Good "Early Access"

[Amaror]

So we all know that beloved early access programm were developers release products early on the internet, continue developing them till the end and everyone is happy forever.
Well, yeah, not really. A lot of these projects fail, either because the developers are overly optimistic and think they can do more than they actually can or because they want to take some money and run, sometimes which of the two applies depends on who you ask.
But let's shed this negativity once and talk about GOOD Early Access game.
Let's talk about early access games that you are personally happy with and why that is.
Some rules apply though:
- The game has to still be early access, saying why you like a game that's allready finished would be a bit too easy, wouldn't it.
- Early access in this context means that the game has to be purchasable or have been purchasable. It does not need to actually be in the early access programm of steam, it's just a good name for games of these types.
So let's begin. I will personally start with two entries of my own.

1. Rimworld
What is it?
This game was kickstarted a year ago on November 2nd 2013. It's in development by Tynan Sylvester. The game itself is basically Dwarf Fortress with graphics, like so many nowadays. The graphics are heavily influenced by Prison Architect, which the developer openly admits. It's about building a colony and surviving on a, you guessed it, rimworld after crashing on the planet. The universe is similar to Firefly with no lightspeed and colonies on distant worlds.
Why do i think it will succeed?
Because it allready did, basically. Even back when the Dev kickstarted the game, it allready was in a very good state. His kickstarter did really well earning 13 times the requested amount, which to a large part was thanks to the fact that the dev had allready sent a working copy of the game to a bunch of youtubers that played the game and brought it lots and lots of publicity.
In addition to that the development has been going very well. There have allready been tons and tons of content and new mechanics added to the game in the last year. Additionally the developer is really open about the development with an online changelog in which he states every single change he makes to the game every day. He's also very open in the forums and frequently answers question there. It also doesn't hurt that he finished new releases with major features at most 2 - 3 months apart. At most.

2. Stonehearth
What is it?
From a gameplay standpoint Stonehearth is also very similar to Dwarf Fortress just in 3D and with an incredibly cute voxel-based artstyle. This project is a bit older kickstarted back in may 2013.
Why do i think it will succeed?
While the developers took some time in order to get their first working prototype going they have been constantly adding new features ever since. Their developing speed is quite high, even though it's not as fast as Rimworld. That, however, can be easily explained since they are working with their own engine, while Rimworld runs on Unity.
What is more important is that the progress is constant and that the developers are also very open about the development.
They release weekly development updates and even do development streams every now and then. While it's not very exciting to watch someone programm this openness about the development is very nice.

Overall i think that the key to a good early access programm is openness. There's a lot more trust when you can clearly see what the developer is doing and trust is integral not only for customers but also for developers. When developers aren't open about the project and updates don't come regulary or frequently the customers will start to complain. And since buying an early access game is allready a pretty big risk, seeing a customer that's unhappy will turn away a lot of potential customers. And that can and will lead to less funding for the developers and quite often a failure of the project.

 

[leberkaese]

I think my examples for good early access are pretty mundane and everybody already knows about them. But here we go.


Prison Architect:
A small strategy/prison planning game, where you have to build your prison and keep your inmates happy/locked up.

They release a somewhat bigger patch every month. They seem to stand behind their game and try to regulary release new stuff. They listen to the complaints of the community and fix it.

What it makes so special: it's that type of game that should belong into early access: a niche genre that was once big (in the 90s with stuff like Theme Hospital, Dungeon Keeper,...), but now has only a small fanbase. No big publisher would release something like this. Well, maybe as a mobile app with microtransactions.
Most of Early Access games these days seem survival games... DayZ, Rust, the infamous Stomping Land, Life is Feudal... Or stuff from Double Fine. But games like this belong to Early Access!

I think it already is pretty successful and has reached the user base it wanted to reach.


Starbound:
Some people probably will disagree with me on this one.

I think this really goes without any explaining, everybody already heard of it (or not?). It's Terraria 2.0; Terraria in space etc. with a lot of exploring, mining and farming for new equipment.

They promised to patch this game on a daily basis and wanted to release 1.0 at the end of 2013/beginning of 2014, I think. But since April 2014 or something they didn't release a new stable version. Because of that many people get angry at the developer and think the game was abandoned.
But actually they are releasing an unstable patch every day. The next big stable patch will be something really big that expands the game a lot. They only need their time (I think they had to move their office inbetween). I admit, they take too much time, but this game is far from abandoned.

