Game Pass First Impressions: Craftopia

By Heidi Nicholas,

Just a reminder before we start that Craftopia is in Game Preview — if you’re looking for a finished, polished game then you should probably give it a miss. Having said that, Craftopia is wild. From the trailers, Craftopia seems determined to include a little bit of every type of game possible. The story, meanwhile, starts with a literal explosion and the end of the world; after a brief explanation of what comes next, you’re dumped on an island to create the world anew. You start with nothing — and with just as much of an idea on what you’re meant to do. I ran around like a panicked chicken at first — punching trees, crafting fireplaces and then setting myself on fire — but once I’d got that out of my system, the possibilities of Craftopia began to open up.

I’ll admit, I’m mystified by Craftopia. The graphics, for one thing, seem to be all over the place. On the one hand, there’s a distinct Breath of the Wild look to its lush green plains and rolling hills — not to mention the hang-gliding mechanic and the oddly familiar enemies — but the first dungeon looks like something from an early Noughties game. I’m also stymied by the sheer potential of what you’re supposed to be able to do in Craftopia’s later stages, as opposed to what you’ll actually be doing for your first few hours in the game. Those trailers show everything from extensive, efficient farms, to some sort of bizarre animal factory/assembly line — but that’s only if you get that far. To start with, you’ll be punching and whacking everything in sight to get your basic resources. It’s great that Craftopia offers so much freedom with its crafting — even at the beginning, not long after you graduated from smelting ingots and crafting wooden tools, one task has you making a red beret at the hatters — but it’s a little disheartening to think how far there is to go between “make one pickaxe” and whatever weird creations you can come up with in the future.

I am still flummoxed by the contrast between those trailers and my own experience of Craftopia’s early gameplay. No merrily whizzing about on motorbikes or fighting dragons for me — instead, resource gathering and befuddlement is my lot. Admittedly, dragons and motorbikes do look like late-game content, but the contrast between the game Craftopia is to start with and the game it will apparently become just struck me as odd. The controls feel janky and clumsy, while the combat seems fairly light and repetitive. Enemy camps like those in Breath of the Wild began to spring up by the time I got to the second island, yet Craftopia’s efforts to emulate other games don’t always feel successful. The climbing, for instance; you sort of cling to the wall and launch yourself upwards as if you’ve suddenly been imbued with superhero powers. You can explore wherever you want, but the game feels empty — at the start, at least — with tutorial NPCs standing around watching you in silence, and enemies woodenly walking to and fro. As it stands, Craftopia doesn’t strike me as enticing enough to stick it out until it gets more interesting — and I so wanted to like this game! As for the achievements, it seems as though you should unlock most of them naturally on your first playthrough, as a number of them are rewarded for doing something “for the first time.” For instance, defeating a bear for the first time. Or picking up faeces for the first time (yep, that is actually one of the achievements).

Summary

I am stumped. I’ve tried some crafting, some combat, some resource gathering; I’ve picked up the poo and killed a bear, and I’m just not feeling it. The whole point of our Game Pass First Impressions articles is exactly that — to give our first impressions. The issue is that by all accounts, Craftopia seems to change almost completely further down the line... if you’re happy to stick with it. That might not be for everyone, but it does look as though once you've put in some effort and a good few hours, it'll feel like an entirely different game.

Heidi spent around three hours crafting, punching, and exploring through Craftopia, earning five achievements as she went.

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First Impressions

Written by Heidi Nicholas

Heidi tends to lean towards indie games, RPGs, and open-world games on Xbox, and when not playing Disney Dreamlight Valley, happily installs every new wholesome game that appears on Xbox Game Pass, before diving back into favorites like The Witcher 3. She's looking forward to Age of Mythology Retold, Everwild, Fable, and Avowed on the Xbox horizon. Heidi graduated with an MA in English Literature before joining the TrueAchievements team.