If you were someone who didn’t vibe with the “survival” part of Don’t Starve, then Crashlands served as a pretty good alternative. However, the genre’s landscape is significant all these years later. Amid games with realm-hopping, monster-capturing and loot grinding – not to mention all the heavy hitters receiving extensive amounts of new content and updates – Butterscotch Shenanigans returns with Crashlands 2.

"Quests are still the backbone of the narrative, as you meet with new characters like Atlaa in Haarlipol, who initially dispenses you to various parts of the map to investigate the effects of the Withering."

On the surface, it feels like a worthwhile follow-up with highly improved and even more stylized visuals, highlighting the quirkiness of Woanope and its denizens. Combat is more strategic, even with some nagging issues, and there is an intriguing narrative to dive into. However, like its predecessor, Crashlands 2 is just that – light-hearted and survival-friendly but significantly below the genre’s heavy hitters.

Following her departure from Woanope, Flux is something of a celebrity for “saving” the planet. After years of media stints and appearances, she quits the Bureau of Shipping and ventures back to Woanope to reconnect with her beloved companions (with droid assistant JuiceBox in tow). Upon entering the planet’s atmosphere, a strange phenomenon affects her ship, causing it to crash yet again, but on a different section than the first game.

After meeting with Graal, whose house they, unfortunately, demolished in the process, Flux and JuiceBox learn of a strange Withering taking over various spots in the region. And who else should have their shady fingerprints all over the incident but the Bureau of Shipping? Thus our heroes set out yet again to save Woanope from whatever is occurring.

At least, eventually. Like the original Crashlands, the scenario is fairly open-ended and you have extensive amounts of freedom to explore. On top of materials, exploring nets Juice Gems for upgrading various stats for Flux, from passive regeneration to higher crit chance. It’s simple enough and gets the job done.

Quests are still the backbone of the narrative, as you meet with new characters like Atlaa in Haarlipol, who initially dispenses you to various parts of the map to investigate the effects of the Withering. They’re fairly straightforward, offering enough direction to unlock new parts and potentially discover new resources, but they’re not the most thrilling and the pattern of going somewhere, investigating, and then returning to Haarlipol wears out its welcome quickly.

"Combat features interesting wrinkles, like a brief charge before you attack, and dodge-rolling, which is nuanced enough to differentiate between avoiding an attack and getting scrapped, resulting in reduced damage."

Nevertheless, it’s necessary to gain access to new recipes, which you’ll need to craft more items. The open-ended nature of everything means having to figure out what to complete first to facilitate progression in other quests. For example, raising Graal’s comfort is essential to his Insights, the fancy name for research, and improving his cabin is one method to achieve that.

However, you can’t craft pillars, which are necessary to support walls, from the outset. Another quest that involves hatching an egg hinges on creating a cramped room, but, once again, you can’t do that without pillars. It’s only after visiting another NPC that you’re given the recipe and can thus progress further.

Is it the most challenging thing to figure out? Not really, especially when you’re forced to run down the list of quests due to certain aspects requiring Insight to unlock them and progress the story further. I don’t necessarily mind all this since the overarching narrative and trying to solve the mystery of the Withering is intriguing. Characters like Graal have some pretty decent nuance to them, and the moments of levity pair nicely with the silliness.

However, sometimes the silliness gets a bit too much. Don’t get me wrong – when I see it in the art style, be it in the expressions of creatures before they chomp on a plant or in some of the item descriptions, it works. Even seeing Flux twist herself while dodge-rolling can be humorous just for how random it feels. The dialogue also drew some genuine laughs, even if some conversations can get a bit winded. However, the number of times characters pause to emote with speech bubbles, like the video game equivalent of “That just happened” is a little too high. Not enough to completely dissuade me but enough to trip up the flow.

Combat features interesting wrinkles, like a brief charge before you attack, and dodge-rolling, which is nuanced enough to differentiate between avoiding an attack and getting scrapped, resulting in reduced damage. While it works in 1v1 or 1v2 encounters depending on the enemies, it gets a bit dicier when dealing with multiple foes with more elaborate attack patterns (that too on Normal difficulty).

"Crashlands 2, much like the original, should be viewed as sandbox crafting comfort food. It has its character moments and may pose some decent combat challenges, but it’s still very much in line with the original."

