Crashlands is one of those games that almost defies categorisation, as it incorporates aspects of many different genres. It’s been on Steam since 2016 and on mobile devices for almost as long. On top of that, it’s made its way to Xbox One and Xbox Series X. A set like this shows that gamers are hooked on the product, which is why the creators have introduced versions on major platforms and consoles.
Flux, the character we play as, and Juicebox, our trusty robot sidekick, work as intergalactic couriers, delivering packages to other worlds. When the ship they call home moves between planets, the heroes have nothing better to do. But everything changes one fateful day.
They are snatched out of a warp bubble by a hovering head named Hugoduko as they pass by the planet Voanope. Eventually their ship is destroyed by the villain and they have to evacuate. The heroes jump into an escape pod and then head to Woanope.
The title of the game is quite apt. Now that the ship has become a smouldering ruin, the chances of delivering the packages on time seem slim to none, and this is where the adventure begins. Flux and Juicebox must survive, build a shelter and contact their company for rescue.
One of the many genres of Crashlands is resource gathering. When you look around in the vicinity of where the heroes’ capsule crashed on the planet, you can find various plants, trees, etc. These can be plucked and recycled to gather needed materials. This cleverly fuels the second genre – crafting and building.
To chop trees, you’ll need a blade, and luckily Juicebox can provide a blueprint for how to do this. A nice touch when looking at the items you can craft is the ability to keep track of what resources are needed to create it. This is displayed in the top right-hand corner of the screen and shows what still needs to be collected in red and items that are sufficient in green, making it easy to see where the space is for the task at hand.
This is also aided by the ability to instantly teleport back to your home or to any of the telepaths that can be found in the field, making it easy to collect and create items.
Items such as armour and weapons, which can be constructed later as you progress through Crashlands, come in different qualities. So if you make a breastplate, for example, and it turns out to be a white object, you should smash it. This is followed by a retry, as the quality rises to orange for legendary gear, to blue and purple in the accepted rating scale of video game gear.
As progression is made and better gear is obtained, you can start fighting the local fauna, which opens up new crafting streams. Battles in Crashlands are a bit odd due to the original mechanics.
The first creatures to kill will be wompits, who attack by jumping in the air and performing an AoE attack. So you need to get out of the area, get a lock, run up and hit them a bit. This makes fighting the stronger named enemies a bit of a challenge, but generally works. Fortunately, healing items (provided they’ve been picked up, such as baconwein) are tied to the right trigger, so healing in the middle of combat is pretty straightforward.