They'll strike, disappear, then strike again while you're still trying to work out where they came from last time.

They may take a fair old while to actually kill you, but they are fearsomely relentless, and so much quicker than you are. Simply going to get something is a big deal, because of air, because of food, and because of sharks.Īh, the sharks. This is a survival game, not a building game, and it's that narrow focus which makes FarSky work despite having relatively few component parts. You can expand your base as much as you like, pretty much solely to create more space for plant pots, but its fixed iron cube nature means there's almost nowhere to go in terms of visual design. Building is much less core a part, as here you mine and build with very specific objectives in mind - a new air tank, a harpoon gun, a plant pot - rather than for sake of expression or even experimentation. Make it so I can't live on fish carcass alone.įair enough though, FarSky does the pop survival thing, with Minecraft as its primary cue. Give me a gaming stomach which needs a balanced diet, proteins and carbs and a spread of vitamins, especially if it is to take on grueling underwater endurance tests. It's a shame that the hunger system isn't more fleshed out, as it would make the farming more critical. I had enough carrots to last a lifetime, and so many baked potatoes that I could have opened a roadside caff upon my return to the surface. I built out a huge farm level of my base and filled it with dozens of pots (which require iron, dirt and fertiliser to create), methodically seeding new ones every time I harvested my fruit and veg. There's a beautiful strangeness to growing carrots, potatoes and beans underwater. It's not strictly necessary, as while much less inefficient, fish-hunting isn't too tall an order - although their blood will attract nearby sharks - but it's an oddly compelling minigame.

Its minimalism nods to Minecraft too, but it builds deep sea doom atmosphere rather well. I should mention before I forget that there's some wonderful, appropriately ominous music too. That's really what it's all about - you know that silver or copper or manganese is out there in the depths somewhere, but can you get to it (and then home again) safely? Getting home at the end of a day's foraging is an essential concept to survival games, and FarSky's deep blue danger adds an frisson of terror. This really isn't sub-aquatic Robinson Crueso, despite at least leaning in that direction Hell, never mind, this is Minecraftbut, and that means your major preoccupation is finding and gathering said metals in the first place. Then there are 'energy orbs' harvested from certain seaweed, from which lights and 'stunning spears' can be built. The expanding base has an infinite oxygen supply and doesn't flood despite having a big old entry hole in the bottom, for instance, while you can knock up diving suits which can withstand greater depths or tanks which hold more air just by farming the right metals and clicking a button. There's a big element of fudging things for expediency's sake, which I have mixed feelings about. Especially when a hammerhead shark decides to have a go while you're at it, or you thoughtlessly swim through a flock of jellyfish in your hurry. A deep sea area which was straightforward to reach - wheeeeeee! - is a right bugger to get back from, and arduously jump-jetting back to the shallower waters your base dwells in sees the oxygen timer depleting yet more dangerously. It's agreeably stressful, primarily because it turns out there a load of hills and sheer cliff faces underwater. How it is consumed without taking off your diving helmet is not explained, but I'm going with 'a tiny mouth on each fingertip'. Hunger plays a part in your excursions too, though you can always stab a passing fish for a quick sushi hit. You can only leave your base for so long before your air tanks empty, so there's a big element of how far out you dare push yourself, based on how long you think it'll take to get back, and allowing some wiggle room in the event a shark decides it fancies a bit of leg. Much of the survival drama revolves around oxygen, inevitably. To see this content please enable targeting cookies.

Farsky trainer