Perpetuum

OPP baybee

Perpetuum is an older game from 2014. It's a venerable 10 years old at the time of this review. It's a very unusual specimen, so let's go into what this was supposed to be.

It's a battlemech based open world sandbox mmo survival game with an EvE Online level of complexity, you'll definitely see some things that look a lot like spreadsheets, but there's more action here than EvE.

This was originally sold around $30 USD plus subscription, and that model failed. Actually they've since made it free, but that's still failed to garner the critical mass required for an MMO to "go viral". That's definitely ambitious. I think games need to come at least close to being 5% of World of Warcraft before they can get away with a sub model.

There was a welcome amount of depth to the game but it's a shame the developers picked up a few toxic, suspicious privacy behaviours, and I'm sure that's in no small way contributed to the death of the game. There's basically less than 10 players per day, only one server remaining, and it's pretty much the devs, from what I understand, who are still clinging onto the corpse.

I think this is a bit of a shame because the level of complexity gave this a lot of potential to be a rich and rewarding game.

The developers appear to be involved in suspicious data harvesting as they eschew SteamWorks (because SteamWorks does not facilitate privacy invasion in the ways the developers prefer) in favour of demanding users hand over their email address and other private, personal details. Worse, the EULA specifically informs you that they will read all of your private messages in the game. These guys are totally trustworthy, right??

Presumably this is all so they can profile you, collect data on you, combine that data with other sources and sell your private information off to the highest bidder (and, in fact, anyone else who is willing to pay for it). That's reprehensible and must not be tolerated. I'm sure they'll swear black and blue they don't, so "just trust them", but I wouldn't trust these shady developers as far as I could throw them. An ethical developer would use SteamWorks, and they would't outright admit that they're going to read all your DMs in the game. Stay safe out there.

So, should you download this game? Not really, it's basically dead now, so the closest you can get to enjoying this is just mailing your private details direct to the developer because that's what they seem to have made this for.

You'd probably be better off playing Planetside 2 or something, I guess that's kinda close to this, but ultimately this is a novel, and perhaps in some ways unfortunate failure.

This game is a hidden gem.

So... Why you ask the DNR?

Well, basically it's because the game has 0 population. Even the "Unofficial, Official server" The only one with an actual Dev presence (Not the original devs). Is pretty much a dead server. Sure, there are about 10 people that play regularly (6 of which are the devs), and honestly if it was more like 100. I would recommend this.

The reason is because though this game is an awesome concept and resembles EvE in almost every aspect. The main issue is, like EvE, it is designed for a large player base. If you have ever played EvE you will understand my point.

This Game needs to be re-branded, and remade by a dedicated wealthy studio, from the ground up. And to be honest, I am not sure why it hasn't been rein-visioned and that exact thing happen. It has SOOOO Much potential.

Which has been wasted and squandered, it is literally the only Mech based game of it's kind.

So while I do not recommend, it's free. Give it a try and see for yourselves. Just make sure you join the main server. It is the only one that can actually be called "A Game", at this point.

Vary much like eve but its free now and you can host your own server the official servers are now off line...you can't change anything on the server or add anything....

Older game, graphics ok, autopathing can be a problem but you can manage it easily. After the tutorial you land in a PVE area but you can move anywhere on the world if you are after PVP.

PVE is a bit rinse and repeat, but combat assignments are tiered so you can adjust your risk and there is plenty to do outside of assignments. You can mine and harvest the resources you need, farm (battle) NPC robots to get ammo and components or do transport assignments to get cash. You can manufacture components for your robots, or to sell on the market. Or you can just earn cash to buy what you want.

There is a huge range of weapons, armour and equipment for you to research-build, or to buy from the market. Weapons are varied, tiered and utilise varied combat styles. Robot types vary from lean and fast to slow heavily armoured heavy hitters. You can't carry everything, you have to create you own mix of CPU capacity, power supply, sensors, armour and weapons to create your Super Robot if that is what you want, or you can grab a standard robot chuck on some weapons and AMMO (you can run out) and go kill NPC robots for their bits.

PVP, can't comment, there are plenty of big robots even as NPC that can pulp your starting level equipment so I haven't gone there yet.

There is a lot to learn and a lot to do, 185 hours in I have barely scratched the surface. BUT the game can be played from day one knowing nothing, and you can have a great time blowing stuff up.

