So let me preface this by saying that I haven't completed the story and I've only played single player, but here is my adventure and thoughts so far.

We open flying in a helicopter over a densely wooded island Laptop in hand we flick through some pictures of missing millionaires and an overview map of the island. Across from you is your mate Kelvin, others will tell you that the crash makes him a little slow, but looking across from you now you realize, that's just Kelvin, always has been, always will be. Oh, yeah, did I mention we are crashing? A couple...bullet...holes just tore through the window and that was enough to take this bird down.

Don't ask how but the chopper managed to get stuck in the top of a tree and the pilot, who is probably Kelvin's twin brother, decided to open the door and step out before plummeting to his death. I on the other hand fall from the same height but only a few bumps and bruises, until some rando comes and pistol whips me into tomorrow.

The next day I awake in a breathtaking forest, it is dense with wildlife, bushes and trees. I'm next to the helicopter and the body of my idiot pilot, on the ground Kelvin sits moaning in pain. After tending to his wounds I'm able to write him notes and give him tasks, the first one I make sure to give him extra agressivly so he knows I'm not ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ around. I figure the pilots body is the perfect place to set up the front door of my new home. Kelvin runs off to grab me logs, as I begin laying a foundation, four days and 200 trees later and my shabby hut has been "completed"

It's at this point I realize that I haven't traveled more than a stones throw from the base/crash site and that it's probably exploring time. My GPS (yeah you get a GPS) tells me there is a cave near by, there are bodies out front and the entrance is boarded up, so I think we will leave that for later. There is also a green blip that is screaming to be investigated, so off we go. Halfway there a creature is running on all fours, hollering and climbing trees. I think maybe I'm scaring it and put away my axe, I stand and observe, while the creature does the same. A few moments later and the creature runs off into the brush. The green blip leads me to another cave but inside this there is what looks like a bunker as well as some other goodies, deeper in and there is a door locked by keycard, a keycard I don't possess yet.

As I exit the cave there is another creature, yet this one looks different, she is clean, dressed in a leotard and walks on the tiptoes of her three legs. She runs straight towards me before throwing up both hands as if she were frightened, stopping in her tracks before taking a few steps back. Again I lower my axe and she stops backing away and points to another creature in the trees, before turning and running off. I think she may be trying to warn me of danger.

A few days later and the three limbed girl is at my camp bathing in the pond and observing me before doing a dance and running off. This continues for a few days, each time she gets a little closer and does her dance. Eventually she brings me berries, an offering of peace I think, and at this point she no longer runs away so I do the natural thing and give her the pistol I've found.

At this point the other creatures seem to be upset with me and start beating on the walls of my cabin and walking in the front door as I am too stupid to figure out how to keep the doors shut. I politely ask the man hitting my bed with his bone club to leave, when he declines I give him a couple axe chops to the body. He falls on the ground both hands up begging for his life while I stand over him bloody axe in hand. Again, I do the peaceful thing and put my weapon away, allowing the creature to get up and run off into the woods.

The next day a familiar looking fella comes flying out of no where and slaps me across the face with his bone club. I answer with a quick slash of the axe and the guy falls to the floor, again pleading for his life. Fool me once.... This is it, the first kill, this is where it all went wrong. From this moment on there are attacks every few days by groups of various sizes the gates are open, the bloodbath has begun. When the attacks happen Kelvin continues doing whatever task he was assigned to while creatures beat on his ass and Virginia (three limb lady) when she isn't off roaming the wilderness uses the pistol to the best of her ability. Let's just say you can tell why she dances up to you and doesn't choose violence, but it's okay.

I continue exploring the island venturing to each icon on the GPS, exploring the caves that aren't boarded up. One thing keeps coming up though, and at this point it's pretty apparent that I'm going to need a shovel. I have found multiple axes, c4, a pistol, grenades, timed explosives, but a shovel? ♥♥♥♥ no. I guess it's time to start exploring some of those boarded up caves.

Hmm maybe later, now it's raining and Virgina wears white, I've got better things to do for now.


...

Okay on to the technical side, graphics, audio, etc. The game itself is beautiful, the forest is incredibly dense. It feels like you're actually in the woods when you're running around, this may be the best a wooded area has looked in a game. I'm running everything on ultra at 1440 with a 3080 and stay around 75fps with some frame drops when I open my inventory bag, but otherwise it runs fantastic.

The audio for the most part sounds wonderful, the ambient noises are well done and the creatures can be downright bloodcurdling, but I've also experienced some issues, sounds getting stuck on repeat like something falling in the water or the beeping of a particular item. Some of the creatures screaming also sounds like it's close enough to be living in my ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, but they're no where near by.

There are other small "bugs" as well I quote that because I'm not sure if some of it is intentional. After loading a save all of the containers respawn, with my base being next to the chopper there are a lot of loot boxes lying around and it feels pretty cheap being able to loot them as many times as I want. When you build shelves you can use an entire log and it will give you all the materials for the shelf and complete the building, but it will use no wood, it actually spits out extra wood. Speaking of shelves, when one gets destroyed it really shouldn't make everything you stored on it disappear, maybe I dunno have it fall on the ground. And after picking up one of the GPS beacons it keeps respawning and adding itself to the map, even though I've already equipped it on Virginia. Speaking of, selecting an icon for the GPS tracker and placing it on Virginia doesn't hold the selected icon.

Base building has definitely improved since the first game, though there are some things I would like to see, more crafting recipes for one, let me make an box to store things in, an oven or fireplace, doors that close, gate doors, boats, etc. The free build mode can also be... interesting. At one point I removed a log I placed which then caused multiple other sections of my building to warp and twist. You can always get your resources back, so it wasn't bad on that front, but it was still a lot of wasted time rebuilding.

So far the game is fantastic and seeing how the AI reacts to different situations is pretty fascinating. You can tell by the into that the game is still early access, I feel like there is still a bit to come and I look forward to experiencing it as it arrives.