BitCraft Online Early Access preview: I've played for 20 hours, accomplished virtually nothing, and I don't mind at all

BitCraft Online is a game I only recently heard about; when the news broke that they were eventually going to make their code Open Source. That alone was enough to intrigue me. These developers are pretty bold, and have a pretty awesome idea. This is an open-world crafting/survival MMO, where everyone’s playing on the same world. No multi-server nonsense, where I have to figure out which one my friends are playing on. It’s a true one-world MMO, and I love that.

I also appreciate that in this game, your actions always matter. You can terraform the world, start removing roads or structures other empires build, and sell your goods to your own allies, or to other empires, should you wish. It’s a delightful game, and despite having done nothing of note, I’m still adoring BitCraft Online.

Note: This game is in Early Access, and will no doubt change as it develops and moves toward full launch.

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BitCraft Online is similar to OSRS, but with less combat

BitCraft Online is a cute crafting MMO that reminds me in some ways of RuneScape/OldSchool RuneScape. Players mindlessly grind through Profession and Skill Levels as they make a mark on this world. There are several empires already growing in the game, and early on, I found myself joining one (Ygdrassil), and becoming a part of the community.

There's always something you can work on to be more efficient in BitCraft Online - but you can also just take it slow and easy (Image via Clockwork Laboratories)

Players awaken as a strange mystical being in an untamed wilderness, and have to survive everything it throws at them. You can found an empire, or simply work within one, or just play alone if you want. I think this is a game that will be much harder playing solo, because there are so many steps to crafting, and the deeper you go, the more resources you’re going to need.

This is definitely not a game that’s going to get easier the longer you play. BitCraft Online will only get harder, and I’m totally fine with that. I didn’t think I was going to get hooked on it quite the way I did, but every day since I received my review code, I’ve been logged in, grinding something or another.

Whether I’m making Ferralith Ingots, doing some fishing, or chopping down trees, I feel like I’m making progress, slowly but surely. I don’t have a house yet, but I do have an empire I can call home, and that’s a start.

You just have to wait sometimes, in BitCraft Online (Image via Clockwork Laboratories)

One thing I've definitely noticed is that BitCraft Online doesn't really have a lot of combat. If you go around into the wilderness at night, you might find some monsters to kill, but during the daytime, it's pretty rare. There is a combat system, but it's secondary to the game's crafting/survival aspects.

This is a relatively simple game at its core; it just requires a ton of grinding. When you're crafting and gathering actively, it drains a stamina meter. When that's out, you can eat something to both refill your Hunger meter (you take damage if your hunger hits 0) and get a buff that refills stamina faster.

Passive crafting (crafts that take a specific amount of time) don't drain stamina. You can go do something else while those slowly work on themselves. However, you can only have 10 of these projects going at a time, so you have to figure out which tasks are most important to you right now. Over time, you'll make higher-tier equipment and tools, which allow you to make better and better crafts.

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BitCraft Online has steps on steps on steps to craft even one item

In MMOs like World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy 14, you just need to get some easy resources and you can make an item. In BitCraft Online, there is typically what feels like four or five steps, or even more, to make even one item. Here’s a good example: I recently made a Ferralith Shield and Spear to improve combat. It requires

• 5 x Ferralith Ingots
• 1 x Rough Rope
• 1 x Rough Plank
• 1 x Rough Leather

It took quite a while to make this, but I felt like it was worth it. Those Jackyls won't know what hit them (Image via Clockwork Laboratories)

That sounds easy enough to farm, right? To get each one of those items, you have to either trade with another player, or do some serious gathering and crafting. Here’s what you need to do to get one of each of those items. The spreadsheet below goes from bottom to top and doesn’t account for the various crafting terminals you’ll need to use. That’s just the raw resources:

Ferralith Spear and Shield Ingredients
Ferralith Ingot x 5	Rough Rope x 1	Rough Plank x 1	Rough Leather x 1
Molten Ferralith x 5	Rough Cloth Strip x 1	Rough Stripped Wood x 1	Rough Tanned Pelt x 1
Ferralith Ore Concentrate x 5, Rough Wood Log x 5	Rough Spool of Thread x 1	Rough Wood Log x 3	Rough Cleaned Pelt x 1, Basic Tannin x 1
Ferralith Ore Piece x 10, Rough Wood Trunk x 2	Rough Plant Fiber x 40	Rough Wood Trunk x 1	Rough Raw Pelt x 1, Rough Tree Bark x 1, Water Bucket x 1
Ferralith Ore Chunk x 9	Rough Plant Roots x 1		Sagi Bird x 1, Empty Bucket x 1
			Rough Plank x 1

BitCraft Online has a very intricate crafting and gathering system, and it takes a lot of work. You can do it alone or with friends, and of course, it’s easier to divide up the labor; especially when building a settlement. Honestly, I don’t mind this system at all.