It's free to play, it's worth the time

If you like sandbox games with a challenge this is a game for you. If you like robots this is a game for you. If you loved EVE Online but for whatever reason you cannot (or do not want) to play Eve: this is a game for you!

Yes, the game is no longer supported by the developers and the official server is offline. BUT READ ON!

This is a mmo-rpg that can "LIVE" in your computer. You can have your own, personal server, invite some friends, and have your own pvp/pve. This is a mini-EVE online!

Or you can join a community run server for free. You can access that server right from the game launcher and you can join with an e-mail.

Also, the free dedicated server that the devs released is very noob friendly and setting up a server is quite easy and relatively quick. You can get started in an hour- including downloading the game. Game plus server are 1.4 gigs.

Do not let the fact that this game is no longer officially supported distract you from what this game has to offer for $4.99.

This is an amazing game: it combines combat, exploration, mining, salvaging, empire building, research, rpg-like character progression with a large amount of "feats" that allow for specialization, and even allows you to produce your own components and build your own Bots to further build up your company/empire.

The simplest way to explain how the game works, is that you start in a hub where you manage your "company" through an interface reminiscent of a website. You can activate one of your robots and go to the "terrain" to explore, combat other bots for parts, take on and complete assignments etc. You are an "agent" who remotely controls a robot- think of it as your own drone. Or, consider the Robot to be like your "spaceship" in EVE online: it is your means to interact with the world.

In the main hub you have access to:
- a central storage
- a "market place" where you can buy all the basic components/bots/ammunition/scanners etc. to get you started
- an assignment terminal that gives mini quests- combat robots, transport goods, explore, produce goods or a combination of tasks.
- a factory where you can refine minerals, recycle components, create items you have researched etc.
- a large research/technology tree divided between the 4 robot types and a "common" tech branch that allow you to literally operate a production company if you want
- a profile editor/character sheet where you get to spend your hard earned EP points to further specialize in combat, industry etc.
- and more.

You MUST do the tutorial which is essentially an on-boarding experience and offers much needed information to get you started. Perpetuum-land is a tough place and losing your bot is almost like "back to zero". The game DOES give you a "freebie" which is a small, starter robot but learning how to play is essential early on.

The game will reward you with 2 robots for completing the tutorial. These will be better than the starter robot. If you lose one, you can save up and buy it again. The in game market is the place for all your basic survival needs: basic components, ammo, starter robots etc.

After a while, you will unlock enough material/components to actually manufacture anything you want. It will take time, but you can have a large Mech walking around and making things explode...or a large transporter moving cargo around.

I could go on...but you get the picture. This is a complex, engaging game; it is a time sink no doubt and i can only compare it with the X-series of Space Sims or EVE Online. This game is fun to play and having your OWN server, being able to play for 100s of hours, anytime you want just for a $4.99...or just join a community server with UPDATES...You do not find deals like that often.

So, give this game a chance- I personally enjoyed every second i played so far and i am looking forward to 100s more hours. Again, for $4.99 this is a not a deal to miss.

In Perpetuum's current free to play state there are many issues which need to be resolved before I could honestly recommend this to anyone. My experience is from the open Perpetuum server with almost 300 hours played.

Abuse of free accounts to camp all teleport entances and exits
Abuse of free accounts to scout all islands quickly for targets
Abuse of free accounts to create massive mining fleets
Abuse of free accounts to create agents to cause players to flag to be ganked by another party
Abuse of free accounts to create masked detector bots which log in detect and log out
Abuse of free accounts to create fleets of AFK mining haulers
Difficulty of NPC spawns requiring a group to do anything. Solo (single account) play is not possible. This may change in the update coming soon.
As the game progresses new players not in a Beta holding corp have zero chance to compete in the market
Vets abusing mechanics to seal club newbies on a consistent basis
Interzone teleport really only way to get around some abuse, however size and cost make it not viable
Becasue of the complexity in production availability of items on market is slim and way overpriced. This will change with time, but new players are going to get sticker shock.
SAP locations and times now being camped by vets on a regular basis who can out form anyone so any Beta outpost can be taken by them at a whim
Massive performance issues and I am using a GTX970M and the game isn't even on max settings
Game world is clearly designed for 500+ people online, however with the server online count under 70 regularly there is just not enough population for anything. Most of those are alts, so if you see 50 people online it is really more like 10.

