Early Access Game

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Note: This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“Novus Inceptio has been in development, by a small team, since 2014. Our main goal is the creation of a game for players wishing to help tweak and polish gameplay, as we need feedback if our game is to compete in the modern gaming world. That being the case, this is the reason why we’ve decided to go with Early Access instead of a crowdfunding campaign.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“This will depend on how we polish the Early Access version of the game, or what we like to call the “GHOST” version of the game, in preparation for a full MMO experience. Therefore, due to the complexity of development we cannot promise a specific timeline; however, we currently estimate one to two years of development time.””

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“The game will transition into a full-on MMO. As such, players will be able to communicate and interact with each other; build houses, villages, and cities together; and, we also plan to add new regions, locations, and crafting. As each new feature is implemented, players will be notified and be able to download new content. We have a lot of ideas, so look forward to new updates which we will release periodically!”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Currently, the game is in a good state and we are polishing every detail to bring about as smooth an MMO gameplay experience as possible. The most important features necessary to play the game have been implemented and polished. Game optimization will gradually be carried out according to the feedback and needs of players regarding minimum hardware requirements.

Current status, you can watch here: Trello Road map/bugs.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“This is a very hard question to answer at such an early stage in the game’s development, and, as such, there is no simple answer. We believe that early access will help to determine the best starting price. Therefore, price range may alter during development.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“During the first few weeks or months we will focus on optimization and bug fixing. After, we will try to listen to all suggestions of the community and polish gameplay based off of the feedback from forums, social networks, the web, etc.
Please understand that it is not always possible to do everything as requested by the community, however, every request will be deeply considered in regards to future versions of the game. The game, as a whole, should be a result of the work of anyone who wishes to contribute.”

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Downloadable Content For This Game

Recent updates View all (56)

1 July

Update 0.08.018 - Custom keybinding

Hello everybody,

because we are very busy with the tutorial (help) quests and we have to make your very own system of quests + fundamental changes for anomalies and other things.

Before we finish all this, it still takes some time, but we do not want to let the game for you without updating.

This update is very small - but for some players again will a great asset.
We have prepared a draft own basic customization of controls and a few small improvements.

Thank you very much for your understanding and interest about the game!

New Content

CORE - New custom Key Mapping
In launcher game is now able to set up your own keys (in INPUT tab, next to the GRAPHICS tab ) - any change is accepted only for the "Secondary" section. Any modifications in the "Primary" section is returned to the default values once you start the game!
It is also possible to change the keys in the game -> settings -> section controls. Here you can see the default values of controls and it is possible to change the secondary - secondary is also possible to delete and to use the default.
If you make changes during the game, so we recommend to restart the game - we have to solve and debug.

Gameplay changes

SETTINGS - Section Gameplay - Option to switch to Fahrenheit temperature
SETTINGS - Section Gameplay - Ability to disable the Help key (right side on the game screen) - off can improve performance slightly.

Issue fixes

INTERACTION - Fixed player animation for picking placed objects from ground (TAKE actions).
INTERACTION - Fixed some issues with interaction.
HELP - Fixed some outdated instructions about water in the help.

7 comments Read more

16 June

Update 0.08.017 - Waypoints

Hello everybody,

so here we have another update.
This time the focus is on your own waypoints and improvements to the map of the world.

Unfortunately, you can not do waypoints by clicking on the map - blindsided us that future logic. But it is necessary to place waypoints manually in the world.
But you can let indicate the nearest tower etc.

Here is complete changelog:

New content

WAYPOINTS - a basic system for creating custom waypoints
WAYPOINTS - custom waypoint is required to produce - the production section "HI-TECH" - requires an ancient crystal
WAYPOINT - custom waypoint acts as an object in the world - has its own 3D model. When the location is automatically placed about half a meter in front of the player character (you can not define its own position).
WAYPOINTS - Custom waypoint can be took for other uses.
WAYPOINTS - new on screen indicator system, which displays the monitoring indicators in the game (direction and distance to any object - a waypoint ,towers, claim token etc.)
WAYPOINTS - Claim token is automatically set indikator active (can be changed on world map)
WAYPOINTS - custom waypoint is automatically set active (can be changed on world map)
WORLD MAP - It contains a new legend for the map.
WORLD MAP - You can filter the waypoints that show - player, towers, claim token or custom waypoints
WORLD MAP - You can disable the names and details of waypoint - for better readability of the map.
WORLD MAP - the possibility of setting on screen display for each waypoint - off and on - suitable for watching towers, claim token or custom waypoints set off when not needed (But only for targets that are not distant more than 6 km).
WORLD MAP - Data on the active waypoints are saved only for the claim tokens and custom waypoints.

Gameplay changes

CORE - The game automatically pauses when an open setting (only in game, not in main menu) - possible only for Single Player mode.
Picking cherries and apples from the tree now improves "FORAGING" skill.
Planting seedlings improves "GARDENING" skill.
Mushrooming improves "FORAGING" skill.
The harvested leaves from shrubs Improves "FORAGING" skill.
The harvested azalea from shrubs improves "GARDENING" skill.

Issue fixes

Fixed some issue with interaction.
Fixed some issue with player jumping animations.
Fixed some issue with crash game in winter anomaly (we hope will this help).
Fixed issue with the problem blending into the night sky in the morning.
Fixed issue with underwater plants that game defined as ground shrubs.
Is no longer possible to lay the fireplace and other items on water levels - each item is placed on the surface of the ground (under water).
Supplemented by missing labels for some items.

3 comments Read more

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About This Game

Warning!

Game is in early access, before purchasing the game, make sure that you fully understand and agree with its system’s requirements and are willing to accept flaws/bugs and changes that will occur during its development such as removing all user data. Information below may not be currently fulfilled in this version of the game. Thank you for understanding.

