I bought Empyrion on sale and didn't really know what to expect from an early access Alpha game. I find myself really enjoying the game and even if development stopped tomorrow I figure I've more than got value for my money. It plays very well for an Alpha. In over 200 hours gameplay I've only had one crash and the game recorded and sent a report to the devs. The next day I had an email asking for more info - good dev response. Updates are coming through regularly and add more content and fix some of the bugs.
It's a survival game. The back story is that in the near future humanity has kind of ruined good old Earth. The melted Antarctic ice cap revealed a crashed Alien ship. Using tech from the ship Earth poured all its resources into building several colony ships and sent them out to find Empyrion - a paradise shown on the incomplete alien starmaps. You are the captain of one of these ships. A hyperdrive malfunction throws the ship off course and you crash into the planet you choose at the start of the game.You, the sole survivor, land on the planet in a survival pod with limited supplies. You have to gather resources and establish yourself on the planet. One objective would be to return to space and proceed with your original mission to find a new home for mankind. You could also just chill on the planet until you run out of resouces - it's all up to you, the game is open and doesn't force choices on you. Aliens will attack you on sight and you can raid their bases for resources and equipment. Some of the wild life is hostile, some is not. A good tutorial guides you through building your first base and your first vessel.
I really enjoy Empyrion's open design environment - I think that is what makes the game. Although there are a few basic blueprints, you have to design and build your own bases and ships. I find the testing and improving of my designs to be a lot of fun and very engaging gameplay. Building is intuitive once you get used to the block system Empyrion uses for construction. You can make a blueprint of your designs and use it to build a duplicate. I also believe blueprints can be shared amongst players although I have not done this.
A good example of Empyrion game play is mining. You need a lot of resources to build stuff, and aside from common metals like iron, cobalt, copper, silicon, gold, etc., Empyrion has included some exotic "alien" metals that you have to go off-planet to find. Unlike some games, extracting the ore is not as simple as walking up to an ore body, clicking it, and walking off with your bags full. In Empyrion first you have to find the ore which involves physically coming within 500 metres of the ore body, so be prepared to travel a possibly hostile planet. Then you have to tunnel into and excavate 3D ore bodies and by the time you are done you will have a really DEEP hole in the ground. How you approach this can determine whether you return to base with a load of ore or starve to death at the bottom of an empty mine, having expended all your drill fuel and being unable to return to the surface. Oh yes, you can starve to death in Empyrion. You can also suffocate in space if your oxygen runs out. You can die if you fall too far. Raptors will eat you. Aliens will shoot you. Plants will poison you. It is a survival game after all. It's not all danger though. You can kick back on the gun deck of your base, enjoying a veggie burger and space fries while watching the rising sun blaze a river of gold across the lake. Great sunrises and sunsets in this game!
In its current state you can travel to several planets, moons, and asteroids within the system. I don't know what the devs have planned for the game, but the warp drive panel and maps have grayed-out slots for galactic travel.
There is lots of content in the game that is not yet explained in the tutorial. Even after 200 hours, I'm still finding cool stuff by accident. I've often thought "I wish there was an easier way of doing this" and then by "fat finger accident" found that there was an easier way. Cool game! One drawback is that this game is sucking up way too much of my time. I recommend it highly!

No Man's Sky with actual content.

Quick and honest review:

Opinion: For me this is the best FPS space survival game. I spent days building a huge Mothership.

Gameplay:
9/10
You start by falling in a planet by emengency life pod. You look for raw ore and build a base, then a hover vessel, a small vessel and finnaly a capital vessel.

You level up by mining, farming, scavnging and killing. By doing so you unlock new technology to become stronger and more effective. There is many planets to travel to. All with their unique atmosphere, biolife and ore.

Surviving is your main goal but its all up to you.
Mining is an important step in Empyrion. You can mine anywhere, building an underground base is always better for defence.

You are not alone. Alien drone will attack you and send assault ships to send troops to take your bases and or Capital ships.

Graphics:
7/10
Its good. shaders and shadows are looking nice.
Day/night cycle depending of the planet size. It is still beta and getting better every update.
The overall performance is very stable even for a low end computer.

Multiplayer:
8/10
Multiplayer is just as good as the single player but with some advantage like the offline protection (depending of the server settings; there is a timer for exemple 2 days will mean you have 2 days to log in again to reset the timer.)

Story:
2/10
You land on an unknow planet by life pod. Your ship has been destroyd.

Overall:
7/10
It is the supreme space survival experience.

Note: Workshop. There is an atlantis city Capital Ship.

This game is actually strangely good.

Usually survival crafting games tend to be bland.

But this game really takes the boring grinding out of the equation and allows you to build intricate systems and massive bases and ships with incredible ease and speed.

And unlike many other games, there are actually a plethora of locations to loot, explore, conquer and defend, with a universe that actually has stuff in it! What a shocker!

Finally, an early access game that actually has gameplay.

Buy this instead of No Mans Sky

True No Man's Sky

(Game is actually quite decent, played it during a free period.)

Anyone complaining that this game is "grindy" is in fact a "lightweight".

It's easy to get into but challenging to figure out. It's Space Engineers lite (far fewer blocks with features and function, notably pistons and rotors), but it actually has a game and a lot less bugs (there ARE bugs though). I've had it a fortnight and put 80 hours in, single player.

Mning is easy - get a tier 2 drill and you can get a complete set of the basic ores, that will last you for ages, in an hour. When you start, the only discouraging thing is having to do a lot of walking to find all of the basic ores. Once you've found them all (and with care you can build a flyer early on to help you find the last few, a must really), you're sorted and it's all fun thereafter, so persevere with that bit - you'll find 'em.

After that it's base building fun and trips to the moon in your flyer for s**ts and giggles. I built a capital ship version of the God Phoenix from Gatchaman/Battle of the Planets - can dock smaller craft in the nose, which retracts (built from ramps). My base is a concrete and glass post-modern statement. You don't like? I blow you up :) .

Hopefully more features to come. GIve it a look, plenty of fun for the price.

Better than NMS

This game makes you feel like a kid again where you had a lego set and could build anything spacey from a few "bricks". For me that was a long time ago and it's great having the freedom to build bases, capital vessels, small fighers and hover vehicles. To say that this game is currently in Alpha state and therefore it is a risk, please rest assured there is plently to do and the only bug I have so far experienced is where I exited my vehicle upside down and then sank through the ground!

If you like space sims, you'll love this; If you enjoy Building games then this is going to be your cup of tea; If playing survival and exploration is your bag then there is plenty to see and do and the worlds (yes there is a few at the moment) then please please take the plunge with this gem. Best £15.00 I've spent since 2015!!

Think of it this way. If and indeed when the developers continue to patch and update the game, be part of this grand ride for you will enjoy the journey. Yes the AI could be better, Flight physics need improvng and maybe the graphics need a bit of spit and polish. However the major thing that a game needs to have is gameplay and this has already got that box well and truly ticked.

I have got Elite dangerous, Star citizen and other AAA games. But this one has HUGE potential and I am finding myself playing Empyrion again and again, and again.....

Great game.
I have had lots of fun with my friends playing this game, there are so little cons compared to all the pros. This is the best and most promising space game of its type and I have no doubt that this game will be finished and finished well, Elon studios have failed to disappoint me.

As of now the physics and graphics are great but I want and wait for improvements.

SUM UP
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I strongly recommend this game if you wanted a space game with survival and faction aspects, What are you waiting for? Buy this. In the 100+ hours I have spent playing this game in the pre-alpha and alpha stages I gained a love for this game and a trust for the devs and with a procedurally generated Galaxy coming in the future that will mean close to infinite possibilities.