This game is incomplete. That's the only legitimate con I can think of, and the reason why is simple. The game didn't sell well at it's original price point, and the devs had to close down shop. That being said, the reigns have been picked back up by none other than the actual players. With full backing from the original team, it has become the Open Perpetuum Project, and a playing server has already been brought back up. At this point, this game will never die, and it is being developed by a team that loves it for what it is and what it could be, with no one to tell them to MONETIZE MONETIZE MONETIZE.

Pros:
-Huge array of customization, and by that, I mean everything. Your player character, your machine, your activities, everything. If this genre appeals to you, there is something in this world that you will enjoy doing. From mining/manufacturing and shooting up mobs, to creating economic powerhouses and prosecuting a war against your nemesis', your time here can be well spent.
-Community is fantastic. The idea here is that you CAN play by yourself, but why would you? While you are running around doing whatever you like to do here, you do it as part of a team, and you benefit greatly for it. Even by mining and building to supply warfighters, you contribute to the success of your corp, and reap in the benefits of a vast pool of player knowledge. Or go with the above warfighting.

Cons
-That same vast array of EVERYTHING makes for a very rough starting time, when solo. Thankfully, the community is more than willing to help you get into the game. After poking a hole or two in you.
-Dying is rough. When you go, everything you were sitting there with, is gone too, a lootable for whatever turned you into a crater. You never get sent back to zero, however, as you retain skills, and even at the very worst, you'll get a shiny new starter bot to work with. Build carefully, and mind that armor gauge.

I gotta say this game belongs to a genre of games that I love. open persistant worlds where mostly everything is player made. that being said I found this game had very little to do. lots of go here and kill 5 things or go drop off this package at x location type missions that felt extremely hollow. I asked around looking for something to do in the game and I found most of the things you could do had little point to them other than "leveling for a bigger robot"

The pvp sounded interesting but with the lock on combat system I figured it wasnt really worth my time..

Pros
Good mechanics
Lots of customization
Single persistant open world

Cons
Lack of activitys
Boring ai
ugly boring world with next to no depth
feels like a themepark mmo and not a sandbox

The trailer on steam makes it seem like its some sort of cool action based mechwarrior online game. Fast paced, mech combat stomping around blasting stuff. Nope. Not even close.

This is closer to EvE online (ever so slightly), with mechs, only much worse graphics and very slow paced gameplay . UI is very clunky and overly complex. Hated how so much of my screen was needed for UI elements. Controls were pretty bad too. Not very intuitive.

Unless you have a LOT of time to invest into just learning this game and dealing with the complex mechanics, its probably not a game you will enjoy.

Overall this is a great game. It is Eve done better.

If you're familiar with Eve, then...

• You pay a little bit of money, once, and never again. It truly has no further maintenance costs.
  
• Rather than space ships you're piloting robots and mechs on a planet with day/night cycles, terrain, trees and cool structures dotting the landscape.
  
• Better, easier, faster travel.
  
• Does not end up feeling like an exercise in spreadsheet analysis.
  
• You can't be podded, so all you can lose is the vehicle and whatever it was carrying.
  

If you think Eve is a biblical reference, then...

• You can kill other robots/mechs.
  
• You can gather resources (harvesting and mining).
  
• You can process gathered resources.
  
• You can research new technologies.
  
• You can prototype your newly researched technology.
  
• You can reverse engineer your prototype to create a blueprint.
  
• You can use the blueprint to manufacture copies of the newly researched tech until the blueprint overheats and melts through the floor.
  
• You can play with the in-game economy, buying goods in one place and selling them somewhere else.
  
• You can claim territory (with a corporation), set up defenses and then work to defend it from all comers.
  
• You can terraform part of the world to remake it as you see fit.
  
• You can do at least half a dozen other things that aren't springing to mind right now.
  

• It is an open world sand box in the true meaning of that phrase. If you're yearning to have the game set the goals and/or lead you around by the nose, this is not the game for you.
  
• The mission system is really designed to give a little variety to your normal activities. If you're looking for a main storyline quest or questing hubs or to be told a story through quests, this is not the game for you.
  
• The skill system is very complex and takes a fair amount of research (read the forums, read one of the excellent game guides, play with the skill planner). If you're looking for straight path to the omfgbbqpwnzor button, this game is not for you.
  
• As with the skill system, outfitting bots and mechs is very complex and takes a fair amount of research. If you're looking for the zomgTitanSmitesYou world beating mech, it doesn't exist and this game is not for you.
  
[*]I've experienced some intermittant game crashes. It really isn't too bad and tends to happen right after I deploy into the field (where I'm still in a safe area), but it is pretty disappointing in a MMORPG that has been around for four years.