PROLOG

Novus Inceptio is a survival sandbox game with elements of MMO. It isnt primarily focused on the destruction of structures, the main objective of the game is to create and maintain shared values. Since the game is currently in early access or in GHOST mode, our goal is to create a proper MMO survival adventure focused on building new civilizations.

In the GHOST mode, only single player and 64km2 of workable land is available. GHOST mode is a sample of the full MMO and serves as a preview of the interactions, gaming principes, and the mechanics.

Novus Inceptio is a mix of sci-fi, fantasy and the post apocalyptical world in an unique way. The story is set in distant future on our planet. Earth is no longer how we know it today. Therefore one of the most important topics of the background story is to find out the truth about those who stand behind it all since the beginning...

BACKGROUND STORY

The dawn of gods
Galaxy is a cold and hostile place. Creators know that. They spent billions of years searching for intelligent life and they succeeded. They protect several planets and further developed organisms with advanced technology. Life must not come to an end. Meanwhile, they realize all the risks which await on every civilization such as a destructive genocide. They try to prevent these risks by secretly manipulating and adding information to DNA from foreign forces.

Rebellious believers
Creators stand side by side with the human civilization since its initiation. But no one is perfect. Not even gods. Instead of maintaining peace, humans tend to worship war and forget about their gods. And Creators? They realized that their experiment failed. They could not stop fratricidal madness among humans. When the last envoy was killed, nailed to the cross, they returned back where they came from through a portal. To a different planet? To another reality? No one knows. But what we do know is that they keep collecting information through the portal.

The end of the world
The next step of the human civilization took nearly 2000 years. During this era a nuclear fission was discovered and whole planet became full of atomic explosions. The war was horrifying and efficient. Everyone who did not hide was hit by radiation and killed. From billions of humans, barely a few hundred thousand were left. This scary message was brought to the creators. They were outraged by the human irresponsibility. They came back and erased the whole human race.

Human 2.0
The Dead planet kept orbiting in space. During millennia it was slowly getting rid of deadly radiation. The makers decided to begin with a new experiment. With samples of human DNA and surplus of information they returned life to the planet. They made new humans - Homo Novus. They released them on a newly reconstructed planet and were determined to prevent the same mistakes. Therefore, every clone is now accompanied by a personal robot A2-A.

DISCOVER WORLDS!
A2-A is the guardian angel. It helps and protects people and over time gives them more a complex knowledge. It monitors behavior of its ward to prevent increase in aggression, which caused the demise of the previous civilization. Still, this system is not completely reliable. Creators counted on that. They created anomalies on the new planet, so clones can travel in time and learn from mistakes of past civilizations. And who knows? Anomalies might even transfer them into another dimension. Maybe then, people will devote their time to discovery and knowledge, rather than killing and destroying.

And the Creators? This time they don‘t leave the planet, instead they analyze data from thousands of A2-As and wait for the right moment to introduce themselves to their children.

MAIN GAMEPLAY FEATURES OF GHOST VERSION

WORLD IS NOT DEAD SCENE
We wanted to build an authentic world that is not just a one big scene. Almost everything can be interacted with - from surface, bushes, trees to your own structures. There are no flowers that are mere decoration - do you want grab that mushroom and eat it? Go for it! Even a simple tree does not only provide wood, but also other resources like bark, leaves, branches, resins etc.

Novus inceptio is world with a natural time flow, daily cycles and weather. Day and night affects wild animals as well and if you stop and listen, you can hear the nature or enjoy the beautiful atmospheric music and relax.

UNLIMITED POSSIBILITES
Novus Inceptio allows a natural creation of the character. Characters will get old and die from injures, diseases or exhaustion. In this case, players will find themselves in the role of A2-A and using DNA will create a new clone with same attributes. Another possibility in future updates is transferring DNA to offspring, that allows the player to continue if their main character dies. Aging is not affecting just the player, but also every object in the game. Players will not be able to harvest basic resources or even exchange them for future needs.
And why is Novus Inceptio worth playing? Unlike other games, there are no limits on player‘s skills. Players have complete freedom while making their ultimate character. You wont need to think about starting race or role - attributes will be added according to what is your character doing.

LORE AFFECTING THE GAME
Unlike other survival sandbox games Novus Inceptio has its background an lore, which is not only something irelevant. Full story and lore will be revealed over time. This feature opens up new possibilities in upcoming updates.

ANOMALIES
There are many portals to other dimensions and times (new will be added in future updates). Those anomalies cannot be mapped - they are randomly generated for each player. In those anomalies you can find unique reward and mostly learn new recipes. Currently anomalies possess no danger to player, but it is subject to be changed in the future.
In new version of Novus Inceptio, you can find those specific anomalies, which are only small hint of what is to come:
Procedural dungeons - each dungeons is unique and contains random rewards
More dimensions and time periods - desert or winter locations
Time flashback - player travels through the time, but stays in the same place. Those anomalies are mainly to learn recipes.

SURVIVE!
In the beginning the game puts you in the middle of wild and untended nature. With you will only a knife and basic tools. Fortunately, you are not alone! You small personal robot A2-A will be your valuable companion. Nature does not give things for free so you need to find sources of food, heat and prepare for danger, lurking in the deep woods. Also diseases, injuries or even death might knock on your door. Over time you will learn the laws of the world and only then you will be ready for your next trip.

BUILD!
Home is the foundation of survival. You can build your own house, farm and focus on one of the many crafts. The building system works using modular elements where you can plan first and then gather required resources (which, of course, will be a difficult task). The only limiting factors are knowledge of recipes for components, creativity, resources and skill. And of course don’t forget to repair damaged or decaying houses.

You can learn to build new components by exploring anomalies or by buying them in the auction from other players (auctions will be featured in future updates).

CREATE!
Do you like crafting stuff? Then you will love Novus Inceptio. Each and every item in the game is unique and created by the player. Production of any item is a complex process built on many attributes from skill in the art to used material just like in the real world. Crafting system does not tell you how to craft, instead it states what resource is needed - using stone will create stone axe and using iron will produce iron axe - you can even use different materials on every part. For example the durability of the wood is also to be considered.