The gear progression didn’t feel super-optimal in the early going either, as I had a trinket, some boots and the same dual blades since the start to fend off against enemies. At least there is some incentive to exploit the environment and lure foes into hazards, even if it’s not the best long-term strategy. I also appreciate the nuance of each enemy’s design, right down to their attack paths (like the Amphy Charger and their bolt-like designs).

Crafting is also straightforward, though it feels like the practice of mashing the button continuously to make an item makes more sense for mobile. It would be nice if various items were divided into different categories or if there were filters for those that use specific materials. At least you can favorite recipes or archive them to avoid clogging up space.

It feels like a tad too many resources are required for some of the more basic items, but at least their cost reduces as you continually craft more, even if I’m not the biggest fan of this mechanic. The building interface takes some getting used to, especially when replacing different structures, but it works well enough.

At its core, Crashlands 2 evolves on the first game’s mechanics and visuals while offering tons of new content. The lack of survival elements, streamlined progression, quests, and colorful characters certainly provide enough entertainment, but the whole doesn’t feel significantly more special than the sum of its parts. Perhaps it’s because the formula feels fairly safe, sticking close to the series’ roots while iterating on it just enough to facilitate the new vision.

Hardcore fans of sandbox crafting titles may still find things a bit too simplistic and narrative-focused for their liking, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time. Crashlands 2, much like the original, should be viewed as sandbox crafting comfort food. It has its character moments and may pose some decent combat challenges, but it’s still very much in line with the original. And that’s fine, but I was left wanting for more.

This game was reviewed on PC.

Epic Games Store’s latest slate of free games is now available. If you have an Epic Games account, you can claim Frictional Games’ Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Butterscotch Shenanigans’ Crashlands till May 7th. You’ll need the Epic Games Launcher to install and play them.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent, which released in 2010, is one of the premiere first person horror games, with tense psychological horror and a mysterious story. Frictional Games is working on a sequel called Amnesia: Rebirth, which releases this year, so playing the first game is definitely a good way to get caught up. As for Crashlands, it’s an action-adventure RPG with crafting mechanics and base-building as you struggle to survive on an alien planet.

Next week’s free title will be Death Coming, a puzzle game from NExT Studios. it sees players controlling the Grim Reaper and causing the deaths of many people with common every-day objects. Epic Games has also confirmed that Two Factor Authentication will be necessary to claim free games from May 21st, so make sure to set that up beforehand.

Developer Butterscotch Shenanigans has been busy since releasing Crashlands, its survival/crafting title set on an alien world. Its next title, Levelhead, is a 2D platformer, but also sports a competent level editor. For those willing to take the plunge, it’s out now on Steam Early Access for PC.

The campaign is fairly unorthodox, as the player works with the Bureau of Shipping to deliver packages through hazard-filled levels. Luckily, certain power-ups become available that let you fly and whatnot. The campaign can be experienced solo or with up to four players. The level editor is arguably the star of the show, and it allows players to work together, creating haphazard deathtraps to play through.

Current plans are to release the full game within six months to a year. Over time, players can expect more options for level-building and more campaign levels. Algorithms will also be tweaked to allow players to discover cool user-created levels – the current system allows for subscribing to creators and browsing via tags.

Currently $20 on Steam, we’ll see if Levelhead is announced for other platforms in the coming months.

Butterscotch Shenanigans took us a bit by surprise with Crashlands, its action adventure RPG full of crafting and fun humour. It’s been hard at work since then on its next project – a co-op “level-building platformer” called Levelhead. It’s out on Steam Early Access in April. Check out the announcement trailer below.

As you’ve probably noticed in the trailer, Levelhead comes with a full-fledged workshop for building levels. You get 100 “creative elements” spread across three biomes. Up to four players can work together and build levels, and subsequently tag and share them. Leaderboards will also be available to showcase the best times in all levels.

Otherwise, there’s also a campaign, which sees you working for the Bureau of Shipping and making deliveries. These deliveries are in strange levels full of danger but luckily you can pick up special abilities like flying and phasing. The campaign will also support co-op for up to four players. Levelhead is expected to fully launch in 6-12 months and will feature more levels, creative elements, and a complete campaign by then.