They already earned a lot of money with that game and promised to patch it for years. Let's see, if they keep their promise, but as soon as the next big patch hits the game (hopefully in a few months) it will be a blast.

 

[Pink Gregory]

Prison Ar-

Prison Architect:
A small strategy/prison planning game, where you have to build your prison and keep your inmates happy/locked up.

...Damn.

I appreciate that at least two of their monthly updates have been bugfix-fests, so they're definitely dedicating themselves to keeping it playable; but on the other hand, seeing as we're at Alpha 25, I'm curious as to what their final brief is actually going to look like. Completely sandbox, or with a career mode, too? I'm hoping that this is what's getting worked on at the moment, everything else (bar item functionality or functionality of certain furniture, and the horrible performance in utility view) seems complete.

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

Invisible inc- They have a new patch every week or every other week released like clock work. It liderally has a count down. It's also a fun game. Think stealth-com.

The escapist- A game about escaping from prison. If you like the concept, they have good regular updates of new prisons every month or so.

 

[leberkaese]

but on the other hand, seeing as we're at Alpha 25, I'm curious as to what their final brief is actually going to look like. Completely sandbox, or with a career mode, too? I'm hoping that this is what's getting worked on at the moment, everything else (bar item functionality or functionality of certain furniture, and the horrible performance in utility view) seems complete.

I guess there's gonna be a career mode. The tutorial already tells a small story with its photos. That story is actually told quite well, looking forward to more.

 

[Windcaler]

The top one IMO is Kerbal space program. Since I was a little boy Ive always wanted to explore space and with this game I can run an entire agency to do that. Plus the modding scene is pretty active and has done some really amazing stuff.

Crypt of the necrodancer is also really good. It may be fully released now or maybe not Im not sure. Im bloody awful at the game but its still worthwhile. Doubly so if you like a dungeon crawler/dance game

Dayz is...well Dayz. Dayz the mod was always good if you liked that kind of game. As an early access game its coming along nicely IMO. Its what you expect out of a DayZ game with many many bugs that still have to be worked out. Currently I still think the mod is better if youre playing solo mode or on a private server but then again the mod is free.

Space engineers is also one to look at. I got to play it as part of a free weekend not to long ago and I had a lot of fun with it. IMO it needs a lot more content to justify its price but from what I played I thought it was good

Finally theres warframe. Warframes a game that has been kind of "officially" released but as Digital extremes likes to say its in "open development". That said the game is rock solid with very few bugs. If you ever wanted to be a cybernetic space ninja this is your game. Perhaps the best part is its free to play (not pay to win) and while sometimes it can get a bit grindy they do events and add content enough to shake things up from time to time.

Edit: I forgot about Plague inc. A game where you essentially play a disease trying to wipe out all mankind. If you played the old flash game Pandemic plague inc is basicly that with a graphical and UI overhaul

 

[SJXarg]

The Long Dark - a survival (no zombies, promise!) game set in the northern Canadian wilderness after a "geo-magnetic event" (which sounds kinda like either the magnetic poles flipping, or some crazy big EMP from sun flares or what-not), and it's winter. You've got to find shelter, scavenge food and clothing, repair your clothing (or harvest it into scraps to repair a better piece you just found, or repair another piece that offers better protection), and stay alive in a wilderness where wolves and the biting cold make up only some of the obstacles you'll face. Running out of food/potable water, freezing to death, or getting food poisoning make life a bit more difficult.

Game is still in early access, and currently offers sandbox mode (some form of campaign coming in the future), and crafting is slowly being expanded upon (I wonder if the rabbits you catch with the new craftable snares can give you protein poisoning if you eat too many of them?)

Currently I still think the mod is better if youre playing solo mode or on a private server but then again the mod is free.

Edit: I forgot about Plague inc. A game where you essentially play a disease trying to wipe out all mankind. If you played the old flash game Pandemic plague inc is basicly that with a graphical and UI overhaul

Not to nitpick, but the mod is free only if you own Arma2 Combined Operations, as it's a mod for that game collection.

+1 Plague Inc., much more visually accessible than Pandemic, and the additional pathogen types make a nice change, along with official and community scenario support.

 

[ZeroFarks]

From the Depths.

Look it up. I'm not even going to try to explain this one.

