Penkura

A great survival game! Tons of fun!

Good game so far.

I rarely post reviews, but I think this is a good way to support a developer that really deserve support.
I have about 26 hours in Penkura so far and I continue to be pleasantly surprised about how thoughtful the content is as I play this game. It is a slow burn when you getting started, but rewarding once you get the feel of how the crafting mechanics work. The story line is satisfying as one mission opens another. The balance of crafting, exploring, fighting hostel alien bugs is rather good. The graphics, environments, weather effects are all very good. Object models are excellent, along with the varied amount of flora and fauna you encounter. But not cutting edge as far as lighting, but still above par considering this is a Early Access game from a small developer. I would say it seems to me this developer has "pro level" experienced in game design; and I would guess has worked for a large studio before. I highly recommend it. If you are expecting a "planet crafters" type game, forget it. This is a story rich game of survival on a hostel and wild alien world with frightening encounters with creatures that would like nothing better than to eat you for lunch. Enjoy.

it is CRIMINAL that steam kept this wonderful gem from me for six long years. this game has some incredible potential and even though it is just a skeleton, it still provides more than enough content for it's price and has sold me on the developer's vision. i can only hope it reaches completion.

At this point, I cannot recommend this game.

My major complaint is that it *requires* full-time internet connection, for a single-player game. This is a deal breaker for me, and reason for a refund. When this is addressed, I will happily update this review.

That said, the game is interesting, though contains many issues (as expected in EA). I expect most of these will be addressed during EA, and well before release.

As I encounter issues, i have of course been filing bug reports.

A fun, unique twist on the survival genre. The story line is interesting enough to keep me wondering just what exactly happened. The graphics are good enough but the sky during sunrise is absolutely beautiful. I'm having a lot of fun and it is well worth the $14 USD. I do have a few critiques/suggestions for improvement but keep in mind I don't know the long game here, what the dev intends for future updates, or if these will get in the way of intended gameplay.

1. A minimap or HUD compass would be great.
2. Being able to place markers on the map would be great.
3. There is too much running around in the first area. Providing a way to unlock fast travel between bases/stations might be something to think about if it isn't already a planned feature or one that becomes available later in the game.
4. Linked storage containers would be a nice feature. Maybe not right away, but something we could unlock? One of the reasons I'm running around so much is because I'm a loot goblin and I must pick up everything but I have to take things back to main base pretty often.
5. The introduction needs some tweaking. I know there is a base computer that tells you how to do things but I think if the AI provided a little more direction and maybe if, at least for the first ore extractor, there were some pop-up tutorials, it might help smooth it out.
6. I almost submitted this as a bug in-game but I'm not sure it is a bug. Sometimes time seems to jump around. I've noticed at least twice that when I run into the main station after the intro (where you build your first real base) at sunset, it will immediately jump to sunrise. I've also noticed twice that if I enter a random facility during the day, when I exit only a few minutes later it is night.

Overall, this is really great! Apologies if what I said is redundant, it's just what I noticed while playing. Definitely recommended for those who like sci fi, survival, crafting, etc.

Every year the ship of Theseus departs Athens to undertake the pilgrimage to Delos in honor of Apollo. The sea is a harsh place and eventually the ship needs repairs. Torn sails and rotten planks are replaced. Once every piece of the ship has been replaced and nothing of the original remain, is it still the ship of Theseus? If not, then at what point did it stop being the ship of Theseus? Further, If all the old pieces were collected and built into a ship would that be the ship of Theseus?

This story of this game is playing with a very interesting concept. Something akin to System Shock, Deus Ex, and Soma, with just a touch of Doom lore and Half-Life sprinkles. In the far future Roko's Basilisk meets a human ship of Theseus. If a benevolent AI oversees a medical procedure in which you are copied neuron by neuron and something goes wrong and some of your memories are lost, are you still you? No time to stop and think, there is a greater menace than your seemingly benign AI companion lurking in the shadows of this hostile alien world.

The gameplay is interesting enough. Immersive sim done right, but perhaps a bit too immersive at times. There is a heavy focus on base building, which isn't a genre for everyone, but the story/exploration is much more robust than your standard factory builder. The game vibes more with Planet Crafter than with something like Satisfactory. The early access is much better than many other games I've played. I hope Penkura gets the visibility it needs to continue development because it has the potential to be a real gem.

I really like the look and feel of this game, and it has some interesting mechanics - some I like, some I don't, but for early access it is impressive. Excellent work for a small team.

