Now, don’t get me wrong. Astrobotanica is an Early Access release, which means it will likely improve over time with new features, content, and quality-of-life upgrades. In its current state, it’s difficult to recommend even if you’re a fan of the genre.

The biggest issue with Astrobotanica is that its control scheme is incredibly unintuitive. While the menus are generally fine, allowing for drag-and-drop for inventory management, switching between consumables mid-exploration is a pain. You can switch between the various plants and tonics you’ve crafted with the mouse scroll, but outside the inventory screen, there’s no clear indication of which tonic you currently have selected. The inventory has its own headaches, since there are no sorting options, leaving you to manually drag and drop each item. Large stacks also can’t be split into smaller ones, and the only way to achieve this is by dropping the entire stack on the ground and picking it back up one by one.

Tools are similarly painful to use, since you can’t hotkey tools like the hammer or pickaxe, and are instead forced to cycle through them with the X and C keys. While the controls can be remapped, how the game handles what you’re holding in your left or right hand feels fundamentally flawed, and changing the buttons would simply put a band-aid solution over poor design choices. The controls feel slightly better on a controller, with the contents of your left hand delegated to the left and right D-pad buttons, while your right hand is handled by the up and down buttons.

"Tools are similarly painful to use, since you can’t hotkey tools like the hammer or pickaxe, and are instead forced to cycle through them with the X and C keys."

Unfortunately, the tutorial also feels quite haphazardly thrown-together. While it does give you clear directions on what you can do and where you should go, it ends quite abruptly once you’ve built a work bench. It also doesn’t quite tell you how you can fill up your water gun—used for watering plants in your garden—or even how to unlock more crafting recipes. You simply get quick prompts telling you how you can scan plants or creatures, how you can craft tonics, and how you can help a neanderthal get over their illness by crafting antibiotics. After this, you’re pretty much on your own.

The gameplay loop revolves around exploration, gathering materials and herbs, scanning the local flora and fauna, base-building, and interacting with neanderthals. Along the way you have two key resources you need to manage—your CO2 levels, and your health. While health is easy to manage since avoiding damage is straightforward, CO2 steadily drains over time. There are two key ways to deal with this: climb into your crashed space pod to regenerate it quickly, or consume plants or tonics that raise your CO2 levels. The latter works just fine during exploration. The former, however, has the added effect of encouraging players to build their bases close to the crashed pod.

Thankfully, the exploration itself can be quite fun, and there are plenty of surprises to find along the way. The map is sizable, with winding pathways that make it easy to get lost. As you explore, you’re bound to find ruins and intricate buildings to explore. Some tend to offer simple ball-pushing puzzles that reward you by filling out your map, while others will be home to rare plants and animals that you can scan and catalog. Each region also has multiple sub-areas worth poking through.

"Unfortunately, the tutorial also feels quite haphazardly thrown-together."

Scanning the local wildlife and plants is the primary method of progression in Astrobotanica. Doing so rewards you with science points that you can then spend to progress through the P.R.I.M.A.L. skill tree. The tree offers useful passives, from a compass that makes navigation easier, to increasing your inventory size, and even unlocking brand new recipes. Aside from scanning, you can also get science points by simply exploring the world, and helping out the local neanderthal population. The neanderthal system also needs quite a bit of work, since there isn’t much you can do with them yet aside from opening up trading for simple materials.

The base-building aspects of Astrobotanica don’t quite feel fully fleshed out either. While it’s simple enough to lay down some blueprints and build a base, even a simple wall requires a surprisingly large amount of materials. Speaking of materials, there aren’t many types in the game. You get wood, clay, and stone, each of which can then be processed into one or two different materials. Overall, there isn’t much incentive to engage deeply with base-building right now. All you really need is a crafting bench, maybe a couple of light sources and storage chests, and a garden where you can grow the plants of your choice.

There isn’t any combat here. While the world might pose a few dangers, they’re mostly limited to avoidable hazards, like plants that spew poison if you get too close, or a few particularly aggressive creatures that might keep headbutting you while you run past. So you wouldn’t really need a house to provide shelter from dangerous creatures either, despite what the soundscape might make you think.

"Thankfully, the exploration itself can be quite fun, and there are plenty of surprises to find along the way."

A day/night cycle is typically used in many survival games to ramp up the threats in the darkness. Here, however, it feels like little more than aesthetic change. Things are harder to see without a flashlight or torch, and there are plenty of spooky sounds coming in from the forests around you, but once again, you’re never really in any danger aside from potentially getting lost. A house doesn’t help in this regard either, since there’s no real way that I could find to skip through the night. Short of wandering around collecting plants, there isn’t much meaningful to do at night—so I often found myself waiting it out until sunrise.

