The natural evolution of every video game genre should conclude with mechs. The answer to “Should I add mechs to the game?” should always be followed by a resounding yes. Lightyear Frontier is farming with mechs, and no, it’s not anywhere near as intense as the premise sounds. In fact, it’s probably one of the most relaxing games I’ve played in a while. I’ve had a chance to play the early access build of the Lightyear Frontier, and here are my impressions.
Get in the Robot
Lightyear Frontier begins with you crash landing on a planet after you leave Earth, which I assume is inhabitable, to find a new home. Your new home happens to be one with a peaceful ecosystem and beauty at every corner. Seriously, this is one impressive looking game. You can practically take a screenshot of any scene in the game, and it looks glorious.
I’m getting ahead of myself here, but essentially, this isn’t a farming game the same way Stardew Valley is, but it combines elements of exploration, base-building, and resource-gathering that make good use of your mech. It’s obvious that your mech wasn’t built for farming, but the twist of using its potential tools of destruction for farming, and building justifies the premise.
You can drill different resources, gather water, suck up seeds, and then shoot them into plots. All your basic tools are useful, and switching between them is easy. In typical farming and survival games fashion, you’ll unlock more things to construct, but you’ll need the proper resources too, which brings us to exploration.
Exploration and Pacing
Exploration is as equally as important as the farming, and resource gathering part. As you expand your base, you’ll need different types of resources to build new things. The game has this neat feature where it lets you create missions if you’re looking for a specific resource or even something to build next.
Moving around the map is simple, and there’s no threat to put any unnecessary pressure on you. There’s no deadline, or timer that’s forcing you to complete a quest in a certain time. You can take it easy and just take things one step at a time.
The only thing that can stop exploration is when your inventory is full of materials. That means you’ll have to head on back to the camp and make some room for new things to carry. Your storage space can be upgraded though, so that’s another goal you can look forward to.
The game isn’t trying to make you rush through its campaign, which works in its favor because you can define your own goals, as you slowly chip away at the main objectives.
Based on the FAQ on Steam, the current version only represents a portion of the full game, and Lightyear Frontier plans to stay in this period for more than a year. Currently, you can get through the campaign in under 15 hours or so, but that depends on how fast you want to explore outside of the campaign mechanically.
Closing Thoughts
Overall, I’m really impressed with what I’ve played so far. Lightyear Frontier is a stress-free and visually stunning game that doesn’t penalize players in any way. There’s a real sense of reward and meaningful progression as you explore the beautiful landscape and work on your homestead. You can feed animals, tend to your farm, and upgrade your mech as you take in the beauty of the beautiful while you listen to calming tunes.
If you’re looking for a farming, and survival game that’s relaxing, but still rich with meaningful activities, I can’t recommend this enough.
Lightyear Frontier Release Date
Lightyear Frontier is coming to PC via Steam, and Xbox Game Pass on 19 Mar, 2024. There is currently a demo available that you can try out for yourself.
What did you think of my impressions of Lightyear Frontier? Share your experience with the demo in the comments below.
This preview is based on the PC version of Lightyear Frontier. The key was provided by the publisher.