A time based MMO involving mechs. The only other game remotely like this is Eve online. You can't dispute it. The skill progression here is much better though because you don't have to actively pick what skills you want to level up, you just accrue points every day.

I'm pretty much addicted to this game. I played it in 2012 but stopped due to boredom. But I'm back several years later because there just aren't too many games like this on the market. Perp definately has potential. A few short comings in certain areas, such as the poor graphics and GUI. The lead dev Zoom has stated that they'd like to do a graphics update but lack of funding is preventing that. This game has a very small audience but die hard fans.

The PVP and combat isn't as intense as Eve. You can't rotate around your opponent so fast that their lasers cant hit you. But you can use the environment to your advantage. Faster mechs generally do far better as they can run away if things get hot. PVP is Perp is full loot. That means when you die, you lose everything and your opponent gets some of your loot. PvP isn't completely open however. There are various islands. You are relatively safe from PvP for quite some time as by the time you make it to the beta islands, you're pretty powered up. With this being a time based skill progression game however, that will take some time......unless you purchase the two packs along side the main game. Those two packs save you 5 1/2 months of time. I think they're worth $20.

So the main issue with Perp is the lack of a player base. The game is mostly player driven. That means that after the starter islands, you won't find gear or new mechs sold by NPC's, only by players. So if their aren't any players left, then you pretty much have to craft everything yourself. I've never found it difficult to find gear though, at least not yet.

The game has ALOT of grinding and is pretty much P2W unfortunately. This really can't be disputed. You can pay real money to buy extension point upgrades that give you more skill points over time than non paying customers. As this game has full loot pvp on the beta and gamma islands, people that put alot of real money into this game will get ahead faster. The argument could be said that those that don't wish to pvp can just stay on the alpha islands. Ok....so about half the content is on the latter islands. If you want to build colonies and terraform for your guild (corporation) then you need to leave the alpha islands. You will eventually pvp with other folks that want to ruin your day. I can say however, that pvp in Perp isn't as sadistic as Eve. You won't have people camping your mining spot waiting for you to jettison some ore so they can steal it and flag themselves as hostile.

So there you. You can mine, treasure hunt, do combat, build modules and mechs for other players, etc etc. The only thing you can't do in this sandbox MMO is be a trader I suppose becasue most of the game is player driven. So I suppose you could raise inflation if you wanted to be a jerk. But this isn't elite dangerous level's of trading where one hub needs supplies more than another hub. It's all mostly player driven after the starter island.


Here is a Let's Play I did. It explains the UI and how the mission structure works.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_54e8V4B5M

tldr; I'm a nub, and so far the game is ^^^ with lots left to learn - but the early game is a sharp-ish learning curve.

--

Disclaimer: At the time of this writing I am 6 hours into the game; this review is written from a very nub perspective.

My first impression of this game from the trailers was, "This could be what a Mechwarrior/Battletech MMO could have been..." Well, it turns out, not exactly; while the game view is notably more like Mech Commander than anything else I've played, the rest of the game play is very reminiscent of EVE, complete with things that sound hard to do, until you do them. Once. That's all it takes.

The tutorial is very detailed (and for good reason) but moves quickly as you go step-by-step through learning the interface, which is largely accessible by visible buttons on the UI. The mech bay view (where you get your missions, store your unused-but-not-sold items, store materials you will eventually sell/use for crafting, research, skillgain, buy/sell, and configure your mechs [called robots in the game, since your pilot is remote rather than within]) is fairly easy to adapt to, and is one of the reasons I mention EVE. Cargo is nearly identical in terms of access, repairs, movement between bays, and unit configuration, and market access and use it all but the same as I recall it (from about 4 years ago), but skill gains are different, almost opposite. Where in EVE you would select a skill and a timer would start and count down to completion of study, this game accrues skill points daily at a set rate (which can be increased with ingame functions); when you login you get your allotment of points, then for the next 2 days you gain points again, whether you login or not. If you don't login after the third day though your skillpoint gain stops, and will begin again when you login next. Said points are then spent for an immediate gain of a skill on a scale from 1-10, with difficulty/complexity ratings that modify skill gain (again, same as EVE did) to cost more points the more complex the skill is rated.

Combat is fairly straightforward. The one thing that I do not like is that there seems to be no 'shooting from the hip' at all, ever; you wait until your guns lock on, even if you're at point blank range, then engage them and they fire on a timer, automatically quitting when the primary target is out of range or destroyed.