 

[Windcaler]

Not to nitpick, but the mod is free only if you own Arma2 Combined Operations, as it's a mod for that game collection.

True. I guess I always considered it free because I already owned Arma 2 and its expansions. Arma 2 by itself is a good game though and there are many other gameplay mods for it.

 

[Dalisclock]

The escapist- A game about escaping from prison. If you like the concept, they have good regular updates of new prisons every month or so.

I've been following that. I just wasn't sure if it was any good. I haven't see any reviews and "EARLY ACCESS" makes me extremely wary.

I love the idea though.

 

[gsilver]

Broforce - 2D Contra-like sidescrolling action game. Fighting Terrorists for 'Murica! Every character is a parody of an action movie hero, all of whom have different attacks.
I really like the way this game does terrain destruction, and all of the different characters are fun. There's also a free spinoff (finished product) The Expendabros on Steam, which is well worth checking out to get an idea of whether or not you'll like it.

Last time I played it, the campaign was solid, with the netcode being the part that felt most "Early Access"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1DTgY1hqKw


Neon XZS - A 6 Degrees of Freedom shooter with heavy ship customization.
I'm a huge fan of Descent, so I was really excited to see this one. It's got a ton of content already and more importantly is a lot of fun. My favorite parts are weaving through the geometry to hide from powerful foes, emerging to land another volley, and tactically relocate. The challenge arenas are really cool, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-33z3nfRsY

 

[mrdude2010]

Kerbal Space Program is the best one I can think of. You can explore an entire solar system at this point, and they've been continually and consistently updating/improving it. Plus, the modding scene is really active.

 

[RJ 17]

Plague Inc: Evolved

I stand as evidence that Let's Plays are indeed free advertisement for games: I watched the Game Grumps play this and ended up buying the game after the episode was over.

I've been having a blast with this game, it's ingenious in it's simplicity. Originally it was just a mobile app game, the objective being to create a plague that wipes out all of humanity. There's various outbreaks you can choose from ranging from bacteria and viruses to mind-enslaving parasites and, yes, even a zombie virus. You pick a country to start in and earn points to spend as your plague spreads. With those points you evolve your plague to increase it's resistances and infection capabilities as well as the symptoms it causes. But there's a balance that needs to be maintained because once you start developing noticeable symptoms, the world will start working on a cure. The more serious of an illness you become, the faster they'll work on the cure.

It's a lot of fun and surprisingly challenging...and it's early access. :3

They intend to add a multiplayer with both competitive and cooperative modes, I'm interested to see what that'll be like.

 

[RandV80]

I'll add Gnomoria to the list. It's basically a simplified Dwarf Fortress on training wheels with a nice isometric view. Of course it doesn't have anywhere near the depth of DF, for example you don't get the history and individual psychology parts, but for anyone who's ever been interested in DF but intimidated by the daunting difficulty curve Gnomoria is a good place to start to learn the basics. I got it for $4.50 during the Steam summer sale, took me about 5 hours to learn, and sunk 90 hours into it. And I bought it with change from selling cards, so pretty good value!

Though to be honest the other DF-likes getting mentioned here look more interesting, but I'd still recommend Gnomoria if you've never played this style of game.

 

[Lilani]

I bought into early access for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Actually I did the last phase of the beta, then pre-ordered which gave me early access into the game--an extra five days before hard launch, I think. I already had friends playing the game, and after the beta I knew I was going to play as well, so I felt very secure in the pre-order. The launch was a bit rocky, but it was also the largest launch of any Japanese MMO ever by a wide margin, and was much larger than the launch of the first version of the game, so I'm willing to forgive them for that. And after a couple of weeks they got enough servers to handle it, though things do still get a bit shaky on free login weekends.

At the time people were comparing it to SimCity and the way that game was a travesty at launch, but there are two key differences that kept me as a player from comparing it to that. First, SimCity shouldn't have required servers so much in the first place. Their servers were overloaded because they required ALL players to be connected, even the ones playing in single player mode. And even when people were able to log into the game, it had a lot of bugs and was extremely unintuitive, so laggy servers were really the least of their troubles.

FFXIV is an MMO, so everybody who played the game HAD to be logged in. And the game itself was perfectly functional and a blast to play. And it still is, since now a year later I'm still subscribed and still play regularly. They just released another version update which brought more dungeons, more gear, more fights, a new class, and a new arc to the main storyline. And they just announced a whole new expansion pack, and given how much they've added just in the PATCHES to the game I cannot imagine how much new content an actual expansion will come with. So much story has been added just from patches in the last year they would add up to at least one or two expansions on their own, at this point.