I just go one piece of the ingredients at a time, gathering what I need, and crafting it together. I do wish I had more inventory space, though. That would make it much easier. You do have a bank to use, but then you have to go back and forth, and that just adds more time.

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You can be a master of skills and professions, but it will take lots of time in BitCraft Online

It takes time, it takes patience. (Image via Clockwork Labortories)

BitCraft Online currently has 12 Professions and 6 skills. Professions involve Smithing, Carpentry, Fishing, and similar things. Skills are combat (Slayer), Construction, Cooking, the more complex tasks. Below is a list of everything you can work on during your time in the early access of BitCraft:

Professions

• Carpentry
• Farming
• Fishing
• Foraging
• Forestry
• Hunting
• Leatherworking
• Masonry
• Mining
• Scholar
• Smithing
• Tailoring

Life Skills

• Construction
• Cooking
• Merchanting
• Sailing
• Slayer
• Taming

These all require the proper tools, which means you need to make them yourself, or trade with someone who has them/has the resources to make them. Then, you use these talents to enhance your Skills.

For example, you use Mining, Smithing, Leatherworking, and Carpentry to make weapons and armor to kill enemies, for Slayer. Or you will use Carpentry, Leatherworking, Masonry, and Mining to work on Construction.

In my experience, Skills take much more effort to level up, and that makes sense. To improve in professions, you need to just do them. Skills require you to perform the tasks as well, but there are also NPCs who will give you tasks to complete. Completing those gives you Skill EXP and Hex Coins (Gold Coins, essentially).

Hey! Stop! Come back here! You... urgh... (Image via Clockwork Laboratories)

However, while I enjoy this system of grinding something to get better at it, there are some issues worth discussing, when it comes to professions specifically. Hunting might be the most frustrating thing in the entire game.

For context, there are small resources (Basic Raw Meat), and then there are large resources (Sagi Bird). You can only hold one large resource at a time right now that I’ve seen. If you have your cart/wagon with you, you can hold an extra 10. But you have to disconnect from the wagon, run down the Sagi Birds, shooting them with your bow, as they get farther and farther and farther away.

Then you loot the bird, and slowly walk back, putting it in your cart, and repeating this over and over again. It’s pure misery. They always spread so far away if there are multiples around, and the walking to get to each corpse is so frustrating.

In general, I find the whole “large resource” thing kind of grating, but I get it. I see so many of these types of resources just laying in the wilderness because people didn’t have room for them, and they went from being claimed, to just items anyone can pick up.

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Is there PVP in BitCraft Online?

This was taken during those dreaded 15 FPS days (Image via Clockwork Laboratories)

I feel like there will be at some point in BitCraft Online's future, but right now, I’ve seen no form of PVP. I do know that you can claim the Watchtowers of various Empires, to steal their land, but you power those Watchtowers with Hexcite Shards, which cost real money. I’ve heard you can also unlock them in game, but we all know it will be cheaper to buy them than to grind for them.

There is Dueling, which I believe is still on the way, and there will be some kind of PVP for Empire Sieges, I imagine. One of the downsides to a world that is fully editable is that players, with enough time and resources, can grief other empires/players.

You can terraform around their house, for example, and make it harder for them to get in and out. Players cannot change terrain in a claimed area, but you can still do things around it. Griefers will always find a way. I will say that so far, everyone has been very pleasant and helpful in BitCraft Online. I haven’t seen any empire combat yet, but the game and the world is still young.

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BitCraft Online is a cute, cozy game that’s constantly improving

If there's PVP yet, I haven't seen it. I have however seen daily quests (Image via Clockwork Laboratories)

I love the visual aesthetic of BitCraft Online, that’s for sure. It’s a charming look that fits in with the cozy gameplay. However, one issue I’ve had at the start was that, no matter what I did, I couldn’t get more than 15 fps, even on the lowest settings. This was baffling, with a 4080 Super and 64 GB of RAM.

However, an update, or something has come along that has fixed it. On Ultra, I get 60 FPS, and 90+ on Low. I don’t know what changed, but I’m so glad it did. Both versions of the game are enjoyable to look at, but there’s just a bit more to the world on Ultra.

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Final thoughts

So much to do, and plenty of time with which to do it in (Image via Clockwork Laboratories)

I love BitCraft Online. It’s not a game I need to put 100% of my focus on while I’m playing. I can do something else while items are being gathered and crafted, and then get right back to work. It’s got a solid playerbase of people who believe in this vision, and I’m certainly one of them.

I didn’t think I was going to enjoy the game quite as much as I do, because I’m not really into survival MMOs. However, I enjoy the relaxed, cozy feel of this one, and am going to continue to play it and see how it all develops. As someone who played a lot of skill-grinding MUDs, this really scratches that itch for me.

It’s a really great game to play while you’re doing other things, and that’s definitely not an insult. I often find myself doing lots of things at once. I’m probably writing something, or planning a piece, or just trying to relax and watch something on YouTube, and this is a perfect companion. Sure, it can be tedious and time-consuming, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.