Pax Dei

Updated for October '25 release
The negative reviews complaining about subscriptions are from people who literally did not read the product page for the thing they spent money on. That this game would be subscription based should come as no surprise - if it does, you did not read. The only surprise is that you will be able to play the game without a subscription!
Buy this game if:
- you like playing with Legos
- you have some amount of tolerance for jank
- you want a slow game
- you play games where you make your own objectives
- you understand this is early access and not a completed game
Do not buy this game if:
- you balk at the idea of a subscription based game
- you have no interest in building a twee cottage (or anything at all)
- you desire a rewarding combat system (pve OR pvp)
- you want the theme-park MMO experience
- innumerable other reasons
I don't play a lot of MMOs, and I don't play survival craft games, but I bought this game. The vision the devs set out is compelling, like EVE if it highlighted cooperation instead of competition. It's a low-stakes, relaxing game you can play while you do other things if that's your speed. As an older gamer, I appreciate that.
The systems for this envisioned game are not all built yet, though, so don't expect much. Presently, it's really only constructing and crafting that have been fleshed out to any degree. The building system is really good and allows a great degree of freedom to build however you want. It's a blast. The problem is, however, that it's "pointless" because the game's other systems are absent. I'm totally fine with that pointlessness - it's a game, after all - but others clamor for "content". I'll play with my ever-growing collection of building blocks

UPDATE for 1.0: Game is in a much better place now, a heap of QoL updates. It's still a very niche kind of game. You'll either love it or hate it, if you dig chill vibes and crafting in a very pretty world, you'll probably dig it. If you after a traditional MMO, probably not so much.
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Pax Dei is a strange one, you'll either love it or hate it in the current state it is in.
If you are after a pretty chill crafting and building sim with a steep grind for mats set in a genuinely very pretty world, then this might be up your alley. I don't normally play games like this, but I like the very laid back vibe of it. Community is super friendly too and something about seeing a mountainside littered with player created buildings is kinda awesome - Actually gives me Ultima Online vibes (if it were made in unreal engine).
Watch some people playing the game or YouTube videos to see if it is right for you, it has a long way to go but the promise is there for something really good.

I genuinely want to like this game, for the time I played as a solo player, I enjoyed what I saw.
I loved how the scenery displayed, I loved how the skill mechanics are developed over your characters in game time like you wanna be a good carpenter? Good get to woodworking, bust out a log block and start hacking away making planks. Awesome way of approach. Gathering starting materials is fairly alright, granted its a pain and a half sometimes however not entirely grueling. The combat mechanics are pretty good for the fights I've gotten to experience, granted I only had enough time to make a pointy stick.
The main reason I skeptical of the game is due to the fact of yes, early access/subscription. Early access I'm am 100% alright with, I've got plenty of early access titles in my library, and a lot of them become absolute gems, however a handful remain as clumps of coal. Subscription portion, this is what killed me a bit, all of the hard work I'd dedicate to the game and all of the progress to be made would be wiped and erased with nothing left or even a memento to keep aside from the founder pack bonuses. Sure working up to everything is great, however playing knowing that its gonna be ripped away and set to zero kinda feels pointless after it all. Also quoting their subscription "overall approach is similar to the classic MMORPGs subscription model." Isn't really sitting well, there are only two major MMORPGs that come to mind when this is mentioned, W.O.W/W.O.W Classic & FFXIV, every other MMORPG, has either been a one time buy, F2P with paid DLC packs or F2P with heavy micro-transactions.
I mean im not going to not recommend the game, since I did enjoy my time playing it. Its a good game, a great idea, and a whole lot of potential, its just the sub and wipe is a kick in the teeth for me.

This game has more POTENTIAL than any other MMORPG on the market. The things that they have done well (building and graphics) they have done extremely well. However, there is a LOT of work still to be done. After you build your house and do a little exploring, there's little reason to keep playing. Add fun combat and a meaningful reason to engage in pvp, and this game will be legendary.

I bought Half Life 2 more than 20 years ago (old account) and have been on Steam ever since. In those 20+ years I've never written a review on a game.
However, after viewing the poor reviews Pax Dei is getting I felt compelled to chip in on my two cent on the matter.
As you can see I've spent more than 1400 hours in Pax Dei on and off during It's early access.
During these hours I've explored, farmed, crafted, socialised, built houses, castles, churches, sold crafted gods, theory crafted, pve'ed, pvp'ed, made friends, ran hour long dungeons, joined clans to name a few things.
All this in a extremely large and stunningly beautiful world (only rivaled by Elden Ring imo) and together with a very friendly and helpful community. I need to stress once more, the world looks amazing!
Does this mean It's a perfect and finished game, no.
It's a grand vision and project made real by a relatively small team, but they are getting there, piece by piece.
After spending thousands of hours in games like Valheim and Conan Exiles, ESO, LOTRO I now have found my new home in Pax Dei.
There will be an opt to play the game 100% free once It releases, so what ever you do, dont miss out on this gem of a game.

You will spend a lot of time gathering, mining, chopping and hunting in order to then spend a lot of time at the wide array of crafting stations to progress those crafting lines. If that sounds like it's too much of a grind for you then this game probably isn't for you. On the other hand if that kind of game play is something that you find absorbing or even simply a relaxing distraction then this might be a game that will suck you in - just as it has with me.
Right now it's early access and that should also be kept in mind. That said I haven't really experienced any major issues during my ~1000 hours of game play and I very much like the direction the game is going in with each of the regular updates adding extra features alongside making tweaks to improve the existing game.
I've noted that some reviews here and elsewhere have stated that this game can't be played solo. I would have to disagree. Almost all of my game time has been solo and I haven't felt that that has hindered my progression at all. Sure, there are some dungeons that really do require a party, ideally equipped with decent gear, but that's not a deal breaker for me as that constitutes only a small fraction of what this game offers. My personal view is that this is a gentle way to nudge you towards finding or building a clan *if* this is what interests you - but it's absolutely not essential to progress.
To wrap up, the things that I enjoy about this game are:
- it's thoroughly absorbing with lots to keep you busy.
- the world is beautiful and although moving around the world is quite time consuming (you basically have to run everywhere as there's only very limited fast travel and no mounts just yet) it's pretty seamless.
- building can be an absorbing puzzle as you try to figure out how to achieve what you have in your mind.
- no quests or such like, you progress by levelling up gear and by (optionally) crafting - I say "optionally" because you can acquire gear through friends or by buying it from other players.
- the community: i.e. I don't think I've seen or heard anything even remotely toxic, in fact quiet the opposite with players helping each other out.

I absolutely love this game. It is definitely a game you get out what you put in. Also it is better in a group. Not that you can't play solo. But it is set up & geared to play with friends. This game really reminds me of a fantasy version of old school SWG. Which I've been looking for something that filled that gap since SWG shut down the servers. It's a social sandbox, not a theme park like WoW or ESO. Don't expect daily quests and things like that. It's more geared to you and your friends exploring and taking on whatever you run into.
The Dungeons are fun and remind me a lot of Vanguard Sage of Heroes. Being open world and not instanced.
The crafting is a grind, but very rewarding and becoming a skilled crafter actually makes a difference.
Of course the building in game is next level. Our group has spent many hours building & re-building things as we get new ideas or new building pieces unlocked.
Most of the negative reviews have been about the subscription. This is an MMO and clearly stated that the EA plots were only for EA. But I believe the tiered subscription model is very well done. There is a no subscription purchase to play option that's much better than most no sub MMO games.
If you like games like Valheim and want an MMO with more realistic graphics this is a great game and I definitely recommend giving it a try.