Astral Terra - PC Preview @ Chalgyr

Dungeons and Dragons meets Minecraft is about the only way I can think of describing the sandbox/survival/RPG game called Astral Terra. It’s currently in Alpha and very rough around the edges but it could hold some promise if the developers focus on their goals and try not to do too much.

Astral Terra uses a now familiar voxel based world that is fully destructible which i've seen a few games employ with varying degrees of success. I’m not entirely sure how to approach this one because it blends many different game elements but doesn't seem to fully employ any of them. It has some builder/sandbox elements that allow you to harvest resources as you explore your environment like wood and ore. I will warn you now the game is rough and your first time mining a rock will be a slightly startling experience as the object comes flying at your head! These materials can be used at a crafting station to build better weapons, stuff for your home or more advanced crafting stations for more advanced items. So far, pretty standard for builder/sandbox games like Minecraft. It gets weird when you summon this crafting station with magic.

Unlike a traditional builder/sandbox games that makes you work for everything, in Astral Terra you are given spells depending on what character you chose along with your initial crafting station for free. You can also create huge, majestic bases right off the bat, complete with marble staircases and windows without having to first find the raw resources! Building is done through a terraforming mode that can either be used from the view of your character or through a very handy third person, freeform camera mode. The controls are a little confusing at first but once you get the hang of it the mechanics are quite powerful.