RUST Critic Reviews

Rust is a brutal game, an intense and often sadistically punishing hell with a great potential and a new look.

Rust goes where no other survival game has and provides an incredibly threatening experience that, like a car accident, is equal parts horrifying and mystifying.

For those who are willing to put the time in and stick with it, Rust provides both a social sandbox and a deep, functioning crafting system. At times, it feels like anything is possible in Rust; like witnessing players double-crossing one another or stumbling upon a small sheet metal city in the desert.

Rust is a malicious experience rife with betrayal, cruelty and greed. That can make it both frustrating and sublime in equal doses.

Rust is still as addictive as it was. Maybe, because of its early success, we expected more from it, and in that case it can be disappointed. It still needs to be polished and improved, but at its core, Rust is a great crafting and survival game.

Rust is a true survival game phenomenon. There's no other game like this with equally fierce and aggressive community. The gameplay is a unique experience that makes you feel and think primal, therefore it's not a title for everyone. The thrill may be addictive, but it's not a game that can be played for several hours a day.

For competitive players who want a mix of survival and crafting, Rust is the best there is; for everyone else, there are plenty of other games.

PvP-heavy survival game for gamers resistant to frustration, with weaknesses in construction and discovery.

At the center of Rust lurks something fascinating, with the Wild-West sense of lawlessness and the exploration of trust and betrayal that emerges when trying to survive. Yet Rust’s habit of tripping over its own feet makes it difficult to get to those fascinating stories. As the survival genre continues to mutate and create compelling experiences generate exciting player-driven stories regularly with little frustration, even Rust’s most compelling feature feels sadly archaic.

Despite having spent four years in Early Access the game is still very far from being finished.

Its lack of survival depth and inclination to only reward time served instead of clever play saps whatever life it might have had to give.

I should also emphasise that for every memorable interaction you’ll have with another player, there’ll be many where you’re just killed. Rust is a strange, harsh game that’s worth exploring – but only certain parts of it, and only for so long. I’ll never commit to constructing my own fortress, but I’ll happily knock on the door of one belonging to another player.