Speaking of local fauna, the game also claims to let you befriend them by finding the right kind of plant or fruit that they might like. However, I couldn’t get this feature to work despite my best efforts, and ultimately resorted to tossing fruit at dodos in the hope that something would finally click.

It’s quite easy to hit your first wall in Astrobotanica, owing to the lack of content. There aren’t too many biomes in the game yet, since I was largely only able to discover a beach and dense forests of different kinds. Upgrades also don’t feel meaningful yet outside of simplistic passive skills from the P.R.I.M.A.L. tree that I mentioned earlier.

"It’s quite easy to hit your first wall in Astrobotanica, owing to the lack of content."

Visuals are one of the few aspects that Astrobotanica gets right. Its highly stylized take on a prehistoric Earth can be quite beautiful to stare at if you find the right vantage point, and just about every creature and plant you find is visually distinct without feeling out of place. Along with this, performance was also pretty decent, and I was able to play at a steady frame rate of 120 FPS on my PC—a Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, 32 GB of DDR5-6000 RAM and a Radeon RX 7800 XT GPU—aside from a few stutters when entering entirely new areas. In this regard, further updates will only bring more improvements.

In its current form, Astrobotanica feels more like a foundation than a fully realized game. There are plenty of interesting ideas here, like exploration and science serving as the main method of progression, and generally non-violent survival crafting gameplay. However, there just isn’t much to do outside of running around, solving some basic puzzles, and observing the ruins and landscapes. Even the neanderthals don’t really add much to the game despite there seemingly being a full-fledged reputation system, and a base-building game where building a base has no real point just sounds like a parody.

However, being an Early Access game, Astrobotanica will no doubt continue to improve over time. Aside from a few fundamental issues like the clunky UI/UX, the biggest problem plaguing the title is a general lack of content, and that’s the kind of issue post-launch support can address. In the meantime, however, if you’re looking for your next survival fix, I’d look elsewhere for now—unless you’re specifically interested in following its Early Access progress.

This game was reviewed on PC.

Resident Evil Requiem

The big one, the main event, the raison d’être for many survival horror fans. With the long-awaited return to Raccoon City, a fusion of first and third-person perspectives, and Leon S. Kennedy looking more fly than ever, Resident Evil Requiem is simply the game to watch out for in February. It’s been a long time coming – can you believe Resident Evil Village was almost five years ago? – but based on everything we’ve seen thus far, it will be worth the wait and then some. Look for its launch on February 27th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Nioh 3

“Let’s have a dream of everlasting peace,” said Tokugawa Ieyasu, probably, to which his younger grandson probably said, “No.” With a Kyoto beset by Yokai and no other options, it’s on Tokugawa Takechiyo, the rightful heir to the title of Shogun, to travel back in time and fix things. But even as it incorporates new open-field elements for non-linear exploration, seamless switching between Samurai and Ninja styles, and all kinds of nasty new enemies, Nioh 3 retains that addictive hack-and-slash gameplay and masocore difficulty that we know and love. It’s available on February 6th for PS5 and PC, with a free demo available for both now.

Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined

The art style, the music, the visual overhaul – everything about this screams old-school adventure. Granted, this isn’t the first “different” edition of Dragon Quest 7, but the developer isn’t just aiming for fancier graphics – it’s also streamlining the original story, adding new content and bringing quality-of-life features (like instantly defeating lower-level enemies in the field). Couple this with new activities and the new Moonlighting system for combining Vocations, and Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined could be the best possible version yet when it launches on February 5th.

Romeo is a Dead Man

Say what you will about Suda51 games, but one thing is for sure: You never know what to expect. So the concept of Romeo is a Dead Man, where one Romeo Stargazer dies, revives, and hunts criminals across space and time with the special Dead Gear? Not exactly on everyone’s bingo card. Nevertheless, the surreal presentation, bloody hack and slash combat – with a delightful assortment of weapons to wreak havoc – and over-the-top bosses will more than suffice when it launches on February 11th for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.

BlazBlue Entropy Effect X

If you enjoyed Dead Cells, then BlazBlue Entropy Effect offers one of the more low-key enjoyable – and addictive – rogue-lite side-scrolling experiences out there. For its console release, however, 91Act is going bigger, adding a new story centered around the Sea of Possibility, with Ace seeking the Shards of Possibility to save the world. If none of that matters to you, don’t worry – Entropy X adds Naoto Kurogane as a new playable character alongside new bosses, enemies, stages, and more.

