I thought it was about time I wrote an updated review. I made the first review after 78 hours of play and now they have accumulated a little more. Be sure to update this one more time when version 1.0 is released. As many have complained, the Early access phase has lasted a really long time and the development is slow. However, I have understood that the team is small and complaining mostly means that the game is interesting. If the development takes a long time and no one says anything, then you should be worried at that point.

Pros:

The game is addictive in many ways. Patrik Jarlestam's music is one of the driving forces of the game. The game becomes more difficult from biome to biome towards the end, which causes challenges but also problems. I also especially like the game's visual look, because thanks to its graphic style, the game will be somewhat timeless. Although some claim that the game is very grind-oriented, it depends on what you do. If you want to build a big base without modifiers, then YES. If you want to craft all the weapons that you don't even need, then YES. More than 1500 game hours may start to cloud the understanding when everything is already familiar. Especially those playing for the first time have to try different weapons to understand how they work and have an effect. If you want to play through the game one more time, then you already know better what should be done for what purpose. So the game doesn't have to be so grindy. However, building and crafting are the backbone of the game, so if these things bother you, then you are not the game's target audience at all.

Cons: (or not)

As I mentioned, the game becomes more difficult towards the end (logical). Mistlands is still tolerable as it follows the pattern of the other biomes. Ashlands, on the other hand, is a completely new thing. I still have to tell myself to "adapt, adapt". It seems cruel how the skills gained during hundreds of hours of play can be lost in a couple of hours. Ashlands differs from the rest of the world in terms of its structure, because elsewhere the biomes are mixed up, while Ashlands consists of practically one large biome. This means there is less, if any, boating. However, along with the portal and the base, the boat has acted as a kind of safe haven, so Ashlands takes this away from the player.It is understandable in terms of the nature of the game that free running in Ashlands in the style of other biomes is neither possible nor profitable in terms of progression, because otherwise the biome would be too easy and really quickly explored through. The biggest problem is probably finding a balance between those who play alone and those who play in a group. Ashlands is already of such a level of difficulty that it can easily be frustrating.

Despite everything, I really like the game and it is top class for the price-quality ratio. I'm looking forward to seeing how the game takes shape in its final form.

EDIT:

I kept thinking about this overnight, and I have to give major credit to the developer. Even in its current state, this is an impressive achievement for a solo creator. But to be completely honest, now that the game’s potential is clearly visible, I sincerely hope more people join the project and finishing it doesn’t remain entirely on one person’s shoulders.

This is realistically a bigger project than one developer can polish and complete within a reasonable timeframe. At this stage, the pace of development needs to increase significantly.

Yes, small teams have worked with ambitious games before, but there are also examples like Valheim, which has had a team of over a dozen people working on it and still remained in early access for around five years (still is). If a game launches into early access as a massive success and is highly addictive, its popularity can carry it through a very long development cycle.

Road to Vostok, in its current form, does not yet have that kind of hook. Interest starts fading fairly quickly after a couple of deaths. I honestly worry that if the game doesn’t receive major updates within the next year, there may not be many players left a couple of years from now.