Horizon Journey Early Access Review – Needs More Time

Horizon Journey is the latest open-world survival game to land on Steam Early Access on January 30, 2026, developed by Redivided Studios. Taking us to the dusty red plains of Mars in the year 2053, you play as part of the 17th Endeavor mission. Marketed as a Valheim on Mars which is a solid premise, the current build can be played solo or co-op with friends, but it feels like it needs a bit more time in the oven before it’s ready for a full colonization effort.

The tutorials are genuinely helpful which has you collecting resources, getting a rover operational with a new battery, deconstructing derelict base components and rebuilding a safe have, and managing your oxygen and water stats. Water depletes extremely fast, faster than I was used to from similar games. I was running back to base and suddenly fell to the floor, all my loot spewing all over the martian surface, and me respawning back at base. There was no explanation as to what happened, other than noticing my status bars were all back to 100%.

In terms of gameplay balance, Horizon Journey feels a little too forgiving right now. Ore and essential resources are scattered all over the surface, making them trivial to find. It reminded me quite a bit of how Dual Universe handled its early resource gathering. While it’s great for building quickly, it saps a bit of the tension out of the survival experience. When you don’t have to venture into the unknown or dig deep for rare materials, the sense of accomplishment for finishing a base isn’t quite as high as it could be.

Unfortunately, the technical state of the game is where things get a bit rocky. Even on a decent gaming rig, the experience is quite chuggy. I ran into frequent frame rate drops and stuttering, particularly when moving between base modules or driving the rovers across the Martian surface. The rover also suffers hard if you are trying to go up a steep ascent. I tended to have to drive up the hill at a zig-zag angle rather than trying to go straight up it. The character animations are still very stiff, and the UI can feel a bit unresponsive at times. It’s early days, but the optimisation definitely needs to be a priority for the devs moving forward through early access.

On early access, the developers have stated, “We expect Early Access to last around 6 to 12 months. During this time, we will keep updating regularly. If we need more time to hit the level of quality we want, we will take it. The full version is planned to include:
– Sandbox Mode with open exploration on Mars
– A completed Story Mode
– Terraforming expanded throughout Early Access, with complete terraforming planned for later during Early Access
Along with ongoing improvements to performance, stability, progression, and content.”

Horizon Journey has all the right ingredients for a great sci-fi survival game, but it’s currently held back by its technical chugginess. The tutorials provide a decent guided introduction to the game and the trailer and screenshots on the Steam page show some great promise, but right now the world needs a bit more work to make the survival elements feel meaningful. Performance varied amongst us but overall was a bit of a chuggy experience and felt sluggish to move and drive at times. If you’re a fan of the genre, it’s worth keeping an eye on, but most players might want to wait for a few more patches to smooth out the ride. We are keen to see the game develop further through early access and no doubt will jump back in progressively to see how it’s taking shape.

This early access review utilised keys provided by Big Games Machine and Horizon Journey is currently available on Steam early access.

#roundtablecoop