Been playing it for 14 hours now. Haven't played Rust because not a fan of the guns vs rocks.
What I like about it:
- Pretty graphics
- Some nice ambient sounds --birds chirping, the ocean, thunder (think DayZ)
- Build castles
- Claim Territory by placing a banner in your building -- others cant build in your borders (nice so people can't hop your walls)
- Survival - forage for food, get water, hunt animals
- The King - one person in the server can be a king by claiming the throne - they can be overthrown of course. The king gets to set taxes that other players pay as they gather materials, high taxes really motivate people to overthrow the king, but also make it a lot harder for to collect materials.
- Proximity voicechat
- When you log out you turn into a "Sleeper", ie your avatar is replaced with a guy in a sleeping bag and people can kill you if they can reach you. So log out in the safety of your territory or find a really good hiding place.
- You can tie people up with rope and imprison them or send them to the gallows
- You can make crossbows, bows, siege equipment
- Weapons, armor, and blocks are all tiered (wood, leather, stone, iron, steel | dirt, grass, clay, wood, stone, stone slab)
-It's possible for someone with a starter weapon (a driftwood club) to beat someone with late game armor and weapons if they are good at blocking and maneuvering.
What I don't like about it
- The combat is like Chivalry - good thing is you can block and there is a stamina bar. But many fights end up as run around the person hitting or kiting. You can choose which way you swing horizontally, but it's purpose is more so you don't hit a wall or tree while you swing. No directional blocking.
- Very little inventory space and the containers chests are quite small too.
Not many negatives. I've only had one game breaking bug occur in 14 hours. A couple smaller bugs. It's a fun game and for $20 bucks I've already got my moneys worth.
Today two knuckleheads tried to break down my gate. I stood on my wall shooting arrows at them. One guy managed to double jump (it's possible to do against blocks) on to my wall and began running around my base. I ran behind him slashing him with my 2h steel axe. After he was dealt with I went back to the 2nd guy still hacking away at my gate and asked him to leave. He demanded a fair fight so I obliged and engaged him in a duel. After a few well time blocks and swings, he was dispatched as well.
Went back inside and made myself a chicken leg. Good game.