The Wild Eight

I used to want to wait until games released to review them; but with games staying in EA longer and longer, and going on sale during, friends keep on asking me if a game is worth it. So here we are.
This is an Early Access review of v0.4.3, and can only attest to what was in the game as of June 2017.
The Wild Eight is a co-op survival game where you play one of eight characters (each having a different strength), who have survived a plane crash in a snow-filled forest. You can play in single player perfectly adequately, or play with a group to survive and explore together. It focuses on exploration and survival (food, water, temperature and monsters), with a small amount of building (just a couple of set items) and crafting. Whilst the world and the items are quite limited at the moment, it really excels in atmosphere and some of the indoor locations are fantastic. Creepy, interesting and surprising in some ways - I'm not putting any spoilers here though! There is a quest system, but the game can be played fairly openly, you're not obligated to follow the order directed at all.
Pros:
Beautiful graphics
Eerie and fitting soundtrack
Tough survival, but has two modes and the easier difficulty is much more forgiving
Proper co-op survival where you work together.
A fair few different inside/building locales, with some surprises in store
Quite a few different items
Cons: (Remember this is for June 2017 build - I anticipate most of these being addressed)
Early Access
Currently fairly limited amount of monsters
The outside world looks very similar
Whilst survival (food/water/heat/outside animals) feels balanced, there are a few special monsters that feel VERY tough right now.
Multiplayer can currently be a bit laggy.
Is it worth it?
I was one of the 1200 folks to back this game on Kickstarter and I was pretty sad it didn't make any of the stretch goals, and barely got through at all. Nothing I've kickstarted has released on time, and this game is no exception, with a kickstarter release date of Dec 2016 (EA keys were sent in Feb 2017). I was a little disappointed back in February, but the recent bunker update was fantastic. It has made some decent progress since that date, and to me, the existing game is now worth the money - with the promise of much more to come so I'm happy to recommend it.
It's a game that needs more - more items, more locations, more monsters - but I'm pleased with the core of this game, happy I supported it on Kickstarter and happy to recommend it.
Thumbs up - and massively looking forward to this progressing into a full game.

14 hours into the game with my husband, and I'm not sure what issues people are referring to, that make the game "unplayable". We have had a few minor glitches/bugs but absolutely nothing that detracted from the game. I can only imagine those reviews were older, because for us, it has run nearly flawlessly (ie: maybe 2 minor glitches in 14 hours)
As a casual gamer, this game has been easy to pick up, interesting to play, and just challenging enough to keep it interesting, not overly frustrating. The game also is very pretty visually, and the multiplayer is fantastic. Very pleased, and looking forward to the numerous updates planned by the Devs.

My wife and I are having a lot of fun playing this game after the kids are in bed. The last update upset me because I considered the game unplayable with food spoiling so fast. A quick patch from the developers seems to have cleared up any issues I've had.

Great game! The survival part is nicely balanced without being too easy, and the exploration is thrilling! :)

I particularly enjoy the fact that the survival is made easier by the unique skills of the people you play with. That's why generally play on open servers to meet nice people, but I would like to address this message to all the haters/trolls/mean people that are sometimes destroying what others built: you’re welcome to come any time in my server to steal, destroy, and break everything. Everything you steal we’ll farm again, everything you destroy we’ll build again, everything you break we’ll repair like brand new.
That being said, make no mistake, if we ever meet, I will give you … a big hug, cause you must be really lonely, sad and angry at yourself to choose to do such things to others…
Believe in yourself and others friends, and our lives will become lighter to carry and the world a better place!

Peace
Theos

Hello, i feel like this game could be great fun, that is why i wanted to leave a feedback, might as well do it here. I only click yes because i trust this is a WIP and there is still a lot to look forward to.
As for the positive traits:
-Fun to play with friends
-a large enough map, random elements too
-the quests are fun enough when you play them for the first time
-character progression keeps you busy for a while
Negative would be:
-Not much fun to play with random people, because there are no means to interact(simple chat, and you can drop items, thats it)
-The quests are the same every time you do them, they may spawn in a different location, but it changes nothing
-Map is not endless, you reach the border of it and you die, this was the thing i tested straight away when i launched it for the first time.
-There are 2 actual structures you can build - workshop and tent. Survive this.
This game really lacks depth, like:
-diversified crafting(everything in 1 place, seriously? crafting is a great jewel of any survival game, you cant just ignore it)
-more building options(there should be an option to live in a tent, other than that i think player should be able to build whatever he wants, put whatever he wants in the room and make a building whatever he wants it to be)
-psychological aspects(buffs, debuffs, moods and stuff, or you might just replace all your characters with robots - might be more fun)
-actual traumas(not just health bar, permanent injuries and deseases included, why is there medecine added to this game?)
-more interaction options(this is a co-op game, after all, so basic stuff like tagging other players, radio beacons, inspecting other players, custom written biography would be a highly recommended addition, to my mind)
-definately character customization options(i d expect to see people in characters i am playing: with traits, skills, personalities and not simple pawns, i mean even strategy games have much more "realistic" and "alive" characters, even though you dont play them directly. As for character development, it should be about chosing, not about grinding xp then purchasing a skill that everyone else will master too)
-somewhat real animals(who give milk, wool, eggs, whatever. Tamed animals behave wierd, but it doesnt matter, they are pretty much useless anyway, just a carriage you cant even ride, or just a pet wolf that ll run around a bit and die imminently, because you cant train it. Cant feed them vegetables or meat either - only special food, and deer cant just eat his share of grass, or whatever it eats naturally, while wolves lose their ability to hunt when they become tame - not much fun)
-temperature is important in a survival game(one temperature bar and a fireplace(and furnace) is not enough, it seems the temperature is always exactly the same throughout the whole game, and you can just run around in a t shirt, periodically lighting up a fire. Have you ever been anywhere beyond california? it gets colder in winter in alaska and its pretty much green for a few months in summer)
-electricity(so you have 5 generators with you, and you cant use them, you keep chopping that wood and throwing it into the fire)
At least this is what i d expect from a survival game with RPG elements, and nothing less.
I actually had no idea you cant even build a simple wall in here when i bought it, i mean there are structures on the screenshots. You cant even enter your shelter (character disappears into it, what?), cant sleep without wood either, why? I ve played for about 25 hours, i got some of the characters to max, did most of the quests, there are literally no reason i should play again ...yet.
I hope this game will receive some new features so it doesnt feel like you do exactly the same thing over and over again if you start a new game.

This game is the definition of a love/hate relationship.
You'll love it because of the unique environment, entertaining quests, and fun times playing multiplayer with friends.
You'll hate it because you run into a bug at least every five minuets; many times a quest breaking and rendering it unable to be completed.
If you are on the fence about this game, I would wait until a later release when the game is more stable. I'm writing this at the time of the 0.10.188 build. I was playing with my sister and we experienced a total of 4 game breaking bugs in a matter of 6 hours of total game time. Still love the game to death though.

This game is fun with friends, I never played with randoms. I got my 4 friends to play this with me and had a blast from beginning to end. Just wish this game got more content. Played it start to finish three times or so. Found all the secrets and explored the whole map. After that not much to do. First time players though will have a blast.
This game is like The Long Dark with less Single Player and more Multiplayer.