There are no shortage of farming/life sim games that have come out in the past few years in the wake of Stardews success. Some are great and worthwhile additions, like Coral Island, Sun Haven, and Wylde Flowers. Some…not so much.
I don’t know how to feel about Little-Known Galaxy overall. It’s got great pixel art, a neat cast of characters, and the feel that it can really go places. It just has the problem where I feel like I’ve done nearly two weeks in-game over multiple play sessions since Next Fest and I’ve gone almost no where. Credits are hard to come by, crops are slow to grow, exploring the planet is entirely at the mercy of a harsh rng. I’ve got very little in the way of feedback from the item tooltips or tutorials on what I should be holding onto vs trying to sell so I can get ahead.
An early quest has me trying to get stone and soil from the planet, which should be an easy task right? Well, stone is a rng drop from…stones. Soil is the same when digging up soil, and you’re fighting off hostile alien lifeforms while you’re doing either. Neither seem to really drop in amounts that you’ll expect to complete this quickly. Your energy bar is short and defending yourself by shooting your laser gun (which is also your mining pick) is going to get drained pretty fast. If you’re lucky, you can dig up a turnip to munch on to give you a bit more energy to go on, but like all else, it’s a fleeting resource. Like most farming sims, you’re also doing heavy inventory management until you’re able to afford bag upgrades, and given how few credits you get early on, you’ll be working on that for a while.
It’s a game that doesn’t feel punishing in any other way, the aliens aren’t hard to defeat, at least at this point. Farming isn’t that time or energy consuming. The ship’s crew is small enough it’s easy to talk to everyone every day. However, getting what you need to fulfill quests or progress is a chore.
The Little-Known Galaxy demo is still up for anyone to try, hopefully it’ll see some adjustments to it’s early game in order to help alleviate some of the issues I’m feeling, or maybe my expectations are way off.