Novus Inceptio rewards players for crafting. Item quality and technology will improve over time as well as character attributes.

EXPLORE!
It is not just about the settlement the world, but also about survival and creating a thriving economy. World of life, danger and mystery awaits. There are dense forests, dry desert, vast jungles, underwater life and mountains where you can find different raw materials in an area of 576km² or 222 square miles (64km² or 24 square miles in the GHOST version). Novus Inceptio is a long journey of finding valuable materials and truth about the origin of this new planet.

Investigate the anomalies and find new recipes for crating - anomalies are a way to discover the unknown and expand the gameplay.

System Requirements

Minimum:

OS: 64-Bit Windows 7 Service Pack 1
Processor: 2 GHz Dual-Core 64-bit CPU
Memory: 6 GB RAM
Graphics: DirectX11 Compatible GPU with 1 GB Video RAM
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 3 GB available space
Additional Notes: Internet connection required. Integrated graphics cards are not supported.

Recommended:

OS: 64-Bit Windows 8
Processor: 2 GHz Dual-Core 64-bit CPU
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: DirectX11 Compatible GPU with 2 GB Video RAM
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 3 GB available space
Additional Notes: Internet connection required. Integrated graphics cards are not supported.

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Overall:

Mostly Positive (184 reviews)

Recently Posted

Posted: 20 August

At the time of writing this, the game is buggy, it lacks for content, and the controls, while rebindable now, are still convoluted and irksome. There are some features that are never explained to you as a player and you need to find out by browsing bug reports [Read: you apparently have a drone that carries a massive inventory for you]

It's a beautiful game, stunning in overall aesthetic quality. But I honestly can't reccomend it at this point. If theres an update that improves upon things enough for me to change my reccomendation, I will, but until then, I am glad I bought it on sale...

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Posted: 20 August

In the wait for new features, but very good game

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Posted: 13 August

Very promising and already quite deep and original. Will update upon release and along the upcoming updates.

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Posted: 30 July

Dear Developers,

As you take in more money with this game, spend that money on hiring more people to increase the speed of development. Don't pull a chucklefish and spend all the money on yourselves and fancy offices. Every person who is giving you money now is investing on the promise of a game.

Your updates are too slow and add almost nothing.

There is a lot of potential with this game, but very little content. The graphics are beautiful and many of the systems are novel and fun, but there isn't enough going on here. At the moment you are all sizzle and no steak.

Thank you for your consideration.

Helpful? Yes No Funny

Posted: 27 July

Loaded the game, graphics were dodgy, literally no content... like I know it's early access but like why bother at all unless there's something to do? Seems like they went "Oh Ark did this and it was fine, so we'll do it too" without realising at least ark has a whole host of things to do that don't just involve wandering round being really bored.

Might check back on this when it's released but paying money now for literally nothing is a joke.

Helpful? Yes No Funny

Posted: 1 July

As of 7/1/2016 - !EXTREMELY! barebones - like tech demo barebones. This isn't EA, this isn't beta, this isn't even alpha. Don't be fooled! - there is no 'game' here at the moment. Is the only requirement to get on Steam these days just that a 'game' starts? This looks like it was made by a couple middleschooler for a computer lab project. Combat doesn't work - there is a reason there are no mobs in the screenshots. Crafting doesnt work unless you assume it is suppose to work without the mats or tools the UI says you need to make things. Even when you harvest things the tools you use (like axes or picks) don't appear in your hands or make sound or well anything. Most of the time I spent trying to get fps > 20. Anything that can be buggy - is buggy.

Has some possible potential but at the moment avoid it like the plague unless you have bought every other game on Steam. Even then, seriously, go spend the money on an ♥♥♥♥♥. One of the few EA titles I thought was a complete waste of money.

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Posted: 1 July

In current state of the game (Alpha 0.08.017) the 5 hours I spent allowed to check most of the possibilities. It reminds me of Banished, another game made by single developer (currently in late Beta), that is really cool and that differs from others, but quite shallow, but there are mods, and I have 64 hours there. Novus Inceptio might have no modding possibilities, but survivor games have another options to keep interest: easy to die (not implemented currenly), grand targets (didn't find any so far).
To the point.

Crafting

Easy and obvious. You can build a tool made of wood, stone or Iron, so the quality differs depending what parts you choose.
There are crafting skills. I cannot confirm, whether they affect crafting speed (that is not a big deal in general), but they affect the probability of success and quality. GOOD NEWS, EVERYONE. If you fail in crafting, your resources are not wasted, but you get skill experience for an attempt. Pretty nice, as for me.
For now there are only simple tools (ax, saw, anvil, shovel and some others) and 3 weapons (knife, ax - that are tools at the same time, and a sword). Quality of the tool affects the quality of the product.
Tolls may worn out, but first, it happens slowly, and second, repair DOESN'T require resources. I don't expect it to be like that forever, but for now it is so.
There are minor crafting bugs. Like, you can normally order a crafting sequence of 10 same parts, but it doesn't work with metal and water buckets as crafting elements. Not a big deal, but still. Or, there is a button that plugs automatically crafting parts in the blueprint, except you cannot order to use the best only parts, it plugs the first worst accessable one.
Or, water requirement in the craft when you stand in the water makes no sense. Main hero automatically drinks water by staying in the water source, why cannot it be done for crafts?
Overall, this part of the game is good, bugs are insignificant, and minor fixes would easily fix it.
I'd rate it 8/10 and definite potential to have all 9-10/10.

