Early access games

Meganium

Meganium

mlem
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    In my years of playing Steam Games, I came across (and played) several games that were in early access -- meaning the game was available to play while it was under development. I've played Subnautica and Slime Rancher back when it was in early access, and currently playing through Supermarket Simulator. While the game is addicting af, it still had a fair share of glitches and bugs.

    Have you played any Steam games that were in Early Access? Would you wait to buy/play the game once it's out of development?
     
    I have mixed feelings about early access games. On the one hand, it's a good way to pick up a game at a lower cost. On the other, it's basically paying to be a beta tester which always sits a little iffy with me. As a general rule, I prefer to wait for completed content than spend money on doing someone else's job - and for a product that I can't guarantee will actually make it to completion.
     
    In almost all cases, I'd rather just wait until the game is finished. And by "finished" I mean that the game's on a stable version, no new features or expansions are planned for release, and there aren't any more updates aside from minor balance/bugfix patches and compatibility updates.

    The only exceptions would be for games where runs are short and there's a lot of replay value, mostly strategy games, and even then I tend to avoid early access. The only early access game I've even bought in the past several years has been Terra Invicta.
     
    I've played a couple Early Access games though I don't recall any specific titles as it's been a couple years since I last played a game on Steam... :sadwick:

    I generally prefer waiting for release, but if it's a game with a good dev team behind it I've sometimes bought them anyway.
     
    I'm playing my first Early-Access game in a long time now, coincidentally. Of course, Age of Mythology: Retold is a remake of a game from my childhood and it's only early-access for one week prior to its official release date, so it's basically done.
     
    I think they're good! Especially for games from smaller teams - as much as a few beta testers may be able to pick something up their end, I think it's great that the players then get to help with that process. It tailors the game more towards the people playing it, rather than the horror stories I've heard before where the community is essentially ignored by devs.
     
    Not a big fan of the exclusivity of early access, and I'll never be lucky enough to be able to play something early.
     
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