Bowling, Basketball And Bugs: Starbound's Winter Update
A sack full of new content
What do you add to the game that has everything? Starbound's procedural approach to space makes every planet a unique snowflake in an infinite sea of stars. Evidently, developers Chucklefish don't think that's enough and the next hefty update contains all manner of new content. There's bowling, basketball bug catching, a new playable race, personal ship AI that can take on the appearance of a doltish golden horse, ship upgrades, a new tech system and loads of other bits and pieces. The video below shows all manner of new stuff and has managed to convince me that reinstalling when this goes live would be a fine idea.
The combat overhaul might be the most important thing, allowing for 360 degree targeting with melee weapons, guard breaks and parries. I've played quite a bit of Starbound and much as I enjoy seeing all of the unique content that it makes just for me, I don't enjoy just about any of the processes that I have to go through in order to discover those things.
That's perhaps not so much a criticism of Starbound as it is a recognition that these kind of games might not fit with my own sense of fun. I can only collect so many crafting ingredients before I'm begging for a cheat code to replicate my stash, or a way to just warp from planet to planet looking at other peoples' creations.
I'm an admirer of architecture but I'm not a builder.
The winter update is due to be uploaded to the unstable build in the very near future and to the stable build in January and full content notes are here.