You can loot containers while fighting. You can lock several targets at once, provided they are in range of your gear/skill. You can reload guns in combat.

There are non-combat focused missions as well as combat missions, and you can toggle PVP on/off.

In base areas there are tiles placed to speed movement; very helpful.

The chat community seems friendly so far, and is knowledgeable and helpful when asked clear questions.

Completing the tutorial was an area of boredom, until I realized that I actually did need to know 'all this crap.' DO the tutorials, but don't stick around trying to farm easy loot from drones, or using your materials to gain research, or anything else; you all but full reset once you join the real world via choosing a faction. I advise that you want to budget ~2 hours for the tutorial. That's LONG, and don't be in doubt, it can be done much faster, but use this time to learn the game as far as you can, given no true baptism by fire.

This is a serious game for serious gamers, but can be enjoyed by teens on up to graybeards. There is some number crunching, and I have yet to PVP, but so far... so good.

Bottom line: I reckon I can get a couple hundred hours out of this game in its current state.

8/10 would buy game on sale again. For the time I expect to put in, paying full price would still be a good deal.

Nice job, Avatar Creations!

Certain things in life have a natural progression. Lego. Mech Warrior. Perpetuum.
Big stompy robots, lasers, rail guns, missiles, electronic warfare, and most importantly : lots and lots of EXPLOSIONS!

If you want to play a single shard (single sever/world) game, there are only two options, this game or Eve-online. I have played both. I like Perpetuum mainly because of robots and lively planets as opposed to endless black space in Eve-online. Another reason is low population on perpetuum, which allows you to rise quickly within the perpetuum community and make lot of friends. In Eve-online, considering the size of the universe and player community, it is easy for a new player to feel lost. It is hard to make significant impact within the game, where as in Perpetuum you can.

This game has it's learning curve and earning the in-game experience before your robots can take on veterans. But trust me, this game is addicting as hell, once you get into the grooves.

If you want one single reason to buy this game, this is a single shard, perpetual world. Just like a alternate life. You will feel part of the perpetual world.

Long time EVE player who took notice over this game due to Steam recommending it after binging hard in New Eden, and reading about how it plays similar to EVE, only with mechs as opposed to space ships. What I found was a playable game, but one that makes EVE the clearer choice for those who can afford the monthly sub.

First order of business is that Perptuum is only Early Access as a Steam title. It has existed since late 2010, and as such, will be reviewed fully on the merit of what it has presented to me during my brief playtime, with its four and a half years worth of content.

Good
+ DEV Zoom seems to mingle with the players quite often, both on the forums, as well as ingame. Most games have the developers stay just out of reach of players, but this game always has this one team member accessible for a good portion of the day by day, which I applaud for a show of passion.

+ Newbie Island is a thing here in Perp. I'm going to list this also as a con later on, since I feel the training section is a bit mishandled, but they place new accounts in a "training simulation" which is basically a confined zone of modest size, where you start with all skills at halfway, and they force you to progress through all manners of content, to allow the player to become familiar with how it works. You can skill up as you wish here, with no harm done to your account once you leave this area, so it allows players a chance to tinker and get a feel of the skill system, as well as how it impacts elements of the gameplay, which I personally feel EVE fails at outside of a cold lockout for new players that join New Eden.

+ The game overhauled its mission system to be far more accessible, which as a new player, I found as a great boon. While EVE would try to sugarcoat their quests with flavor text and other vanity, Perp has reworked their system to be more streamlined, allowing players to focus on their personal interests such as mining / combat, go out into the world and accomplish the goal, and return to a mission terminal in record time to collect their reward.

Bad

- Horrible UI. In EVE, you have your toolbar that you can move around as you wish from side to side, yet in Perp, it is always at the top of the screen. You can move the various HUD elements around as you wish, but you cannot resize beyond certain points.

- Unable to change resoulution. Due to some wonky design choices from the dev team, the screensize is either locked to your full resolution, or a screen size befitting 2004. When you go to a larger resolution, it merely pins items spread out, but does not adjust the font sizing on these items, as one of the devs stated in the game that their engine treats the UI as 3D elements or something or the other, and that is why the dev team cannot readily make changes to the endless barrage of players requesting this feature to be overhauled.

- Lack of shortcuts. Again with EVE, you have your toolbar and it lists various keyboard shortcuts for you to utilize to access any element, as well as even having the option to close all screen clutter with CTRL + ALT + W.

