs, immense ice blocks, vision-obscuring dust storms and extensive deserts.

From the outset, it’s all you can do to survive, craft equipment to build a habitation module before expanding into a base, tracking the progress of terraforming, and keeping the lights on. Even your inventory space is limited, and satiating your appetite can mean venturing into the unknown to scavenge for food with limited oxygen.

Thankfully, you can customize the difficulty of the experience right off the bat, from choosing whether you drop all of your items on dying to whether the save file gets deleted. Certain starting points on the map – which is handcrafted, as opposed to a procedurally generated world like in No Man’s Sky – also make for more challenging starts.

"When you think it’s all figured out, The Planet Crafter tosses some interesting curve balls like drone stations, machine optimizers for boosting other structures, biodomes, aquariums and much more."

However, if you want to make it so that your oxygen doesn’t deplete as fast and exploration thus becomes less stressful, go right ahead. I’ve always been a fan of customization like this, especially with options to unlock all blueprints, randomize all ores, unlock ore extractors immediately, or free build. Conversely, if you want a tough survival experience where the terraforming progresses at a snail’s pace and power consumption is out of control, then you can do that.

The immediate goal of the game is to increase the Terraforming Index enough to bring about rain, greenery and whatnot to turn the planet into a paradise of sorts. There are some plot bits like other individuals also crashlanding and trying their level best to survive before biting the dust, and your one ally provides random tips now and again.

While these are fine, the overarching story is minimalistic, with your character having a minor presence. Not that it’s the worst thing in a survival sandbox like this, but those expecting a narrative on the level of Subnautica or its sequel will be disappointed.

Otherwise, the gameplay will look very familiar: Gather materials, usually by mining, store them and then craft all kinds of things. As your Terraforming Index increases, additional blueprints are unlocked, and you can even discover chips that decode into upgrades.

Loot containers dot the planet, providing materials and some essential items to help speed the process up. It’s a continuous process, and when you think it’s all figured out, The Planet Crafter tosses some interesting curve balls like drone stations, machine optimizers for boosting other structures, biodomes, aquariums and much more.

"The ability to construct power sources, drills, biomass generators and whatnot wherever you want and having them affect the planet overall is also great."

Some downtime can occur, especially as you’re scrounging for materials, combining multiple Iridium ores for one measly Iridium rod or trying to balance power generation with everything else. Yet, it doesn’t feel monotonous as new areas open up and resources become available to match the ever-increasing Terraforming Index. You’ll explore derelict wrecks, underground habitation modules and more, deconstructing debris and learning more about the world.

Some quality-of-life features feel like they could be implemented, though. Fast travel doesn’t exist from the outset – you need to construct teleporters for that. In the meantime, it’s a constant shuffle between ore extractors for precious resources. The jetpack and increased movement certainly help, and it’s possible to create multiple bases without any consequence.

The ability to construct power sources, drills, biomass generators and whatnot wherever you want and having them affect the planet overall is also great. You can carefully plan out fields of wind turbines or carry materials to craft a habitation module for quickly resupplying on oxygen whenever necessary.

Sadly, crafting doesn’t automatically pull from your storage. Even if you have the materials for something, it can’t be crafted if they’re not on your person. It’s a shame because it’s just so convenient to dump everything into your lockers and craft them without having to worry about sorting through everything to find that one missing material.

On the bright side, creating storage containers and labeling them is very easy and given the sheer amount of freedom in other areas, it’s not the end of the world. However, I would have also liked being able to stack materials in storage, if not in my inventory. It would also be nice if the remains of destroyed meteors didn’t clip into my bases.

"Its open world may not be the most bustling when you start out, but it quickly becomes one of the more endearing."

Probably the only other criticism is that The Planet Crafter can feel a little barren at times, which is understandable given the state of the planet. However, it’s also very much the game’s motif – much of the excitement lies in exploring, revisiting key locations to see what materials they might hold based on your Terraforming Index, and not falling to your death.

Even without reaching the end-game or trying out multiplayer, there’s enough content to keep one busy. While it would have been nice to have additional maps, I’m interested to see how Miju Games builds on the current one.

As the planet becomes more vibrant, the visual fidelity looks incredible. It already runs very well on Maximum settings without any bit of slowdown, even with rain and meteors pouring down on the surface. The music is also well done, conveying a sense of isolation, calm and tension, depending on the situation, but never feeling too overdone.

Having recently left early access, The Planet Crafter is an engaging and addictive sci-fi sandbox experience. Though it’s not necessarily the most story-intensive experience and could use some more tweaks and quality of life, there’s enjoyment in watching your planet slowly but surely change in real time. Of course, the sheer dopamine of watching the Terraforming Index rise higher and higher and unlocking more blueprints is great, even as you wonder what unknown material the game will throw at you next.

Whether you’re in it to build extensively and see how deep the research trees go, explore and uncover mysteries or chill out in a space setting, The Planet Crafter is worth checking out. Its open world may not be the most bustling when you start out, but it quickly becomes one of the more endearing.

This game was reviewed on the PC.