Battle system

It is actually poor. You cannot move while attacking or while defending, where exactly the hero strikes is also a mystery. But, while it can be still acceptable, animal AI is weak. I've killed 10 crabs before found out that they can fight back. Animals are ignorant to hits and just run randomly no matter what. Wolves are not a threat as soon as you get shield. Deers are running zig-zag all the time. If Rickon Stark would run like that, Ramsey would never get him. Actually, there is no shooting weapons (and in the final version won't be, probably bows and crossbows maximum, the author wanted to have magical/medieval weapon only). AI is not the top priority right now, but be ready that it is oversimplified (also after 5 minutes of running after the deer it can disappear in front of you, damn).
There is a ton of work to do. Battle system is extremely raw, so expect nothing from it.
3/10 just because you can fight even with a stick, and crafted weapon differs visually depending on the material.

The World

What can I say - it is damn HUGE. 64 km^2, though right now there is no need to move further than 1 km away from the base, but still, it is nice.
Resources are located in logical places. Rocks are found in cavities, leaves can be found on the leafy trees, not pines, sand on the shores and... you got it. When you cut the tree with the axe, it falls by the law of physics (more or less, of course).
Weather is nice. It rains and shines, night changes the day. The picture is nice, though quite resource demanding, but playable even on not so powerful computers if you adjust settings.
There are Anomalies - weird huge cubes floating in the air. When you approach them - you get into one of 4 possible isolated locations that differ from the world you were significantly. Only 2 of them have practical use due to unique resources, but I like the idea. Reminds of STALKER somehow due to the randomness they appear and visual effects when it happens.
The World looks and feels pleasant. There is a calendar and temperature data that changes from hour to hour and from day to day. On the other hand, there is no real need to go somewhere far from the initial starting location, and you do not get freeze.
Finally, the world is not deterministic, anomalies, trees and some other things change and appear in slightly different places, it decreases boring for sure.
Imagining that the same map will be for the online servers, I give 8/10.

Other

You can see your main hero chest moving from breathing.
No damage from the falling.
There is rudimental wound system. For now it only supports bleeding and threatment for it (bandages).
There is also evidences of trade system with prices already set.
Ghost mode isn't actually differ from Single Player (SP), since interactions between players aren't active, but single player doesn't require online connection. These game modes have different accounts, so you cannot transfer your stuff from one to another, so choose one wisely. I am 99% that you WON'T be able to transfer your Ghost account on online server. And actually, is it needed, if this is mostly PvE, not PvP oriented game?
Crashes happen, but not often. I had two in 5 hours, both in the Anomaly zones. There is something wrong with them, but overall the game is more or less stable with constant auto-saves.
I see the big problem so far - hero has no target. Why is he there? What does he want to achieve? After you have a home, armor, weapon, food, is there a way to develop further? I didn't find the answer. While it is an RPG where skills develop as you use them, there is no need to master them more than minimum needed. All of this can be solved by some simple introduction (e.g. NPC with quests) and, say, very expensive to craft teleportation device as the map is huge. But then, map should have places worth visiting. Are there such? - donna know.

Conclusion

I will definitely follow the game from time to time, checking improvements. Online is planned on 2017:Q1. Hope it won't be too raw at that moment. Seems like updates are coming in a good tempo right now, and author gives backward response, that is nice.
There are too many unknowns in the future, but I would estimate the potential of the game as 8/10. Sufficiently good for an early access.

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Posted: 25 June

I starting to consider to make a petition versus Unity based games...
And force Steam to label a game with Unity to include "Warning, this game is made by a Unity developer"
"But it's Early Access." Yes... but most games with a price tag these days never seem to leave the status "Early Access" so that little sales trick is to be ignored.

Pros:

Crafting looks extensive, for example a tree can give you 4 or more different types in items to craft something with.
Building or item placement looks good enough.

Cons:

Badly optimized and very buggy on high resolutions
Its art style direction looks like Ark minus any engagement (no enemies or multiplayer)
Other than the 3d Models they bought from the Unity marketplace, the unique ones looks like its done by someone with no artistic skills at all.... For example you start in a huge empty white building with low res stretched out textures made for a person 50x larger then you, shooting some kind of laser beam into the sky.
The in game windows are undraggable and overlapping each other.
The direction they are going for combat doesn't promise a lot.. for example you need to activate/deactivate combat to be able to fight and you need to replace the item in your hand with a weapon. Which in turn is a very small box inside a tab of a window.
Crafting system is buggy, one example you need a knife to carve out some bark but you can harvest it nonetheless.
Crafting system is extremely tedious, for example to make a hammer it requires parts which in turn needs parts as well.
The list go's on

Helpful? Yes No Funny

Posted: 19 June

Novus Inceptio

DISCLAIMER: I received this product for no cost for the purpose of reviewing.

Novus Inceptio is a crafting, and survival game. It reminds me a bit of "Life is Feudal" or other games of that nature. The interesting thing about this game is that your character, as well as the world, can age. I've read somewhere than when you die you come back as a clone, though in future updates, you could play as your offspring if you get to that stage of the game. Your character is always accompanied by a robot (A2-A) that is supposed to log data as well as help you survive. The game has a unique background story as well as setting. The game plans on one day becoming an MMO and their "GHOST mode" within the game shows how the MMO mode would work.

The world is dynamic. Changes you make (or other players make) will affect the world. Even the game's lore shapes the world. Items you create in game, can be your own unique version, as there are many different ways, and combinations to make the same item.

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Graphics: 8 / 10

The graphics are pretty nice. The terrain look good and although improvements can be made to some of the 3D models, the grass, trees, mountains, rocks, and most of the other environmental visuals look great. The animation quality is good in some places, but a little bit weaker in others, specifically the character and animal animations. It's not as smooth as say the leaves and grass blowing in the wind, though it's a very minor gripe. I have a mid-tier card. I tried running the game on ultra, but the performance was a tad slower than I'd like, so I brought it done to medium settings, which worked fine. You'll have to play around with the settings to match your card and CPU, though I'm sure low tier cards can run the game on the lowest settings. It's great that the game provides you with custom video settings.