This game is epic!! It's got massive System Shock vibes. Really reminds me of the feel I got from an ancient game called Robinson's Requiem - but that was back on an Amiga in the early 90's.

Survival; food, water. Building bases and equipment. Upgrade slots. Robot helpers. Weapons.

I love it :P

What a great great game! It reminds me of Subnautica in many ways. It has beautiful exotic environments and an adventurous and mysterious storyline. I think the RTS basic construction system is a pretty cool way to build your base, although the place where you can do that is limited to certain areas. You progress with help of an AI called Sara and by finding more clues once you start exploring. I also really like that you have to draw your own conclusions about what you have to do next. In this case it was to give a big thumbs up for Penkura!

Cant even play. Game keeps Crashing.

Very enjoyable. Looking forward to when more content is released

How have I never seen this game before? I discovered it after watching some YouTube videos it does not come up for me on a steam search on survival. I like it, a bit of a learning curve but not too steep, decent mechanics and although early access from 2018 it still is getting updates so that is promising, glad I found this one.

Penkura.. this game was suggested by Steam and when I read the reviews, it didn't seem to be all that great. Then I dug a bit deeper and found that a lot of people were commenting that the developer was a friendly guy and doing this all by himself.

So I took a leap of faith and decided I was gonna buy this game just to support it's development.
I usually dont do that kind of stuff and I've got no idea why i did it this time.
but look and behold. it turned out to be a lovely game and very well made.
Yes, it isn't finished by a long shot but what is there now is just great.
I've logged 75 hours so far and that's without restarting. shure, I may have spent some times just building stuff a bit more then I needed for the story line but I haven't been bored what so ever. I do catch myself
checking to see if there is a new update every few days.. cant wait for it to expand..

So if you like this genre and want to help out a single developer (well it's actually 2 atm)
then buy this early acces.. you won't regret it!

This gem of a game deserves far more praise and recognition than it gets! While it is light on the hand holding (which I prefer) it also doesn't feel particularly grindy (which I appreciate).

Penkura deserves far more attention than its getting / gotten. The dev cares about community feedback and actually responds as well as consistently working on this game. Ever marching on and adding on to make it better and better.

That it has been made by an incredibly small team and it still continues to improve says literally only good things and I cannot reccomend it enough. I eagerly await more content and the final game

The energy mechanics and shitty lock minigames are the most amateur trash from any survival game It ruins the game so much that I would absolutely refund the game over this if I could. It's literally unplayable for CTS or RSI sufferers. The game plays closer to a horror game which you can live with, to have an interesting story but with minigames for ADHD xbox children. I had to turn off the sound due to the low energy verbal notifications.

- EVERYTHING is one hit kill. Even minor food poisoning or the weakest wasps.
- It's dark 80-90% of the time. Haven't got a clue whats going on with the day cycle.
- You cant rest but you get tired in half a day and than have to walk 10 mins back or die.
- Frequent crashes and a crash reporter that isn't set up to send reports.
- A LOT of waiting, since there's no automation (at least as far as I've reached)
- Very low quality plants with awkward movement, definitely not lush as described by another reviewer (the plus side is it seems very performant)
- Quick save/load loses state info - time of day changes notably so youre back to dark hours again

I play a lot of games in this genre and the overwhelmingly positive reviews here are way too generous. There's an interesting story but loads of downsides, especially for a 6 year old game

Do I recommend, absolutely.
I can't remember what I paid for this (could look it up I suppose) but it was certainly not expensive.
Has not crashed, feels good, works well and I am definitely enjoying this space (mystery?) adventure.
Can build, can mine, can shoot things and is a gentle burn (so far) which is ideal for me.
Oh and I have died several times so far, so all good.
:tiger:

Even tho it is singleplayer, i really enjoy the base building and story so far

The game is survival game with base building and exploration. You can discover more hidden sites which unlocks new missions. However, The game is under construction but has a good and mysterious story to begin with. Totally worth money.

Not a bad survival game. Search for hidden location and build new outpost. collect resources and build lots of components.

I've always wanted to play this game for quite a long time, as I saw it at a young age, but now being able to purchase it and play it, I absolutely love it, a hidden gem amongst many of the popular games today It's sad to see that this game was slept on for years ever since it was published. It has many promising features amongst the idea and implementation of a DNA editing system and implanting special organs/alien organs to change your abilities is rarely seen in any games, where you basically, change yourself, to achieve more, which I think needs to be put into a lot more games. I hope that the team continues to develop this amazing project.

