Recent reviews by Moving Target

I have played 530 hours in HF1 and more than twice that in HF2 despite it having fewer furniture items, jobs, properties or Steam workshop mods (which it won't be getting due to cross platform limitations)
So why have I spent so many more hours playing a game with apparently fewer features than its predecessor?
1. Item customisation - being able to change the texture, pattern and colour of almost every item of furniture and then simply copy and paste that custom finish to other items of a similar type makes the currently limited choices seem vastly bigger.
2. Wall/floor finishes - select paint, wood, tile, fabric, wallpaper or metal, change the the pattern, colour or even texture of your finish then put it on the wall or floor any way you want, no need to find the perfect tile trim for your kitchen in the workshop, just make your own.
3. Jobs/properties (story mode) - a limited number of them atm but more being added in free updates, jobs are fun to do with their own little stories (also they are repeatable) after which you can purchase most of them as a property to flip as many times as you like, no buyer feedback as yet but it is coming soon.
4. Jobs/properties (sandbox mode) - I think this is where the game shines and why I have played for so many hours. While jobs and properties are limited in story mode there are THOUSANDS of player creations to download from within the game or directly from the mod.io site, or, even more fun, create your own jobs/properties for others to enjoy. It takes a while to master the art of making your own content but is well worth the effort.

Finally the DEVS are listening to player requests via their feedback website on canny.io, post your request for the improvements you'd like to see in the game or up-vote other player's ideas if you agree with them, a lot of player suggestions have already been incorporated with more in the pipeline.
To really get the most from this game a little imagination and effort is needed from the player but if you do you won't regret it!

Considering this game is being developed by one person he is doing a great job, bear in mind it is EARLY ACCESS so is not fully fleshed out yet but the planned additions could make this an awesome game. If you like organising, planning and designing the perfect layout and don't mind the current repetitiveness of the tasks this game will scratch that itch. I am eager to see where this game goes but I know I will need to be patient, if you can live with that then this game is worth every penny it costs and more!

FINAL EDIT: The Devs are no longer supporting this game but it is still FULL of bugs, some of which have been around since release. This is ABANDONWARE you have been warned!
EDIT 2:
A year on and this game is still FULL of bugs despite denials from the Devs, the Forum is dead indicating I am not the only one who gave up on this game, it has been reduced in price in what looks to be an effort to grab as much cash as this developer can (no free content additions unless tied to PAID DLCs which are just sad furniture packs) - it's abandonware DO NOT BUY!
EDIT:
11th April - Well the THIRD patch released today and I was hoping I would be able to revise my review and give it a thumbs up but sadly not, NONE of the most frequently reported bugs have been addressed as the Devs saw fit to concentrate on spelling mistakes, localisations, controller support and a few of the less common bugs .............OH! I nearly forgot and a SECOND PAID DLC!! The Devs need to fix this broken game before adding more content and trying to get more money from its already disgruntled customers.

This game should be in Early Access and priced accordingly, it is full of bugs and glitches that the Devs are struggling to fix, some of them should have been spotted before the game was even released and others are still there and can be game breaking.
The majority of this game requires you to style rooms to fit customers requirements regarding colour and yet before the SECOND patch the colour palette was over-saturated and the majority of carpet colours appeared white, how was this not spotted BEFORE release? Even now the choice is not as big as it could be because everything is just a crude RGB recolour resulting in some ugly looking textures.
The reason I have so many hours in this game is because:
(A) I had to restart because of a game breaking bug that prevented me from progressing to the next 'quest'
(B) Random 'events' constantly interrupt you while you are trying to decorate and finish a room and cannot be turned off in 'story mode' (and since patch 2 you can't even turn off the tutorial in Sandbox mode either so that seems to be broken now)

Random events are too frequent requiring you to stop what you are doing on floor 2 for example, ride the lift down to floor 1 (long loading time) check a room for a burst pipe, ride the lift down to the ground floor (another long loading time) run down to the basement and press and hold 'E' to turn a wheel, ride the lift back up to floor 1 (loading time again) and clean up the mess in the room you just left, after all that you can go back to what you were doing on floor 2 (if you can remember what that was)
Other exciting events include playing a dice game with a chicken! This involves heading off to the correct corridor (more fun times in the lift) and pressing 'E' to roll a dice to see if you can roll higher than the chicken, no skill required, just press 'E' and wait for the cut scene to play out to see who won, five times you do this and 99% of the time the chicken wins the game (like who cares)
You can be called to the lift to 'fix' it (hold 'E' to hit it with a crowbar), or turn the electricity back on (go to basement and hold 'E'), or clean up mud in the lobby (hold 'E' while you have a broom in your hand), the hardest is capturing a ghost in good old ghostbusters style, buy and place down a ghost trap then wait for it to get near you, catch it with your hoover (you've guessed it - press and hold 'E') and guide it to the ghost trap, and the list goes on........................
'Special Guests' are even more fun, you can at least choose to ignore these and are probably well advised to do so as they want you to cater to their very odd requests (I ignored all but one of them), a cowboy who wants to keep his horse in your lobby and of course you need to supply a couple of enormous hay bales so it doesn't starve. A fisherman who wants a tent and a sleeping bag placed in the room you so lovingly decorated. Another guest can infest your hotel with iguanas causing bad smells. The only one I did was a woman who wanted a dog bowl and pet bed in her room because you get a lovely reward, a very pink painting of her pet which isn't even unique, you can just buy it from your paintings list which is easier. Then there are a whole slew of guests who want their rooms repainted or special items placed in them, all of these guests seem to be padding to stretch the game out.