Perp? Next to nothing seems to flow the same as you would expect coming from EVE, and your toolbar does not say what any of these hotkeys are. You have to dig deep into the options to find them on your own accord, and it just should not be this way. Information is ammunition, so having it all readily available at your fingertips is somthing that should have readily been copied from EVE's toolbar, not merely left to an options menu. This style of gameplay is the type where more info = better, and taking excess time to click icons manually or assigning things serves to merely drag the experience onward, instead of propelling the player through aspects of the game.

- Training is pretty bad. Compared to EVE's approach of Aura acting as a questline agent to advance you through various elements of training you desire, Perpetuum forces you to advance through all the training before you are allowed into the "real" game. On average, this takes about two hours or so for most players advance through, which is both a blessing and a curse. It is a harsh reminder of just how complex EVE and Perp are in their game systems, but EVE allows players the chance to completely skip the training and take a "feel it out" approach, while Perp does not allow this freedom. Making an alt to play the game differently? Too bad, hope you like getting stuck doing training.

- Overly convoluted gathering system. To gather in EVE, you merely need skill training for the tech, and of course a mining laser / gas harvester. With additional training, you can have mining crystals for certain loadouts to increase your mining yield.

Gathering in Perp? Oh boy, you better get ready to yell at how needlessly involved they have crafted it by comparison. First, you need to equip a mining attachment, or a gathering attachment. From there, you need ammo per cycle, and it gets more aggrivating with mining. Gathering has a universal ammo that you can obtain rather cheap, mining is nowhere near as easy on the user.

To mine, you need your scanner setup with two ammo types. One is a "range finder", the other shows you the density of an area after you've played Marco Polo with the system and wasted enough ammo charges to find the location on the map of where items are set. From here, you need the right mining ammo charges set to mine it. Looking for something low class like Titanium? You need specific Titanium charges to mine it. They can ONLY be used to mine Titanium. This means that if you're not mining for a mission, but rather for yourself, you must waste precious cargo space with various ammo types, which might not be an issue anyways, as you need specific scanner ammos to seek out any mining.

In EVE terms, this would mean having to equip a scanner with Veldspar locator ammo to find the location of a belt, then using another type of Veldspar scanner ammo to actually be able to lock onto it, then you need to cycle your ammo if you have not done so to equip Veldspar mining ammo, so you can actually mine it. This is very horrible design in my opinion, and does not add depth to the game, only tedium to an already arguably tedious playstyle.

- Launcher is unoptimized garbage. A recent update that overhauled the mission structure was implemented with a 1.6 MB download on Steam for the game, which then led to having to load the Perp launcher and sit through updates. The update was a mere 16.06 MB in size, but it took about 15 minutes for my PC to download it, which I haven't seen done in any MMO since FFXI and its 56kbs speed cap.

- Pop is severely low. Usually sub 50 players listed in chat channels, with over 100ish logging in daily to keep their skill points churning in. I see it as each player holding more meaning to the game overall, but others will see this as a dead game walking.

- P2W. In EVE, all choices are final with your skills, unless CCP nukes a set somehow. In Perp? You can pay real money to reset points and have them to spend on whatever you want. Recent balance changes before I joined severely nerfed many loadouts for PvP and other aspects of gameplay people spent months or more training into. Solution? Just open your wallet if you want to and get SP back to invest into the new meta, or lament having skills wasted by wanton dev decisions and train normally into the new meta. EVE works it so new can compete with old by specialized training, while Perp lets the old stay on top by wallet or ingame ICE (PLEX) use.

All in all, I found Perp as the offbrand cola for my desire for a namebrand fix. Sam's Cola is not quite the same as Pepsi, nor is Perp really EVE, but I found myself enjoying it despite its many shortcomings, and appreciating it for what it offers. I can easily recommend EVE for those seeking quality, but at the same time, Perp exists as a cheap pay to own option to EVE's fees.

It is dead game.
Online is about 120 players on top.
Lack of content, bad graphic.

Good concept, that can't get the proper care of its developer team.
Sad, but only a miracle can save that game from being killed.

This is mostly EVE, with robots instead spaceships, no monthly fees, player driven market, skills development with time...

If you enjoy EVE, or can't afford it... this is you only alternative for EVE Online, and now it comes with a server selector, even you can make your own server; though i prefer the Sequer.NL server: OpenPerpetuum project.