I did experience a few glitches, such as my mouse disappearing and not being able to hit some targets in combat. Though the game mentions that there are some bugs, and even lists a few of them that are being worked on. As it's in early access, optimization and dealing with the glitches and bugs will progress until full release.

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Sound: 8 / 10

The sound assets were nice. You could hear birds chirping (which was kinda peaceful), your character movements, and sounds from the environment/terrain. It wasn't annoying or repetitive and the audio meshes well with the setting. I don't really remember if there was background music, though if there was, it must have not been something distracting or bothersome.

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Mechanics: 8 / 10

The game is still in early access but there is still more to come. As in most games of this genre; you can build, craft, explore and survive. You can make many different tools that can perform different tasks, and you also need certain tools in order to craft other items. You have some skills in the beginning such as foraging and cultivating, and you can even cook. The game's mechanics are currently very solid and there is lots to do; from base-building to farming. The combat is decent, though I mainly fought with my starting knife, as that's all I really had at the time. I assume combat is better with better equipment. You can of course arm yourself with different types of armor, clothing and weapons.

The only thing I feel needs some work is the game's difficulty. There isn't currently much of a challenge to the game aside from trying not to die from hunger and thirst. The animals aren't really that aggressive, and you're never in immediate danger. I know it's something that will probably be changed before the full release of the game. There's also an interface that shows you the weather, time, and temperature, though it's not really relevant at this point in the game.

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Final Personal Remarks:

I'm excited. When this game is complete, it's something I'll definitely take a look at again, and probably be addicted too. These are the kind of games I enjoy. Right now, I can't see myself playing it in it's current state, and I don't really find a challenge in it. Though it does look very promising. With some optimization and some more content added, the game could be the next big survival game.

Thanks to the devs for giving me the opportunity to review the game, as well as anyone who took this review into consideration, I hope it helped.

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Posted: 18 June

Introduction

Developed and published by McMagic Productions, Novus Inceptio (“New Beginning” in Latin) is an Early Access diamond in the rough. The game is planned as full-on MMO once it is completed but even for now, the Single Player experience is quite enjoyable.

Gameplay

Novus Inceptio features a large area to explore and futher develop. The game’s story has post-apocalyptic tones to it and it can surely be fleshed out even more in subsequent updates. In SP mode (also referred to as “GHOST” version) you find yourself with all the necessary tools to harvest, gather and build within the game world. A complex and fully functional crafting system that proves the dev team’s skill and further potential. It doesn’t contain too many in-game threats to your survival as you take relative little damage from the few enemies (mostly wildlife) present. This has to change, as weapons and fighting are as integral to surviving as the crafting tools are. A tutorial would be more than welcomed too as not all would-be players have sufficient crafting experience from similar titles.

From a graphical perspective, Novus is truly gorgeous. Despite using Unity Engine, the open world is filled with details, clearly showing the game’s two-year developent time and overall efforts into ironing out glitches. There are still some bugs here and there but as far as I could tell, none that may be game-breaking. Novus Inceptio has built-in weather pattern changes which along the day/night cycle, really offer a both beautiful and diverse scenery to explore and manipulate at will.

The sound department needs more attention but it certainly isn’t lackluster even in this Early Access version. Some voice acting would be apreciated too.

Pros

+ Gorgeous graphics
+ Complex crafting system
+ Steam Trading Cards & Achievements

Cons

- Still in Early Access (and consequently, no MP option)

Result / Final thoughts

What really impressed me about Novus Inceptio is how well simulated the inevitability of death is. You age (if diseases don’t shorten your lifespan prematurely) within the game and pass on what you have built to your offspring. That really motivates players to never stop seeking out areas with better shelter and resource pools. This is not meant to be a static game afterall and I do believe it can be continuously improved but I fear that once it reaches its MMO objective, survival will be less about witty crafting and more about defeating other human players that only care for combat. Countless films and games have proved that peaceful coexistence in a post-apocalyptic setting is just a pipe dream...

Rating 9/10

This review was submitted for Elite Giveaways, check us out for more reviews ranging from Indie games to AAA titles.

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kaeshiva

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Posted: 1 November, 2015

[Early Access Review]
What a surprise this was.
While certainly there were early access 'annoyances' such as not being able to make a female avatar and a few odd translations, I must say I'm quite impressed with where this game is so far.

Graphics / UI
Are quite pretty and smooth, day/night transitions are realistic and the ambience and lighting is superb, particularly when approaching an anomaly and its glow illuminates the nearby landscape. Animations are smooth, if a bit simple at this stage, and there was minimal glitchy/laggy experience with the graphics. There are certain places where if you pitch the camera all the way forward, you can see 'beneath' the ground, but overall nothing that really interfered with gameplay. The UI is smooth, responsive, and crisp looking with good functionality and is pretty intuitive the way it is laid out. Hotkeys aren't tooltipped anywhere but with a bit of fiddling you work out that C is for character and I is for inventory, etc. Overall very impressed with the level of polish.

Sound
The background/music ambience fits very well, and is engaging and immersing.
There seem to be some missing sound effects for things like mining, chopping trees, etc. but not really unexpected for an early access / alpha state.

Gameplay

Well, as it stands now, its a crafter/hoarder's paradise. While yes your character's inventory is limited, your trusted floating robot ball thing can carry whatever it likes, and it is easy to switch between the two. You can happily forage/chop/mine and 'get stuff' to your heart's content and make it into other stuff. The crafting has a good level of depth, involving quality levels and skill levels and particular materials. At the moment I've only made the most basic of things, but I see the potential here for an exceptional system whereby different materials convey different quality/effects.

For example, I have the blueprint for a shirt, and I can either:
leaves -> fibers - > threads - > cloth
grass -> fibers - etc
or some combination of the two.

