Platform: PC Steam

Developer: Reality MagiQ

Shoot, kill, loot, shoot, kill, loot. Repeat all over again. That is the basis of Dysterra and a little bit more...

What does Dysterra entail?

Dysterra is a Sci-Fi based survival game as an FPS (First Person Shooter.) You start by creating your character. Where you end up crashing onto destroyed earth, competing or working with other players to stop extinction, which ensues looting, crafting, building, and team play. 

So what are the gameplay and graphics like?

When starting the game, you will be given a little introduction to what has happened on earth. I won't give any spoilers. However, I thought the backstory was an excellent way to introduce the game to new players. Every time you load up, the backstory scene will pop up; thankfully, you can skip it as it is long-winded. 

You can choose whether to play single-player, Online server (PvE and PvP) or custom server. 

When it came to the customization of your character, I felt it was lacking. You can choose your gender, male or female. However, the hair and skin tones options were unimpressive, with only six possibilities for hair and not dark enough skin tones for diversity. Females have no option for afro-textured hair, and males only have one option. Hopefully, they will look into this before the full release and make it more inclusive. 

(As you can see from the above photos, that is the darkest skin tone you could get.)

When it came to actual gameplay, I felt it was a bit lacking. It was a case of shoot, loot, kill over and over again until I discovered how to build. Then I started to find it a bit more interesting. 

When it comes to survival games, my friends like to call me Bob The Builder, as I am the one who comes up with the layout for our builds. The UI for the building was easy to navigate, and I liked that it was simple. However, being able to decorate and what you can put in your home felt empty. But then again, why would you decorate your base when it's going to be destroyed anyway? 

Rubber banding did frequently happen, which was frustrating at times. I also noticed that robots could see you from quite a distance, so expect to get attacked often. They also seem to like falling through the floor at times. 

Something I was not a fan of was that when you go offline, your hunger will deplete. It is bad enough that if playing on a PvP server, you can be attacked offline, let alone worry about your hunger needs. I imagine it would be worse for players who work long hours each day. If you want to take a break from Dysterra, bear in mind that when you come back, you will most likely have lost everything that you had on you. Unless you have managed to build a base and play on PvE. 

As for graphics, they have gone for the realistic approach, and I think they did a pretty good job on that front when it came to playing the game. However, when customizing your character and waiting on the loading screen, it felt like a blurry screen was on top, which you can see in my screenshot above with the characters. 

The destroyed buildings certainly make you feel you are on a dystopian earth, and I liked the designs for them. That being said, for the metal-type buildings, when it came to stairs, it looked as if they had been randomly placed wherever. It didn't have a nice flow. 

To add to the atmosphere, you could hear players shooting from a distance, which I thought was a nice touch. It made the game feel a bit more intense, especially on a PvP server.

My Overall Opinion

Bearing in mind that it was only released on 23rd November 2022 (3 days ago from writing this review) with early access, it looks promising. I feel that in its current state, it is rather bare and needs quite a bit of work. 

For Dysterra, if I had my friends with me while playing, I would have enjoyed it more. But personally, it didn't feel exciting. Though there was a small tutorial at the beginning, I didn't think that it helped me all that much in understanding the game. It was very lackluster. 

In saying that, however, it does have the potential to be an excellent game. It just needs sprucing up and fixing. Therefore I give Dysterra a Stamp of...

Give It Time