Petit Planet First Impressions: A Promising Life Simulation But Stuck in the Story

Petit Planet is Hoyoverse's latest venture, aiming to enter and dominate the relaxing life simulation genre. I had been closely following its development, and Hoyoverse finally gave me a chance to try it out this week. After playing Petit Planet for a while, I must say I left with mixed feelings.

The game offers a lot in the genre but is also limited in many ways. Some of these limitations could be disastrous depending on the target audience. Here are my early impressions based on the second closed beta version of Petit Planet.

Painfully Slow Start Filled with Endless Dialogues

My biggest issue with Petit Planet starts right from the beginning of the game. Instead of following a more fluid structure like most life simulation games, Petit Planet restricts players with unnecessary dialogue sequences and cutscenes. Yes, games like Honkai Star Rail, Honkai Impact 3rd, Genshin Impact, or Zenless Zone Zero prioritize story, and rightly so.

However, the same cannot be said for Petit Planet, which is expected to fall under the relaxing life simulation category. For the first 2-3 hours, unless you try to skip the boring dialogues, the game imposes restrictions on what you can do. Everyone wants a bit of tutorial content, but an instructional experience filled with dialogues that lasts this long is definitely not entertaining. If I had to sum it up in one word, I would say "embarrassing."

The same feeling applies to the neighbors I have met in the game so far. Neighbors are sentient animals that act as your friends and caretakers in your world. Each may have a distinct personality, but almost all of them go into a blushing crisis in every dialogue, which was quite disturbing.

Considering that Petit Planet positions itself for a younger audience, I can't imagine a child from this generation listening to all these dialogues. This generation spends most of its time on Roblox, and popular games often throw you into deep waters and allow you to explore. Games like Grow a Garden or Garden Horizons did exactly that, and I prefer this type of gameplay when it comes to relaxing life simulators.

Simplicity That Makes Everything Mundane

Another major complaint I have about Petit Planet is how simple all its mechanics and mini-games are. The game offers a variety of mechanics, from farming and fishing to catching bugs. However, most of these mechanics feel very simple or mundane. This might be a personal problem I have with the game and may not apply to everyone.

Let's take fishing as an example. Fishing in Petit Planet consists of throwing the hook at a fish visible in the water and pressing the left mouse button when the bait is caught. That's it. There’s no additional mini-game, no rapid button pressing, or pulling at the right speed. While this may make fishing easier, I lose the sense of accomplishment I expect when fishing in such games. When the sense of achievement disappears, it just becomes a chore, which is not my definition of fun.

Now, Animal Crossing also has a similar fishing system. Therefore, I don't think players who enjoy games like Animal Crossing will be really affected by this situation. However, I personally prefer fishing mechanics and the sense of achievement found in games like Stardew Valley, which keeps you engaged in the life simulator for a longer time.

However, the cooking system is a really well-designed feature. There’s a ‘discover on your own’ mode that allows you to experiment with different ingredients. This was something I genuinely enjoyed during my playtime. I hope Hoyoverse adds more distinct and challenging mini-games to the game before the official release.

Where Petit Planet Truly Shines

While the initial part of my impressions highlighted the game's issues, Petit Planet has some strong foundational aspects for a relaxing life simulation. The game definitely looks cute. I believe Petit Planet is currently the best-looking life simulation on the market. The strongest point of the game is the incredible freedom it offers in customization.

The game allows you to customize your planet, along with its flora and fauna, and all other visual elements. But if you get bored of your planet, you can always move to another planet and start rebuilding there. However, so far, I have only had the chance to experience two planets, so I cannot comment on how much versatility we can expect in the official version of the game. While it may not be as good as Minecraft farms, the game does a decent job in this regard.

On the other hand, I felt that character customization was a bit lacking at the start, with limited hairstyles and other features. However, as the game opens up, you find great costumes that completely change your appearance.

Home customization is the real crown jewel, and most of the time you will spend in this game will be here. Not only your own home but also your neighbors' homes. Anyone who enjoys building homes and interior designing in life simulators will have fun with Petit Planet.

In addition to customization, Petit Planet offers many multiplayer features that could really stand out in the future. The game includes a multiplayer hub where you can meet other players and participate in fun activities together.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to test these because I got stuck on the matchmaking screen every time I tried during the early access period. Still, the concept looked fun, and I can imagine what Hoyoverse could add to truly revitalize the multiplayer aspect of the game.

A Promising Life Simulation That Forgets How the Genre Works

Overall, Petit Planet has a solid foundation that could make it a very fun game at launch. Hoyoverse generally has the ability to release mediocre games and then update them with good features and mechanics to establish dominance in the genre. However, I would prefer the developers to focus less on storytelling and lore for Petit Planet and more on the mechanics in the game.

While Petit Planet seems to have all the right components needed to be a good life simulation game, it fails in the areas where the genre is strongest. The essence of a life simulation is to give players the freedom to choose what they want to do and celebrate that freedom, not to constantly hold their hand and guide them. So far, Petit Planet has very little of this aspect, which is a bit concerning for me.

In a life simulation, a basic set of early tasks is sufficient – more starts to feel unnecessary. The story has its place, but not when it overshadows the mechanics and the freedom that define the genre.

Are you excited to play Petit Planet at launch? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.