Lightyear Frontier Review – Early Access Space Farmin’

We were able to get a sneak peek at an early copy of the Lightyear Frontier Early Access version. Here are our first impressions of FRAME BREAK’s space farming extravaganza.

Early Access Copy was Provided by the Publisher. Tested on PC.

It is a tale as old as time. You crashland on some planet lightyears away from Earth and now it is up to you to exploit- ethically  source its resources in the name of prosperity and building bigger and better things.

From the start, FRAME BREAK’s Lightyear Frontier establishes itself as a cozy, peaceful farming simulator set against the majestic backdrop of a world in a galaxy far far away. And while its Early Access starts strong and polished, it has still a long way to go.

Our Lightyear Frontier Review – Early Access Impressions

Credit where credit is due, Lightyear Frontier manages to dodge a typical misstep of its genre, which I will now dub the “Cozy-Craftathon”, overly excessive tutorials and handholding. It's amazing how fast you can get started without getting held up every other second for dialog. It still happens to a degree, courtesy of your heavily accented AI companion but it never interrupts gameplay.

That Gameplay loop is very simple, you set up shop somewhere on the premade planet, start a base of operations, and clear out zones of corruption with your ever-growing arsenal. And while it works on paper, the linear progression only offers one way forward, and sooner or later it feels like you’re just checking off objectives.

I can see how this won’t be as plain when you’re playing with up to 4 coop companions, but when you’re on your own it gets stale rather quickly. Especially when the lack of resources and upgrades start to bottleneck you. And when you have to haul across the map while being way past your maximum capacity because it's still faster than making several runs back and forth, it gets frustrating.

But despite its gameplay being flat and surface level, Lightyear Frontier has a cozy vibe and atmosphere that can not be denied. There is just something about navigating a heavy tractor-shaped mech across a strange planet that just feels right.

Clearing out the corruption infesting the zones feels more like digging out weeds in your garden than getting rid of cosmic horrors left behind. And its beautiful scenery and queer alien ruins paint an enchanting picture.

The one problem Lightyear Frontier has is that its Frontier doesn’t feel like a place begging to be explored and understood at this stage of development. Its beautifully animated animals don’t roam or show any behavior patterns that the player has to learn to befriend them. The ruins look like probs hiding optional collectibles and the corruption is no threat nor thing that needs immediate fixing.

Its charms wore things pretty fast on me, but if you’re looking for a game that can best be described as comfortable busy work Lightyear Frontier has you covered. The Early Access build looks and plays fantastic, it just lacks content and variety at the moment.

Nonetheless, I’m looking forward to giving this game a spin with a few friends, once it launches into Early Access on March 19 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

FRAME BREAK has built a solid, beautiful foundation for their space adventure, it just falls to them to now foster this sapling into the cozy space farming game it wants to be. And if they manage to stick to their ambitious Roadmap, who knows where the journey will take us.

For more Reviews and Guides all around Lightyear Frontier, make sure to stay tuned here on ESTNN.