Everything is made out of its base components, so if you want to make a hammer, you'll need a head, a handle, and something to fasten them, and so forth. The crafting UI has little mini icons indicating what is needed and they change color based on what you've got available in your inventory.

Anyway, needless to say, this game completely allowed me to stand there and make thread for 30 minutes, rewarded me with my tailoring level going up, and I was able to make something to wear. Likewise with making tools, etc.

There is also a whole construction element (ie building a house) that I've not even gotten into yet.

Skills and stats go up slowly as you do things and the UI gives good feedback on success rates & quality level expected of the resulting item.

I only did minimal combat, killing rabbits to get pelts and meat, but it was fluid and responsive, ie press button-> something happens. One of my biggest pet peeves in games is a clunkly/slow response UI so I'm pleased to report that Novus did not disappoint in this regard.

Overall -
The game is certainly playable now, though I'm not sure how many hours of content are available at this point. It really looks to be something that I will easily get addicted to once I can make a girl character (since piloting boy characters always feels wierd to me), and once there's a bit more direction. At the moment there is a lot of 'wander around, click stuff, build stuff' and I hope that this doesn't get lost along the way, as it is pretty relaxing to play. This may just be the PvE sandbox I've been looking for, and fingers crossed it doesn't end up an open pvp mess like so many of the survival type games out there. And even then, there's an offline mode in the works.

The devs have posted up their trello planning tool so planned features etc. can be monitored and seem quite keen on getting things done. I have to say that compared to other early access games I've tried, many of which I last about 10 minutes in, this is a refreshing change!

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ReadingLies

2,136 products in account

25 reviews

Posted: 15 May

A brilliant entry for the survival-sandbox game genre which showcases a mix of sci-fi, fantasy and an apocalyptic setting in a very unique way.

Game Overview

In a TL;DR fashion of the game's backstory, humans went full ret@rd and blew themselves up with radiation and stuff so their "Creators" had to reset the entire race and got each of them some floating iron balls to make sure they ain't up to dumb things again.

Welcome to Novus Inceptio!

In this game, you are basically an Adam or Eve of a newly resurrected world. You are accompanied by a personal robot referred to as "A2-A" given by your Creators to assist you as you thread a new life in these lands.

There isn't a particular set of goals aside from surviving these lands or to build your home however and wherever you are permitted to. The crafting system that the game offers is very detailed and complex at the same time in terms of the materials needed for each end-product, and are separated in sections which are weapons, tools, alchemy, cooking, etc.

You can also explore of different areas or dimensions of the game which are referred to as "anomalies", which are still subject to change as the updates come but are currently divided into few types.

The Pros

Interesting Game Concept - Along with the very interesting back story and setting that the game has also comes in a great game concept. Some of these concepts really add up to the uniqueness of the game like the aging feature where not only your character ages in time, but also even your surroundings. Another one that I am really fond of is having the freedom to build up your character's skill set is also something that most games doesn't offer.
Detailed Crafting System - The crafting system that this game has pretty much works like every other building/survival/simulation games, the difference that it has from the other ones is that they have made a very meticulous approach on it. For example, some games only require wood and rocks to make a basic hammer and chesto-presto it is done after a few moments of waiting. In this game, however, the materials that you need to provide to make the said tool are more specific, like you would need a rope/string to hold together the wood and the rock, instead just of the two main ones.
Captivating Visuals - It is pretty clear even from the screenshots of the game that it looks very captivating even without me explaining the whole thing, but if I could add something, it is that it has a pretty clean interface that really looks like your what MMOs in the present day has to offer.
Good Audio - The audio made for this game plays out naturally and the ambience effects really make up the feel as a whole. The sound of a process being completed, the rustling of the leaves, the ebb and flow of the water, the whistling of the birds are some of the examples that this game has to offer in terms of audio presence.

The Cons

Weak Hazard Presence - As of the time this review has been written, there isn't a fall damage factor present in the game, which is a standard in these types of games as it gives a more realistic appeal. Climate penalties also are not present in the current version of the game, in which I hope they developers will add at least before the full release.
No Multiplayer - Usually, these kinds of games are multiplayer-able even in the early stages since these types of games without a narrative or at least a goal doesn't fare for long, except if the game play is fun. However, as promised by the devs, this feature will come in eventually on or before the game exits early access.
Bugs and Errors - Considering that this game is still on its early stages, it is expected to have bugs and errors lingering throughout the game and there are quite a lot of them frankly. Sometimes, there are movement/motion bugs where you go super slow when

The Verdict

Judging from the whole package that it offers as of its current form, it does feel that many things are still missing from it, but it does show the potential to become a great game.
All in all, I do think that this game is worth at least the try.

If you like to see more recommended games that is worth the value you are paying, please visit my other reviews, or follow our curator group at Good Games Giveaways & Reviews.

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seph.au

7,180 products in account

628 reviews

Posted: 5 October, 2015

Will throw my 2cents out there, doesn't feel like another cashgrab. Anyone familiar with Life is Feudal should feel right at home. Swap the medieval theme for a sci-fi overtone and it's a similar experience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8u0Ow5Sy1s
For day 1 alpha, performance isn't wonderful but it's reasonable, hit a few random ctds though overall quite stable. Graphics look the part, could use a few more options for system scaling. Amazing soundtrack, both the music and fx work is topnotch. UI was readable and translated well, intuitive though further tweaks like multiple crafting slots would be great to cutdown on clicks required. Starting with little more then a knife and some blueprints, running into new tasks during gameplay tutorials popped up offering more information and further guidance.

Biggest issue for some will be running out of things to do. Anomalies appear which could be explored, offering rarer ingredients along with chests containing new blueprints. Fort building is implemented, no terraforming was available. Botany, Fishing, Harvesting and in-depth crafting is in. Only aggressive creatures I noticed were wolves, otherwise you'll be killing crabs, rabbits and deers. Something to keep in mind if wanting to play with friends is at the moment you cannot. Game is played in 'ghost' mode, effectively singleplayer that has all the server architecture in place. Also means a requirement to have an active internet connection. One EU server online, didn't notice any latency issues playing from Australia.