Game is good but not finished not even close. Last update was May of 2024.... it is December 2024..... There are other studios just as small that have updated every month ...... I hope they can finish this and do better but as of now it is abandonware IMO

Wow. I'm disappointed... Disappointed because I want more! This is a fantastic game! Well, one third of a game anyway, but the awesome price reflects that. Should you buy this? Do you like exploration? Base building/crafting survival games? A mystery? ---Then the answer is yes!---

So just what is there?
-Fully voiced, mission driven story line
-A chill, lush, beautiful alien tropical map to explore with day/night and weather from sun to thunderstorms
-Two base areas for you to build up with modular buildings to connect up (or not, your choice)
-Light combat with three different weapons against alien fauna, but only if you choose. They can be avoided all together if you want.
-Several abandoned locations to loot and discover story
-A few character enhancements to craft (a.k.a. mods)
-A couple of bots that can be directed to do tasks at base or away from it

Though not complete, as far as performance, this game is solid, polished and I didn't find any noticeable bugs/glitches.

this game is very cool and full of stuff to do and cant wait for updates and game has lots of potential its still in development but i very well enjoy it.

This is a cash grab... the graphics are poor. The game is tiny.. the dev keeps promising to deliver and not doing so. Even for a small one person team this is bad. STAY AWAY

No. Thank you.

good game

An excellent base building survival game with a great story!

Very good game. Compelling storyline. Underpriced.

This game is early access. I have been playing for almost 70 hours. I’ve only had one glitch, but found a workaround almost immediately. The developer monitors the Penkura Discord channel and is active in the different chat channels. I love the base building. It’s my favorite task in the game. Exploring the sectors brings more of the mystery to light. Many more secrets remain hidden. The Roadmap shows that, as new updates to the game emerge, the players will have the ability to choose their type of gameplay. I like that. Bots will take a larger role as will the introduction of NPCs that will enhance gameplay.

I am excited to see where the developers plan to take us.

Truly amazing project for such a small team. I've encountered no bugs (for now at least), story is quite interesting (although I wish there was more info on what Accord actually is, considering how obviously important the organization/government is), gameplay seems to have potential (although I'm still in early phase).

EDIT: Ok, so I've finished up the current content (or so it seems). It took about 10 hours, it's cleat that there are plans to expand a lot on that. It has a really good story and nice gameplay (except for some running back and forth- but it's a given in survival games and there are plans to add some other means of travel in the future as well as ways to program drones so they perform tedious tasks themselves). This truly is a hidden gem and worth a try.

Really good game, was cautious due to development time but its a small team is all, plays like subnautica on land and honestly a crime this game doesn't get more recognition, crazy low price too, grab it.

Good game but very limited in progression. Seems to be a dead project as no updates since May. Sad because it has some great potential.

I'm not really a fan of survival games, but I'm liking this one - it's well-polished, i havent encountered any bugs so far, story is interesting and there are no annoying mechanics (which is not always such an obvious thing)!
Also the creators really got hang of that alien-yet-familiar planet vibe. The soundtrack really works well with it

Great game so far. So many games I lose interest quickly but this has kept me engaged and invested in exploring further, building the next tech, uncovering next elements in the story. The graphics are not AAA, but pretty decent nonetheless, more than enough to make you feel immersed in the story. The very early game is quite slow and probably least well presented, so don't let this put you off. I'm really looking forward to see how this plays out, given the number of hours of content to expect, reading other reviews. Definitely worth a buy for the low asking price. Also this game really needs more publicity and reviews - the dev has something a bit special here imo.

Doesn't seem quite there yet. At least at this point, it doesn't seem worth the risk of going over the refund limit despite the low price point.
- Weird control scheme (tab to view the quickbar instead of inventory? No shift/ctrl click to move stacks quickly?)
- World felt unfinished right from the start (Locked doors galore, every desk drawer was empty)
+/- Lack of direction. Resetting the reactor was a nice touch, immersive. Have to read directions and pay attention. Character creation was not fun. No real explanations as to what stats do, all but one build "locked out" and then I'm directed to take a nuero stimulant which was hidden maybe?

It was not immediately obvious at any rate and I had seen enough to make the decision to refund and wait on this one. I don't want to be solving puzzles or playing hide and seek just to create my character, I would like to jump into the game and get a feel for it before committing to a purchase on an EA game.

It is a really interesting game so far....

Lot of Subnautica Vibes =) Nice Atmosphere, and great Base Building mechanics .... so far: played until the Monorail with the closed Doors =)

its like halflife, but cooler

Early access aside, this game was launched in 2018 and it still hasn't been updated further?!?! And you get money from people so when do you play on updating it more?