 

[-Dragmire-]

Starbound:
Some people probably will disagree with me on this one.

I think this really goes without any explaining, everybody already heard of it (or not?). It's Terraria 2.0; Terraria in space etc. with a lot of exploring, mining and farming for new equipment.

They promised to patch this game on a daily basis and wanted to release 1.0 at the end of 2013/beginning of 2014, I think. But since April 2014 or something they didn't release a new stable version. Because of that many people get angry at the developer and think the game was abandoned.
But actually they are releasing an unstable patch every day. The next big stable patch will be something really big that expands the game a lot. They only need their time (I think they had to move their office inbetween). I admit, they take too much time, but this game is far from abandoned.

They already earned a lot of money with that game and promised to patch it for years. Let's see, if they keep their promise, but as soon as the next big patch hits the game (hopefully in a few months) it will be a blast.

It's a good early access game. Just avoid the forums...

I stopped playing a while ago(Jan 20, 2014 according to Steam) once I felt I was getting fatigued(mid game was short and end game was rather nonexistent at the time). They had a very good base game to build off of and I didn't want to burn out before the final version was released. Still, I logged 86 hours in it which speaks well for an unfinished product.

Starbound was/is the only game I enjoyed enough to join the forums and give suggestions. It has so much promise.

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

The escapist- A game about escaping from prison. If you like the concept, they have good regular updates of new prisons every month or so.

I've been following that. I just wasn't sure if it was any good. I haven't see any reviews and "EARLY ACCESS" makes me extremely wary.

I love the idea though.

It is what it looks like. It's about the most open game I have ever played. Your totally free to escape in almost anyway you want. There is a lot for the player to learn too so it can be a little hard to get into. Also it's a little long and hard. Like you can spend days working on a plan only to have your cell searched and all your items taken away. I would say it's worth the money they charge. It was worth it back when there was only one level and now they have 4.

 

[BreakfastMan]

The Forest is a pretty sweet little survival game. It is like Don't Starve, except much more "realistic", but in a good way. Your plane crashes in a forest, and you have to survive and find your son. Thing is, the forest is inhabited by cannibalistic mutants that you have to fight off as well. And you aren't some god either, you are just some random dude. You can't carry a lot, or store a lot in your pack. So the game quickly because about slowly building up a base to store supplies and defend yourself when the cannibals come a-knocking. Game has a lot of other neat little surprises as well (when you are defeated by cannibals, for instance, there is a chance that you don't die, but instead wake up in a Descent-style cave deep underground, and have to find your way out), and looks damn good to boot.

 

[L. Declis]

Having had a little go at it today and a bit yesterday, MASSIVE CHALICE. I got into the Beta by signing up to the kickstarter; it's basically fantasy X-Com where you have to worry about age.

Now, it has a bit of a problem in that time passes a little bit quickly so you tend to do about 3-5 battles with a person from the ages of 16-60 and then they die and their children take over. I understand they want to give the idea of managing bloodlines and eugenics and what-not and keep things moving, but it means that you don't get attached to anyone.

I had a character who got the nickname "The Butcher" from a side mission (they do a lot of those little choice things like in Beyond Earth or Europa Universalis), which was flavourful and then she died from old age before I could get to know her any better.

The most you get is you develop a feel for families. One family of mine produces hunters with poor health but fast movement. One family produces slow, but tough Alchemists who throw fantasy frag grenade flasks. You also have tanky Camberjacks... who utterly suck in terms of balance because you hit the enemy, they hit you back, and either you run away and do nothing else all mission or you die, ending that branch of the family tree.

Alternatively, the Alchemists are a little broken; quite tough, move quickly, throw frag grenades over cover and hit an area with a high accuracy and damage, and in close combat, deal more damage than others. You can even hit and run with them, throw a frag, and then run away.

Hunters are middling, kinda like snipers. Solid and dependable, they have a Stealth ability which... does nothing. You can't ambush from stealth, if you're in cover you can't shoot back, so you end up basically using stealth to run away while other people distract, but you may as well just hide behind people and shoot anyway.

Also, research the healing flask first, and make sure you have at least 3 keeps as soon as possible to keep producing meat for the grinder.