its pretty good. avoided most of the enemies by jumping over them. found some pretty sweet loot/weapons in a few chests in the mining facility on the first planet.
I haven't played since before 1.0.
I should start by saying that I'm a massive Terraria fan, and feel they really nailed the combat in that game.
In StarBound, I have to say, the combat was awful. The enemies would all one- or two-shot me, even with appropriate level gear.
But... with a ranged weapon I could use terrain and exploit the hell out of the AI, so I did.
Mine all the ore you need for progression, move up to the next tier, mine the ore... make your gear... avoid being hit at all costs. Play the game like a bullet hell game... shoot thinks and avoid things.
In the end there are problems that mean I'll never like the game like I liked Terraria.
1. Too many worlds, you run through each of them in 10 mins then on to the next. No incentive to build on any of them.
2. Combat is awful. "It's a crawly thing! Look at its- oh, I'm dead." Guess I'll use ranged weapons and nothing else from now until forever.
3. 100s of worlds sure.. but once you've seen 5 you've seen them all. Pallet swaps aren't impressing me!
4. Boredom sets in fast due to repetition. Like, after world 3.
5. Oh, is that a pallet swap of the same creature I've seen on the last four worlds? Pallet swaps are great, aren't they.
6. This world has pink tress instead of brown? And... that's it?
7. All this gear and I still get one-shot.
8. I can go back to the first planet and actually survive a few hits now! I'm only five tiers over-geared for it! So sadly there's nothing there worth gathering. Hmm.
I don't know why I numbered that list. That's just how it is tho.
StarBound is shallow, repetitive, doesn't draw me in, doesn't make my invest in it. The combat should be easy to get right, but they've had years and it always sucks each time I try it.