There are still bugs in this game that are annoying but not game breaking, a pile of old newspapers in the restaurant that can be trashed but reappear every time the room loads in, an old piano which is part of a quest but cannot be trashed afterwards even though it looks like it was dragged in from the local dump and, I'm not sure if this is a bug or a badly executed game mechanic, a swimming pool that has a line of beds, statues and books spawn in every time the room loads (game says people throw trash in there sometimes - doesn't look like trash)
My biggest hate in this game are the NPCs, it's nice to have the hotel populated but NOT with these NPCs. They look like a cheap, low poly paid for asset, and when I say low poly I mean LOW, there are only about 6 or 7 models used (apart from special guests who don't appear again after their quest line is done) so your lobby is full of twins, triplets, quadruplets...........worse still the women all look like hookers (one has no eyes) and the men look as if they are waiting to start a turf war or sell drugs to the hookers.
These lovely people swarm the lobby every time you enter it and get in the way if you are trying to decorate, they walk in tight little circles in the lift, get stuck in the lift walls (make sure which button you press if a hooker is stuck in there), they float above the reception desk and chairs, walk through doors in the corridors and just generally spoil the atmosphere.

I have many more ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ about this game but I think I've said enough, was it worth the money? No, not really, it feels too much like an EA game and should carry a price tag to reflect that. Does it have content after you finish the main 'story line'? Well sort of, you can add more floors and decorate more rooms but with all the interruptions you get that loses its appeal.

Should you still buy it? Just go to the discussions page and read the comments there and that should make up your mind for you.

Having read some of the negative reviews it seems people say they can't get into the game, that is because it has a long grey loading screen on startup and any mouseclicks will crash it, be patient and you will be rewarded.
Once into the game you start at a pre-built base which is fine while you get started but the Devs have provided a completely bare island (Sliceland) just waiting for you to move into once you are ready. There is no guide as yet so you won't have your hand held as you learn the game but there is an active community and any questions/problems you have are usually answered very quickly.
If you love exploring, crafting, creating, saving animals and killing mutants then this could be the game for you, considering it is EA there is a huge world already in existance with much, much more promised. From the African Savannah to snow covered mountains and arid Deserts to lush forests there is so much to explore that even after playing for 200+ hours I am still finding new places I missed on earlier visits.
The Devs are very active and responsive, serious bugs are fixed in extremely quickly (in a matter of hours sometimes) less serious bugs/player requests are incorporated into regular and frequent up-dates.
Loading screens between the various areas can take a while and the game can be a bit choppy when you first arrive but it soon smoothes out, just make sure your PC meets the minimum requirements (8GB of RAM is a 'must have')
Overall this game is awesome and only promises to get better.

UPDATE:
After more than a year playing Animallica and with over 900 hours of playing time I am loving this game even more.
The amount of new content added since my last review is outstanding with the Devs meeting and often exceeding on promises, new biomes to explore, new animals to capture, the introduction of farming settlements and craftable vendor shops, not to mention loads of new craftable items both decorative and functional.
A lot of content was added at the request of players such as free placing of items, the ability to resize some objects, being able to give names to individual animals...........the list goes on.
There is still so much more to come and yet for an EA title the game already has more content and playability than some already in full release.
PROS:
A massive sandbox game with endless hours of playability (so well worth the price)
Responsive and active Devs who go above and beyond to give players what they want
Frequent updates and fast bug fixes (often within hours of being reported)
A friendly, helpful and non-toxic forum where the Devs are active almost daily
CONS:
Really does need a high end PC to run smoothly
Still needs some more optimisation (planned for future update)
Combat is not the best but is improving (also it isn't a huge part of the game anyway)
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT BEFORE BUYING:
Your character is female and not customisable but as play is in First Person Mode it is pretty irrelevant.
The tutorial is very basic and there are no quests, so no hand holding when you start. The forums more than make up for this (plus there is a wiki and a Discord channel)
There is no multiplayer option and none is planned although the possibility of co-op hasn't been ruled out.
If you want a polished, bug free game then wait until it goes into full release but, if you want to be part of an active community, helping the Devs realise their dreams as well those of the players then this is the game for you.
WOULD I BUY IT AGAIN:
Yes, at twice the price it would be worth every penny!