Mario Tennis Fever

I’ve got a fever, and the solution? More Mario Tennis from Camelot. I don’t think any campaign can ever match up to Mario Tennis: Power Tour, but Fever’s set-up of having Baby Mario and friends re-learn their tennis skills is at least somewhat enticing. Beyond that, the real hook is the new Fever Rackets, each with unique abilities called Fever Shots that can turn the tide of a match. Couple that with “Mix It Up” Mode’s unique twists and a whopping 38 playable characters, and Mario Tennis Fever could maybe, probably, be a sleeper hit when it launches on February 12th for the Switch 2.

Ride 6

Arriving about two and a half years after Ride 5, Ride 6 makes the jump to Unreal Engine 5 while packing over 250 bikes. The usual stars appear, but this time, players can also take Baggers and Enduro Bikes onto the track. And if you prefer something a little more free-form, off-road tracks finally properly debut in all their dirty glory. Couple all this with a new Career Mode, RIDE Fest, which sees you going up against Legendary bikers in their category of choice, and Ride 6 is looking packed ahead of its release on February 12th.

Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties

A visually improved version of Yakuza 3 probably would have been enough, but RGG Studio went the extra mile by revamping the combat mechanics, adding new activities (including managing a gang of bikers), progression systems, and even a whole new side story focused on Yoshitaka Mine. All this for just $69.99. Are we a little worried after the demo was rated “Mostly Negative” on Steam? Well, sure, but maybe there will be some improvements, at least visually, before its launch on February 12th for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2.

Reanimal

How do you create something that’s somehow even more disturbing than Little Nightmares? Tarsier Studios apparently has the answer with Reanimal – a story about two siblings seeking to find their friends after an unknown event has brought overwhelming horrors into their lives. The mood, the aesthetic, the isolationism – it’s all here but darker and more expansive. Launching on February 13th for Nintendo Switch 2, PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S, Reanimal invites you to pick up the pieces of a fractured home, or die trying.

ASTROBOTANICA

Even after years of the same crafting, harvesting, farming, and building in this genre, ASTROBOTANICA’s premise has me intrigued. It’s set during prehistoric times, but this isn’t a Far Cry Primal situation. Instead, you’re an alien named Xel, who must study and collect plants to tolerate the atmosphere. From there, hijinks with neanderthals, mysterious sights, six skill paths, and more await. Of course, it won’t all be accessible – ASTROBOTANICA launches into early access on February 16th for PC – but it still promises dozens of hours of exploration.

Styx: Blades of Greed

Why send in an orc to tear down the front door when you could send, well, an orc to rob everyone blind? Styx returns in his third adventure, this time with a crew and a hankering for Quartz. Three massive sandboxes await, and based on the multi-level Wall, where you can jump down chimneys to infiltrate kitchens and poison meals, or mind control guards to do a flip, there are a lot of options for stealth sandbox fun. It’s launching on February 19th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.

Ys X: Proud Nordics

The original landed somewhat less ideally than I would have liked, especially compared to Ys VIII and Ys IX. Proud Nordics doesn’t look to severely overhaul its combat systems, so much as add new content in the form of the Aland Island and a story revolving around a mysterious Mana user. Regardless, if you’re hungry for more, from arena battles and new bosses to fresh Mana Actions, Ys X: Proud Nordics is worth watching out for when it launches on February 20th for PS5, Switch 2 and PC.

Aces of Thunder

Replaying Ace Combat 7 or diving into Project Wingman to prepare for Ace Combat 8 is nice and all, but what about flight combat in VR? That’s what Aces of Thunder promises when it launches on February 3rd for PC, PS5 and PlayStation VR2. Between an extensive range of WW1 and WW2 aircraft, full HOTAS support, and 15 maps – with War Thunder developer Gaijin Entertainment at the helm – it looks like it could be the most immersive dogfighting sim yet. And while VR is ideal, an optional non-VR mode is also available.

Tales of Berseria Remastered

Why a remaster of Berseria, especially when Xillia 2 is right there? A question for another day, perhaps, but at least it’s one of the more well-received entries in the series. Launching on February 27th for Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC, and PS5, Tales of Berseria Remastered adds the usual quality of life options, from turning off enemy encounters to accessing the Grade Shop from the start. You even get a healthy chunk of DLC from the original.

ChromaGun 2: Dye Hard

We won’t be getting Portal 3 anytime soon, but there are plenty of other first-person puzzles worth diving into, such as ChromaGun 2: Dye Hard. Aside from the obvious riff on certain plot elements, the concept of walls attracting objects (sentient or otherwise) of the same color is intriguing. Paint the world red, or blue, or orange, to progress, and hopefully not suffer agonizing death at the hands of many killer robots.