Looking for another survival rpg fix? Novus Inceptio is worth checking out or keeping shortlisted. Just understand it's early days and like most worth a damn (including ARK) they can often take a while to mature. Use a low-end system, expect to spend 10+hrs a day playing 'fresh content' or generally detest grinding? Might leave a little disappointed for now. Will tidyup this recommendation after more game time. Early copy was provided, never changes my thoughts. Cheers folks.

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jilly600

35 products in account

2 reviews

Posted: 9 October, 2015

Lots of people have talked about the game. All I can say is that it is one of the best early access games I have ever played. What I would like to tell you about is the author. He is active on the forums, works hard to make the game better, & is responsive to player's needs. Fixes bugs & updates in a timely manner. Offers assistance freely. I think he has a wonderful imagination & with his work ethics, I expect this to continue to be one of my favorite games, getting better all the time. Yes, there are a few minor annoyances, all new games have them, but nothing game breaking for me. I live in the Pacific Northwest part of the U.S., about as far from Europe as you can get & have no problem with lag, or game interruption from the Euro server

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Prometheus

111 products in account

1 review

Posted: 5 October, 2015

I already spent few hours in this game as a part of alpha testing. The game is already fun as-is - with existing content and features. You will love the game if you like sandbox games - no mission, no quests, just opportunities to explore, scavenge, craft, build, survive - and build your own world. Beautiful graphics and catchy music will follow you on your expeditions. And challenging and slow crafting will make you think about every next step. Please be aware that the game is in a very early stage and so far it is singleplayer only - so the game did not demonstrate its full potential yet.

What I like about the game

Enthusiasm of game author
His plans of future of the game
Visual style of the game
Almost every item/resource in the game can be collected and used
Complexity of crafting recipes, long crafting chains to get final product
Building mode - easy to navigate and place building structures
POIs - interesting locations with desert plains, deep caves, desolate islands

What should be improved

User Interface is still work-in-progress, should be simplified
Player's animations should be smoother
Content must be extended, more items to craft and use
Multiplayer should be implemented as soon as possible - the game becomes boring after some time. Multiplayer is a must to keep people interested for a long time. Yes, we wanna build new civilizations.
Some number of quests should be available, or at least some ultimate objective

You definitely should try this game if you like survival sandbox games. You will like how difficult/complex/slow (choose by yourself) is to progress - which grants you many hours of fun in the game. On the other side - do not invest into the game if you expect some quick action, fast leveling or simple questing in style of "go there and bring/kill...". If you look for anything like that, wait until the MMO multiplayer is implemented. So stay tuned...

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Fantmx

1,227 products in account

25 reviews

Posted: 7 December, 2015

Updated game footage:
https://youtu.be/d2ySkvn6wyw

I wanted to update my review as it has been some time since I wrote it and a lot has changed. I have left my original review below. The main things I want to point are first, there have continued to be updates and second, the developer listens to feedback.

Look at my cons below. The map now stays visible in the dark. When building it is always light so you can always see. The day/night cycle has been changed for more daylight. You can now craft in bulk.

There is the proof that they listen and want to make this game great. I still love it and still completely support and recomend this game.

***************************************************************
This was a game that turned out to be a huge surprise for me. I had watched several vidoes and thought I would give it a try and have zero concerns about buying it. It is a survival planned to be mmo with several already good design features. Another big plus is that so far the team, while small, is providing frequent updates and is very accessible.

Goods:
- Crafting system has the beginnings of something great including quality alterting outcome with several steps to finished products
- The game world is beautiful and fun to explore
- Anomalies are a wonderful idea and again very stunning to look at
- Frequent updates and addresses bugs, accessible team that is clearly passionate
- The survival part does not feel overwhelming to control and I personally like the idea of aging in game

Not so goods:
- No multiplayer yet. This is coming but without it you quickly feel alone
- No lore, yet
- Map is a little odd and somewhat frustrating that when it is night out, you can't see anything on your map
- When building, the camera movements are odd and when dark, you are not likely to build anything, which is half the game time
- Crafting in bulk should and probably will be added
- Combat is very early and needs a lot of tweeking
- More NPCs to kill should and will be added

I have recommended and will continue to recommend this game to anyone that can tolerate the idea of early access, unless the updates cease to exist.

Gameplay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ql-YDW-3uw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWW6A3pGNiM

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TeeJax <3

4,360 products in account

67 reviews

Posted: 12 May

Novus Inceptio is a very Early Access survival game with the intention of becoming an MMO upon release.

I'll start by saying Novus Inceptio seems to be a true Early Access game and by this I mean it still has a long way to go and the developers want to get there with community support and feedback. But though it is very early on in development I can honestly say I already love the game and where it's headed, I just pray the devs don't give up as their plans are very ambitious.

In Novus Inceptio you find yourself in a world with nothing but a few basics and you must survive. You have health, stamina, thirst and hunger you'll need to watch as these are the things that decide whether you live or die, but don't worry too much right now as there is plenty of food and such to be found. You start with a knife and a chest that contains some food and basic items that'll you need to survive and also some blueprints (which I'll explain later). There is a tutorial with the information you'll need to get started but be warned, it is all text based and pretty long to read from start to finish but this is only because of the amount of features currently in and coming to the game (but as I am sure you can see I am not opposed to walls of text). Right after starting you'll find your first 'anomaly' (again, I will explain further on) which you'll probably want to explore. Currently anomalies are my favourite part of Novus and can be found dotted throughout your world. Once you enter them you are transported to a new 'dimension' where you can explore and scavenge until you are ready to leave. Often these anomalies contain items and things you cannot find in the normal world giving you added incentive to explore further and actively seek them out.

