Recently, we had the opportunity to try SamuTale, an open-world MMO that is currently in the alpha stages and available for the early access season.
Table of Contents
Alpha Key Giveaway
Giveaway Alert: Before we jump into the details of the game and our initial thoughts, we’d like to raffle off alpha keys. That’s right, the team at SamuTale was nice enough to provide us with a ton of keys and you can enter our giveaway for a chance to get one for free.
Recent Patch Trailer (with Gameplay)
In the most recent update of SamuTale, the developer has focused on the following:
- Updating the world map and trading post
- Adding new raiding mechanics
- Adjusting land flags for clans
- Adding new types of resources
- Adding more craftables
- And many more quality of life changes
What’s the scoop?
If you’ve never heard of SamuTale, let me give you the scoop. This sandbox MMO is all about surviving alongside other tiny samurais and wildlife that can threaten your existence. It’s a progression-based MMO with leveling for professions and more. You’ll set out to gather resources, craft items, farm crops, care for livestock, trade with others, challenge foes and build your empire. The endgame of SamuTale is focused on building up your village and pillaging others for their loot.
Game Features
Let’s take a closer look at all the major features of the game. That being said, the developer is highly active and more features are being developed as we speak.
Weapons and Armor
A samurai themed game means fun items like katanas and rice straw hats. Weapon crafting level one starts you out with a simple stick and progresses quickly through a variety of traditional Japanese weapons, including Great swords (Ōdachi). In addition to the weapons, players can craft traditional gathering tools such as hatchets, pickaxes, and hoes (the long-handled gardening tool, get your head outta the gutter!).
As far as clothing is concerned, players have the opportunity to craft two types of armor that not only gives a certain aesthetic but also provides your body with protection. Fibers from bushes can be crafted into cloth fabrics for tier-one armor. Tier-two armor is leather, so you’ll have to hunt down animals. All the higher-level clothing options are themed for the Samurai lifestyle, which is awesome.
Crafting and Building
Crafting is required to earn all the items in the game. Each item unlocks by progressing through the crafting tree. It’s not complicated, it simply requires resources and time. The same goes for building structures in the world. You have to progress and earn experience and levels via crafting the lower level items before getting to the top-tiered base structures, which are also Japanese-inspired structures.
Building in this game is less focused on building a base, but rather a creating a protected village for all your objects and loot. The building consists of houses, walls, and lookout towers. This differs from something like Rust or ARK where you have to use foundations, walls, ceilings in order to build a custom base. Housing in SamuTale uses pre-built structures that can be created by first unlocking it and having the appropriate resources.
Players in clans will have to place a Land Flag for their entire clan to have access to all their structures. Without the flag, houses, doors, and other various items are bound to a player and are automatically locked to protect from raiders. This is a new feature, previously you had to have the flag to lock up your goodies, now they are automatically locked. The Land Flag no w only serves the purpose of sharing your property with members of your clan.
Farming and Livestock
A new addition to the game is farming and breeding livestock. Players can now farm to earn gold and craft complex food. It’s pretty simple, you gather or purchase seeds, then hoe a plot of land and sow your seeds. All the crops grow at different paces and once they mature you can harvest to either consume or sell. For those looking for the best way to earn gold in SamuTale, we recommend farming Soybeans and Rice Seeds to sell to the merchants in the Okura Trading Post.
Livestock, chickens to be specific, have been added for players to catch, tame, and breed. Once you have a male and female, build a chicken coop to breed them. They will make babies and will eventually grow into adults. Feeding chickens requires a small trough, this is unlocked at level 25 of the Carpentry crafting tree. I’d say wait to catch them until you can feed them or else they will inevitably die.
Mounts
For those who hate traveling on foot, think about investing some money into a horse. There are currently three different types of horses ranging from 1,000 – 1,250 gold. At first, I thought it would be impossible to earn 1,250 gold without grinding for a couple of days. But after casually farming and selling for a couple of hours I was able to buy a horse. The trick is to protect your horse in your compound and build a trough to feed your companion.
PvE and PvP
The world is full of animals to kill and people to raid. Although we did find that the community of samurais to be very helpful and friendly. @noodle was carrying a chicken back to our base and a friendly player helped her get back without being attacked by the wildlife. That being said, there was chatter about bases being raided, so… best to keep one eye out for traitors.
Final Thoughts
After spending a whole afternoon playing SamuTale with @natalie we had a few thoughts.
Firstly, we actually had a blast building up our small village. If you enjoy farming, crafting and and staking claim to your own piece of land you will no doubt enjoy this game. Once we realized it was being developed by a solo developer we were really impressed with how polished the game was for the 0.2 release of the alpha.
Secondly, we made a list of changes we’d like to see in an upcoming patch. These issues are very minor and did not impact our gameplay, although, updates would improve the quality of life.
- Need to be able to look at the map while running.
- We were able to see into other players locked boxes.
- Stamina should be regened while walking and not just standing still.
Overall it was a great experience and unlike other alphas we didn’t experience lag or any game breaking issues. The game runs smooth and it has serious potential.
