Planetoid Pioneers gets a simpler, cheaper edition
Explore mini planets
If you were balking at the £30/$40 price tag for the Early Access physics-based building game Planetoid Pioneers [official site] then balk no more. Previously you could only buy a Contributor Edition of the game that gave you developers' tools to craft some of the game's world, but now you can buy a 'Game-Only Edition' that unsurprisingly, includes only the base game – or part of it, anyway.
The new £7 edition will eventually be upgraded to have the editors when the game leaves early access. But if, for now, you and your mates simply want to hop in, solve 2D physics-based puzzles, and make robots fall over comically, this has you covered. There's lots of crafting of contraptions, vehicles and weapons, if that's your thing.
Graham tried Planetoid Pioneers in 2015, describing it as "Spore meets Garry's Mod In 2D". He only really got to play around with the expansive tools that make the game, which you can still get hold off in the Contributor Edition. Every planet on the game is hand-crafted by either the developers or curated from a mountain of community-made levels. The Game-Only Edition can play with things made in the Contributor Edition.
Here's the trailer accompanying the new edition, which is all very tongue-in-cheek:
I like the look at it. I love destructible environments, me, and the objects in Planetoid Pioneers break up into lots of small pieces. The early Steam reviews seem positive, for what it's worth.£6.99/9,99€/$9.99,
If you buy the Game-Only edition you'll also unlock the editing tools after the game leaves early access. It's £6.99/9,99€/$9.99 on Steam.