Recent reviews by Arcden

I haven't enjoyed a game this much since Morrowind. It does a great job of creating a sense of adventure and exploration. Combat is fun and varied, resembling a toned down version of Dark Souls. That being said the game doesn't appear to be optimized very well. You'll see glitches like deer stacking on top of each other, environments loading and flinging your camera 180 degrees, and dead bodies falling through the world but in my opinion its all worth it. After all, there are still far less bugs when compared to a game like Morrowind. If the devs were to focus on optimization (especially mouse control) and lengthening out the stories a bit this game would easily be worth $60 in my opinion. As it is now, I would say they are right where they need to be at $40 and it's a steal if you can get it on sale. For those of you, like me, wishing the Elder Scrolls series had Dark Souls' combat, or anyone who was a fan of older rpgs like Morrowind, this is a must buy. 9/10

I purchased Collision Course because I have been searching (for years) for a dinosaur survival game that would accurately simulate being trapped in the prehistoric. This is by far the closest any game has come to meeting that personal wish. The reason this game is different from the likes of Ark, Saurian, The Isle, and any other dino game currently on the market, is because it pits you, as a human, up against beasts that you stand no real chance of defeating. There is no playing as the dinosaur, there is no riding or taming the dinosaurs. This is where the game shines. These beasts remain vicious and terrifying predators and on the off chance you happen to encounter one, you'll find yourself actually afraid of them. As far as I'm aware, this is the only game to do this, and even though it is in its infancy it is already doing right what so many others have done wrong.

• Amazing AI. The dinosaurs don't immediately attack you. They will "investigate" you before deciding whether or not it is a good idea to attack. If they take damage and don't see you they will run away, as if startled. They are able to smell dead carcasses, hear gunshots, and see flashlights.
  
• Exceptional Dinosaur Models. The dinosaurs in the game look as good if not better than the environment. You can tell that the devs took their time in creating them. When they're walking around, sniffing the air, and investigating sounds it looks as if they are actually alive.
  
• Perfect number of dinosaurs per area. You likely won't see a dinosaur for a while and this is how it should be. You'll be spending most of your time exploring the environment looking for rocks and sticks to craft with. When you do see a dinosaur it will often take you by surprise. Making the dinosaurs a rare sight adds to the suspense when you finally do encounter one.
  
• Beautiful Environment. The game looks amazing not only because it is in Cryengine 3 but mostly because of the time you can tell the devs put into crafting the environment. The forests are so lush and covered in undergrowth that I've actually walked straight into a raptor while wandering through the forest.
  
• Good Ambiance. Another thing that can make or break a game like this and this game does it fairly well. There are the usual crickets chirping/frogs calling, distant dinosaur calls, and the dinosaurs actually roar occasionally (which sounds amazing/terrifying). They each have different calls so it is easy to determine if what you just heard is harmless or something to worry about.
  
• Combat feels good. Whether it is with a dinosaur or a competing survivor, throwing your spear through the head of your attacker feels solid and weighty, just like combat should. Although the guns feel a little useless sometimes I'm alright with this since I would prefer it if they weren't even in the game and the player used only primal weapons.
  
• Great Story/Endgame Ideas. The fact that there is futuristic technology on this planet turned me off of the game at first. I wanted a purely prehistoric game, and I still do. But, this game has a good explanation for the technology and it isn't so abundant that it makes the game easy. The cyborg is an awesome final fight and I can't wait to see how they expand on the story.

• Buggy and Unoptimized. I have a decent setup (Radeon RTX 580/Intel i7) and I have to play this game on medium in order to have a good experience. I would not currently recommend this game to anyone with a low end computer. Although I did not experience any crashes, I have seen others that have experienced several crashes.
  
• Save system. I personally don't like being able to save whenever I want. I would rather the game have a permadeath system or an autosave feature at important points. This would make the game even more challenging and make the dinosaurs even scarier since you will likely be starting over if you attract their attention.
  
• Very minimal content. As of writing this review the game is in version 0.05 and there is hardly anything to do in the game. I made and acquired every item in the game as well as completed the storyline and I'm barely at 8 hours of playtime. There also aren't that many different types of dinosaurs. Despite this I feel that the time was worth it, I just wish there was more to do.
  
• Resources are very limited. This is the biggest issue that I have with the game. Currently you have to search for potentially hours to find 4 rocks and 4 sticks to build a campfire. Finding some of the flowers to cure your illnesses can also be near impossible. I would rather it be easy to obtain and craft items with many more items to make.

I really feel for these devs, from the splitting of their team to work on Saurian, to their failed Indiegogo campaign. I really hope they are able to add more content to the game and will continue to support their efforts. Overall, I feel that this is the closest a game has come to satisfying my desire for a true dinosaur survival experience. It is definitely worth the $10 in my opinion even though it is substantially lacking in content. In it's current state and for what it is I would give this game an, mostly because it is daring to be different from what the majority of people seem to want in dinosaur games. And that is a good thing in my eyes.

For an early access game The Stomping Land looks beautiful and provides hours of difficult survival based combat. I would definitely recommend this game but before you buy you should remember that this game is in the alpha stage. It's servers are very laggy at times and there are several bugs and glitches still to be fixed. However, I have been following this game for over a year now and I know that it's developers are actively improving the game as fast as possible. This game is amazing now but I can't wait to see it in another year when it's finished. It's definitely worth the $25 but if you want more information you can visit the forums or the steam group to figure out any question you have.