Most of us have tried one of the many procedurally generated world games where you can build to your heart's content, or even go off into the underworld to adventure and fight monsters. Plenty to of items to craft, ores to mine. They take place in a 2-D pixel or 3D world; they sometimes side-scroll, you know the kind. Have you heard of Necesse? I hadn’t until just recently. It’s still in Early Access but has just recently dropped a big update.
On my first glance of reading about Necesse it seems put a big focus on being able to play solo. I love the idea of playing with a friend or two, but I also like creating my own world. Not being limited to playing solo made the idea of trying out Necesse worthwhile. I am happy to report that I had fun playing solo. I would probably have a better time with a few friends, but I can see myself spending a lazy Sunday playing by myself when nothing else sounds entertaining.
I haven’t gotten to the point of being able to challenge a boss yet, but it is something I want to work toward. The gathering part of Necesse seems to be a bigger focus, at least earlier on than I might have liked. It isn’t terrible, or hard, but feels a little bit like busy work. I can get behind that though, I love to pop in a podcast or listen to a book, and just mine, or collect. Something about being able to do two things at once makes me feel like I did a lot while playing a video game.
One of the new changes that has recently come to Necesse is where you can take your characters. You can now go from the world that you start in and have them travel to other player’s worlds. Of course, that is cool, but the great part is that whatever you are carrying will travel with you, items, armor, and cosmetics all go. I haven’t played Necesse long enough to have more than two worlds I’ve played on, but I can see how beneficial that would be. I can see myself digging into this game with a few days off from work, and then trying to convince a friend or two to play with me. We could then start a new world together and I could bring over my character that has been playing for a few days and make the start of our world much easier for both of us, and get the the exciting part of exploring or building a colony faster.
The biggest downfall to Necesse is that it doesn’t do anything unique. A jack of all trades, master of none feeling. It does a lot of elements well, I don’t think there is a part of routine that I think horrible, but I don’t feel many new innovations either. The use of NPCs and having them run errands for you is great. Biomes seem cool, something I think I will give a try to see and experience. If you’ve tried a few sandbox explorer-style games, then this one will feel similar, but not in a bad way, a slight twist on appearance. Do you need another one of these in your life? If so, Necesse will feel that void pretty well. Necesse normally retails for $9.99 but is currently %50 off on Steam. It might be worth talking to a few friends into picking the game up during the upcoming winter break and seeing where it goes.
