Tinkerlands blends action RPG with crafting and base building. On top of all that, it also has co-op, though I didn’t get a chance to play around with that. I sunk a good chunk of hours into the game, seeing most of what it had to offer, leaving only a few things unfound and bosses unchallenged.
You start off in the typical humble surroundings, shipwrecked with a simple tutorial NPC nearby to help guide you into the standard picking up of wood and stone to start building tools and homes. All the NPCs you meet along the way as you travel will want a place to live, with conditions on what what they need in their homes in order to move in. A blacksmith wanting a forge and anvil for example. You’ll find these NPCs all over the island, and they’ll each sell or allow you to do different things.
The combat is fairly standard dash and slash, with each weapon being the main factor in how you tackle your foes. You’ve got standard weapons like swords, bows, and staves, but there is no shortage of spell books, chakram, or just throwing chunks of ice for offensive options. Combined with a handful of accessories and armor options and you’ve got a lot of room for customizing to the situation.
The island you spawn on has several biomes, and the accessories and npcs are also key to tackling the harsher environments. You need to keep the sand out of your eyes in the desert and warm in the frozen…uhh…lands? Tundra? The diversity here puts California to shame.
Overall, I had a lot of fun with the game and I’m tempted at times to go back and do the extra grinding to hit up the bosses I haven’t tackled yet. Tinkerlands doesn’t have a release date, but, the demo is still playable.