I really wanted to like this game - no subscriptions and a player-driven economy? Sounds great :) Throw in a sci-fi setting? Now you're getting my juices flowing! Unfortunately two things let this game down - the environments, while pleasant enough, are lacklustre in terms of context (there isn't any). On each island you're just presented with a landscape plus "frills" which include frankly derpy looking vegetation and buildings which not only serve no purpose but also which aren't even attributed a purpose - they're just there. Secondly, the graphics are really poorly implemented. They're not good graphics in the first place and I have a half-decent and modern GPU-processor combo, yet I had appalling framerates. The worst of it is that this wasn't a product of the engine being really great, or of not having suitable graphical nerfs included in the menu - the framerates for me were low even with all the graphics settings turned right down and, worst of all, seemed to drop off as a result of calculations being made regarding visual stuff going on which wasn't being rendered in any way. It's a really stupid problem - say I'm sat at the edge of an island, near the coast. Looking 180 degrees in the coastwards direction, framerates are fine. The other 180 degrees entail a droppng framerate which is worst when looking towards the centre of the island where all the "stuff" is happening despite the fact that there's a fecking mountain in the way! This can't be due to anything other than sloppy programming, since the "stuff" going on is always going on, no matter where I'm looking, and is not rendered because of BIG geographical obstacles. There is also the immersion-breaking issue of walking robots skating over the ground. I mean how difficult would it have been to time the animation to the movement speed so that the impression of walking is actually achieved? The community is good, nice people, very helpful and the idea is not too bad. It's just poorly implemented. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone unless it goes F2P, it's certainly not worth £20-odd.

I genuinely like this game. My standards are not your standards. All I ask is you do your research. This game does not reveal itself in your first pass. 6000+ hours and I am still learning.

Background

Noteworthy updates since this hit Steam in 2014

• Skill progression is Activity AND Time based. See patch notes
  
• 11 new bots still being released! See blog
  
• Assignment system update: patch notes
  

Pros

• Price (cheap, no sub!)
  
• Combat system
  
• Industry and resource gathering
  
• Player-driven market
  
• Skill-point system (Time and Activity-based)
  
• Gamma (player built bases and terraforming)
  
• Risk:reward
  

Cons

• Dated graphics
  
• Inflexible UI
  
[*] Small community

This game, even back in 2010 was severly underdeveloped and not ready for the market. 4 Years ahead - not much has changed, and it still is years of active development away from being a playable experience.

As a new player you will be forced into a world which doesn't deliver on the promise - there is no open market, everything is ran inside of the large, and veteran corporations who have more than enogh resources to run for years without any otuside mining help. If you will try to earn some money by running missions, you will be stuck in a loop of 1-3 of them that will repeat themselves over, and over and over. Without slightest bit of variation.

The traveling in this game is awful, it is very long, tedious, and will consume vast majority of your gameplay. And on top of that, it doesn't benefit you much to be at this time in front of your screen as speed-ups are rare and sparce, and autipilot tends to use most of them anywa. So most of your experience while trying to play this game will be spend... playing another game, or watching youtube. Or doing any pleasruable activity.

So do yourself a favor, spend your money elsewhere, this isn't worth the AA pricetag, especially for such small and undedeveloped game. For gods sake, it also becomes unplayable if you have high-dpi display, since fonts are of fixed size, designed to look good at 1024x768 resolution. And there is no way to supersize them.

Edit: I have removed my previous review to update based on new management situation.

So I purchased this game after it launched on steam but it had been live for several years prior to being released on steam so plenty of vets when I joined. I still see a lot of the same people that cant seem to put the game down and now I find myself in the same boat.

I came from eve and really enjoyed its industry and pvp but without going too far in detail, if you enjoyed pvp in eve then you will love the mechanics for the pvp on perp. UI needs some love but its the result of a completely homegrown engine.

Since I purchased the game almost 7 years ago, I have come and gone in my activity but what has really changed things for the better has been the original developers moving on to other projects and giving individuals the ability to create their own images of Nia and their own servers.

The main group of veterans that remained on the live server, coordinated to create something great. The Open Perpetuum Project has been able to fix loads of bugs, add new pve and missions content as well as find some good balances for bots/modules in pvp without swinging things too hard.

If you like sandbox, full loot, mechs, pvp, advanced industry, base building and an open market, this is worth the price tag. If you do get perpetuum as of this edit, please be sure to check out the Open Perpetuum Project discord for info on the server and support.

