Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which we explore the wilds of early access. This week, Fraser s joining a civilisation and facing down a meteor in environmentally-conscious sandbox Eco. But mostly he s building a terrible house.
The worlds of crafting and survival games are big balls of resources waiting to be exploited. Normally. Not so in Eco, where the world is a vulnerable, reactive globe that requires respect and nurturing. And only a wee bit of exploitation. It looks like a pretty Minecraft, but while it shares most of its fundamentals, Eco is as much simulation as a crafting sandbox, complete with an ecosystem that can be irreparably destroyed by human interference.
