PC My GF's First Impressions

[Soulbreeze]

Can understand most of her experience. I don't mind the UI besides getting some serious inventory lag sometimes (usually when crafting fast, large quantities). It's clean and simple which I prefer although the usability of modding and some other things could be easier. Even with all the new Tips they've added in, I still can't see how someone who knows nothing about this game can play it. I'd have quit and never came back if my experience hadn't included Multiplayer.

I had a few friends that played, so I bought it and tried Single Player before hopping into a server with them. I was dying in the desert and didn't understand how to make it stop (we now have a Journal entry for weather). Next I had a zombie chasing me, but I saw a ladder onto a roof! Zombies can't climb ladders! Boy was I surprised when he just came right up lol. I ended up quitting after a bunch more of not knowing what was happening or what to do.

Thankfully, I tried again on my friends' server and they explained everything to me and answered all my questions. They stopped playing 4 Alphas ago, so if they ever come back, I'm going to be the one explaining everything to them this time.

 

[Weyrling]

Possibly part of the introduction to this game for a n00b should be, "This game is trying to simulate, to a certain extent, the experience of an amnesiac/unknowing survivor. It will not hold your hand about very much at all - trial and error is in some ways a feature, not a bug. If you prefer a more gentle experience, have a browser opened to the Wiki or the forums."

Learning from trial and error is good for a lot of things, but the basic controls of a game shouldn't be one of those things.

And you should absolutely never have to tell a player to pull up a web browser to get a tutorial on how to pass your tutorial.

Sure it can get a bit old for veteran gamers to see "Use the WASD keys to move around" or "Use the mouse to look around" and other various common commands when they start a new game, but gamers are also experts at ignoring redundant messages so they can deal.

Regardless, there will always be people who have never played this kind of video game before, and there's no reason to make it harder for them to figure out.