I'm going to write an unbiased review as possible, this is coming from a person who has played many, many games, across many genres.

The good and bad in no particular order:

1.Now as it stands, the UI is atrocious, especially for a game where so much attention is needed to information on the screen for you to get around and do things, anyone with even slightly poor eyesight will probably be annoyed and have a hard time reading the font size that is unchangeable (as far as I could tell) on the UI, I know I was annoyed and my eyesight isn't bad enough to warrant glasses or contact lenses. (bad)

2. The World does seem to be alive, with things going on around you, though when I played there hadn't been that many people on, but I found some nonetheless, and the possibilities for exploration are very, very great. (good)

3. The Tutorial is very, very well put together, you learn everything you need to, to get started in the game. Though the tutorial check list seems a bit daunting at first, its pretty easy to follow (with the exception of the horrible font size), and at the end of it all you get some free stuff after completing it that helps you out when you finally get to the game world proper (if you skip the tutorial you don't, good incentive, not to mention you'll be completely lost if you aren't already coming from a game like EVE online). (good)

4. One of the bad parts about the game is that after the tutorial (and chosing the faction you want) you aren't really prompted to do anything, you kinda just spawn at the beginners base of said faction and nothing comes up to tell you what to do. The Quests (Assignments) are very repetitive, mostly go to "A" attack "B" get "Item" from "B"'s wreckage deliver "Item" to "C", or go to area "A" scan for "certain mineral/Artifact" locate "mineral/artifact" mine/retrieve "mineral/artifact" and deliver to "B" or some variation there of, the only difference is that the more in good standing you are with the faction you chose at the end of the tutorial increasingly difficult assignments are unlocked for you to complete, but they never stray far from this template. The game feels very grindy for a game with time-based progression, you have to log in once a day to get certain points to level up skills of your choosing, and you need to level up certain skills to be able to use more powerful mechs, so even if you have the money, you can't use the mech till you level up the skills to use it. (bad)

5. The graphics are atrocious for 2014, or even 2011 or 2010 when the game launched beta or alpha. Maybe for 2003 or 2004 they were good, but damn they ungly now. The mechs don't feel like mechs... look kinda flimsy, even the ones you get to try out during the tutorial which take some time to acquire, (not that they are bad in combat, they just don't look it is all). The sounds for the mechs are also bad, too low when they shoudn't be and cut in and out constantly, the "thump, thump" that you would expect a heavy bipedal mech to have as it walks isn't there, the sounds for the weapons are also bad, except for the missle, which I'd say is alright all around. (bad)

6. Combat is in the vein of Mech warrior online, just with longer locking target times, and point and click targeting/firing, and chance based hitting depending on the weapon used, not as exciting as mech warrior online, but still fun, if you manage to get into a battle that'll make you sweat a bit (that probably won't happen early on), may be too many variables to take into consideration for some people though. Mechs of the same class from the 3 different factions balance each other out well. (good)

7. Crafting in the game is also very, very grindy, you must acquire research points by the hundreds by looting "kernels" from wreckage of mechs you destroyed. Only one kernel amounts to one research point, and you get anywhere from atleast 1 (most of the time, rarely none) to 10 kernels from a mech you destroyed (though i only played the beginning and therefore they may drop more kernels the harder the enemies get), and you need from what I saw in the research panel thousands of them, and you need 2 types of kernels for some 3 research trees with atleast 1 different type of kernel required for each tree. Honestly though you can start making money after your first investment in any one of the trees (you can pursue all of the them, choosing one doesn't exclude you from the rest), by building that first item (which requires you to scan, locate and mine for minerals/metal), and selling it on the market, which gets you a good amount of money from what I saw. Making money seems to be very easy in the game, but money doesn't give you everything, because skill trees and research points must be advanced/unlocked/gained first which is good, but the hard grind you have to commit to isn't. (bad)


These aspects are the ones I chose to review the game from, there are a few more but they don't matter as much to someone just starting out in the game, because it takes a lot of grinding to get to those aspects. Time is something someone who plays this game is going to want to have alot of to get anywhere in it. EVE players wouldn't mind maybe, but not all players are are people who've played EVE and thats why I've written this, because most people who reviewed the game don't seem to review it from an unbiased point of view. But don't take my word for it try it out yourselves if you have the money to spare, its great in some aspects and poor in others, I'd give it a no on the recommendation rating, but I dont speak for everyone.