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The Stomping Land

The Stomping Land: Extinction Event or Early Access Rex?

We take a holiday to an island filled with dinosaurs, but will we be coming back for a second visit?

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Within seconds of starting The Stomping Land, a Carnotaurus rushed through the undergrowth and crushed us with its giant jaws. We opted for the Solo mode so we could get to grips with the basics, hoping for a quieter introduction to game, where we could find our feet without the added pressure of aggressive human-controlled characters. We needn't have bothered.

From then on we frequented The Stomping Land's online servers, interacting with and fighting against fellow players on an island filled with dinosaurs and danger. It's a tantalising prospect. DayZ with dinos. Who wouldn't want that?

Well, the promise of the premise and the actuality of the product are not inline as yet. The developers - SuperCrit - warn as much on the front page, when they say: "If you wish to jump into a more finalized gameplay experience, it is recommended to not purchase the game until release, as all features require balancing, bugfixing, and updates for smoother implementation."

In its current state it's a bit of a mess, and you'll have to brave more rough than smooth if you're going to get any enjoyment out of TSL. But, it's Early Access - we know it's not going to be perfect - so let's take that into account while we take a look at what's already there, and decide whether it's any good.

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The Stomping Land
A dead Carnotaurus ready for dinner, or for healing and taming, if you've got the experience and herbs required.

Firstly (and importantly), our experience with the community that's already in place was largely positive. Sure we got killed a few times, but for the most part those already on TSL's servers are helpful and made sure we got off to a good start, showing us the ropes and taking us through the basics.

There's a simplistic crafting system on offer. By thwacking a never-depleting tree or rocky outcrop, you send resources to a whicker basket that magically materialises behind you (actually, you tend to find yourself standing in the middle of it - it's not the only time we clipped through an object). Collecting resources together in these baskets allows you to make tepees and weapons, but making one thing will exhaust all of the supplies in your basket. TSL also neglects to inform you what components are needed for each piece of crafting, so there's plenty of trial and error at first while you're finding out what's needed to make what.

It's not the best system we've ever come across, but it is at least functional, and you can quickly create a few items to help you get started, such as bows, shields, and torches. You can also build a base - the aforementioned tepee and accompanying features - where you can respawn should you come to a grizzly end later on.

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The Stomping LandThe Stomping Land
Left. Crafting a base gives you somewhere to spawn should come to harm. Right. The stars represent dinosaurs in the island, it's just shame you've got to position the camera under your digital groin to get a good look.

The idea of the game is simply to survive. To hunt dinosaurs and use them for food. To fight off the advances of rival tribes and protect what's yours. However, things start off on the wrong foot as there's no pressing need to eat; you awake with a full stomach. As such there's nothing pushing you to take risks early on in the game. It makes for a more leisurely experience, but given this is supposed to be on the edgier side of the spectrum, it feels like a misstep.

Once you've got a base set up, possibly made some friends on the server, and established yourself in your surroundings, you can start to explore a little further afield. The island that the game is based on isn't small, but it feels like there's a lack of interesting terrain to discover. There are bodies of water dotted around the place, and some of these include caves ready for exploration. The only problem with these is it's very hard to get a lit torch inside (water and flames don't mix, wouldn't you know?!) and once inside it's pitch black and almost impossible to navigate. We got so bored looking for the exit one time, that we had to quit the server and start again.

Reloading after such an exit reveals one of The Stomping Land's major shortcomings. You can't take your gear with you when you log off; any weapons or equipment you may have constructed are gone on your return. Experience, earned as you survive, is retained, but that's it. There's not enough there to persuade us into making regular revisits, and that's largely down to this lack of persistence.

The Stomping Land
Our luxurious beachside base is getting mauled by an angry dino. Best to wait this one out.

There are a few other features that define the experience. Using herbs collected in the map (usually in the pitch black caves) you can heal and tame dinosaurs felled in battle (either by you or by other dinosaurs). There's only six variants in the current build, so there's not a massive amount of options in this direction. While capturing and riding your own dino is undeniably cool (at least on paper), it's still not been perfectly implemented yet, and bugs/glitches can take the edge off (for example, one dinosaur we tamed could only walk in slow motion - a bug that appeared later while we were taking a stroll on the beach).

You can also capture and be captured by opposing players. Once bound up by an adversary it doesn't appear that you can escape, which will no doubt drive some to distraction. However, this shouldn't be too much of an issue if you steer yourself towards PvE and non-PvP players. Not that you'll have too much in the way of choice; there's usually only a handful of active servers running at any one time.

It's still very early days for The Stomping Land. So much so that it's hard to recommend in its current state. There's potential here, and the setting certainly holds allure, but too much of the whole is currently unfinished. A small but engaged community is already waiting to help or hinder you on this dino-filled island, but that isn't enough on its own to earn the game an endorsement. If you're tempted by the package, and don't mind helping SuperCrit iron out a multitude of creases, by all means jump in, but most people are better off waiting until it's finished, whenever that may be.

The Stomping Land
It's time to go hunting. Using the bow you can shoot dinosaurs, and there's a spear for fishing and a defensive shield.
The Stomping LandThe Stomping Land
Left. A jog on the beach with our dino-riding friend. Right. Mmmmm, lunch.

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