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Eco (2018)

Strange Loop Games

Linux · Mac · PC (Microsoft Windows)

2.67 from 18 ratings

175 members have it in their collection · 41 backlogged · 21 wish listed

Enter the world of Eco, a fully simulated ecosystem bustling with thousands of growing plants and animals living their lives. Build, harvest, and take resources from an environment where your every action affects the world around you. An imminent meteor strike threatens global destruction. Can you save the world without destroying it in the process?
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Details

Developers
Strange Loop Games
Publishers
Strange Loop Games
Genres
Adventure, Indie, Simulator
Themes
Educational
Steam
View on Steam

Release dates

  • Feb 06, 2018 (Early Access) (Worldwide) PC (Microsoft Windows)
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Rating distribution

5 stars
0
4 stars
1
3 stars
11
2 stars
5
1 star
1
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Community All Reviews Statuses

kicks07

Review kicks07 3/5 · Mar 24, 2024

Eco: Rambling Review

Well. It is a game.

I spent approximately 30 days and 78 hours destroying a meteor in this mediocre game. I played on a dedicated server (in which I had full control) with two other friends.

Pros

  • Dedicated server win here, lots of options to fine tune the game to you and your group's liking.
  • IF you like this kind …
    • Read more

    Well. It is a game.

    I spent approximately 30 days and 78 hours destroying a meteor in this mediocre game. I played on a dedicated server (in which I had full control) with two other friends.

    Pros

  • Dedicated server win here, lots of options to fine tune the game to you and your group's liking.
  • IF you like this kind of game, building and telling your own story, the building is fun and advancement feels rewarding.
  • I got good time value for my money. The game was not a "full price game" and I got plenty of hours of fun. Became my go to game to play while watching tv.
  • Late game has lots of fun things to play with and improve on the experience!
    Cons
  • Dedicated server loss though on not having the options properly documented even on the wikis (kind of indicates not a lot of people are playing this game).
  • IF you like video games, this game tends to fail to answer the question "why should I keep playing". Especially after you defeat the meteor, the only real threat in the game. Side bar, the wild life sounds are ridiculous and indicate a threat where none exists.
  • Not all of my 78 hours were fun though, it can be quite tedious at times. Because of how tedious some chores are, became my go to game to actually force me to WATCH tv.
  • Everything runs on calories. Woof.
  • Missing the ability to upgrade buildings in place for cheaper than new construction. Severely slows down game and room tiers are immensely important.
  • Late game items are so late game, they tend to come AFTER defeating the meteor. It would be nice to see them rebalance the game so that those late game items that really start moving things a long were easier to build pre-meteor-defeat.
  • To put it bluntly and over simplified, the game needs more to do. I don't mean in the "but you can do this....", but I mean it in more of a "I need to do this, so that I can do this or defeat this or win this or be rewarded like this...". It needs to answer the question "Why should I keep playing".
  • I don't prefer the early-game-skill-gating, in that, skills are tied to real time. This caused me to spend a lot of time fine tuning skill gain multipliers. I think games should increase your to do list in an exponential growth sort of format, with of course a plateau. Eco relies more on a wave function, in which sometimes you'll have a lot to do and other times you'll feel like you've skilled out for the day. ESPECIALLY IN THE EARLY GAME!
  • Lastly, I want to touch on the development direction for the game. It seems pretty clear that the developers are targeting that 20 - 30 person server cooperation. This doesn't seem sustainable, but pushing that aside, it can really hinder working with a couple of friends who really just want to build a civilization and work toward a common goal. I won't say the developers are wrong in their decision making, but I think if the game was balanced toward fewer people and included some kind of NPC system, it would really stand out and define a genre.
    Conclusion
    This game could really fill a niche in the market for people who love cooperating with friends and building a small civilization. Unfortunately, not all the time spent in the game was fun for us, and even though I'm concluding on the game as a whole experience positively, I won't be returning to this world or recommending it to others unless there are substantial changes. In a perfect rating system, I'd be completely neutral (2.5 stars) on the rating scale rather than slightly positive, but I feel that more appropriate than negative. Eco fulfilled an itch for my friends an I, but it filled it in the most rudimentary way possible. It's like "hey, I got an itch, let me burn it off with fire rather than getting out my back scratcher".


    That analogy was terrible.
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