Whilst exploring the Novus Inceptio world you'll find plenty of things you can scavenge for food or crafting. Some of these can be taken with your bare hands but others require an active item which you must craft first such as a pickaxe for mining, an axe for chopping trees, a knife for reeds and many more. There are already a large variety of items which you can find and more you can craft yourself so you'll have a nice amount to keep you busy on the crafting/exploring side of things.
Novus focuses heavily on it's crafting system which is something I love. Instead of a few craftable items that require one or two base ingredients Novus Inceptio has a vast crafting tree where you have to craft everything from the bottom up. For example to craft an axe you'll first need to craft a blade and a handle with some kind of wood, stone or ore. Some items will require you having some tools built first so if you're very into games that have a lot of crafting like myself then you'll enjoy the crafting system a lot. Each item requires you to have a specific level within your stats in a certain area before you'll be able to successfully craft some items. For example you'll need to level up your smithing to craft better weapons and tools or your chance of successfully crafting will be very low. If you fail to create an item you keep the ingredients but you waste time and stamina. You start being able to craft basic items but throughout the world and in anomalies you'll find many blueprints which you can use to learn new items, giving you yet another incentive to spend time exploring.

Rather than having to create a base (you can if you want) you have a drone that accompanies you which you can use to store items in whilst you travel. Since he has unlimited carry space you can explore freely without having to constantly return to a single point in the map to deposit items making the exploration element of the game a lot more fun. I assume that over the duration of Early Access more items will be added giving you a reason to make a base but currently I haven't really found myself needing one. Also there seems to be no way to hasten movement or travelling at the moment so I feel it'd just limit how far I could travel and explore without repeating the same areas over and over. Right now crafting seems to be limited to tools, weapons, armour and basic foundation items for a base/house with only a few utility items.

Currently you only seem to be able to level a few of your stats but each stat contributes to a specific skill. To find better quality items you'll want to focus on levelling up your foraging which can be done basically by foraging any items. There are many different skills to level from fishing to smithing to terraforming etc but most of these features haven't yet been implemented and the stats are just placeholders but it is a nice preview of what is to come. If you've played Life if Feudal you'll feel right at home with the levelling system when it comes to the stats side of things.
The combat system is also very very limited and if I'm honest it's best to avoid it right now. The tutorial does explain this though so you know what to expect but it didn't stop me trying. It's almost impossible to hit anything currently and the animals move very weirdly. Since food can be found in other places there isn't too much to worry about and combat can be avoided easily so until they've implemented it properly it's seriously not worth the hassle.

In Novus Inceptio there are two modes currently: Single Player and Ghost. The only difference between these that I know of is whether you require an online connection or not. In Ghost mode all data and such is saved on their server so you'll need to create an account and log in to play in this mode. I think this will be the MMO side of things once that is up and running though the Ghost mode is currently an offline mode. Right now the game doesn't have any kind of online so do bear that in mind if purchasing now. The devs have plans to advance into an MMO one day which is a great but very ambitious idea but there will still be a single player for all those who don't want that kind of experience.

Novus Inceptio has it's problems though, which is to be expected from a small dev team but some of these issues seriously affect gameplay. The first is overall performance of the game. To put it nicely the game runs awfully at some points, and this is even with my settings turned onto the lowest on my desktop gaming rig. I don't know why but there is just awful stuttering in the caves and in general the game just doesn't run great especially when generating a new area. You can actually see it in the videos on the Steam homepage if you want to check it out yourself and others have also mentioned it. I feel the main priority should be optimization but from what I've read this isn't actually the plan so this is something you'll need to seriously consider before buying. My system is pretty damn high end too. Secondly I've mentioned the lack of content but I am sure this is down to Early Access and won't be an issue forever but after exploring it can feel a little aimless. Lastly it'd be good to see the crafting system simplified so if you have the ingredients to craft a sub ingredient it will do it for you instead of you having to find each component individually and craft it.

Overall Novus Inceptio is a game with tons of potential and at its core a very nicely executed idea. The price point is rather high for a game that is in this stage of development but for those of you who consider yourself fans of the genre of and want to be a part of active development then this is a solid purchase. If the developers stick with it and keep actively updating things then I can see this being a hell of a lot better than any of the current realistic Early Access survival games out there.

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RodierCZ

116 products in account

8 reviews

Posted: 12 October, 2015

Really nice relaxing game.
Its like Forest in peace mode. You have all time of world to build, harvest, scavenge and explore.
Nothing is disturbing you, nothing is limiting you, everything is possible (well except meeting wolves sometimes :))

If you want game where you can just go and explore, harvest, build and craft, this is game for you.

Its postapo game. Its survival game, but its you against nature. Hunger, thirst, pack of wolves. No extremes like pack of hordes..etc Its really like virtual life in untouched nature :)

How is this game post-apocalyptic? Ask Devs! :D Well imagine postapo games like Fallout but 2000 years after nuclear devastation. You will see what you can see in this game. Forests everywhere.. andn sometimes some ancient ruins, anomalies, structures you cant understand.. ?

I played Rust, Forest, Terraria, Minecraft, 7 Days to die, WarZ, h1z1, dayz, you named it.. and I can assure you, this is completely different. Its not for PvP players (at least not yet) its not for mastah that want uberl33t measure skillz. Its for people that like to play for fun. Not for measuring your epeen. (Well if you are good architect from Sims, then you can build castles here and be showoff on Stream Screenshots :)).

For people that dont understant concept of this game: currently its single player game with online database, like diablo 3. After some time, you will be able to somehow cooperate (auctions) and after even longer time, it will become MMO game. But your first world you have now (64kmx64km) will never be touched. So this game is both for SP and MP players.

About hw requirements: on core i5 with gtx760 I have around 30-40fps on high. But that is enough and it will be better.

About devs - yes its almost one man show, still that one man have enough time to answer to your questions on forums. Which is great.

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