Okay, maybe I am interested a little bit. Private servers are always a welcome addition to a game, especially online only games. At least if official servers shut down, I can run my own server and keep playing.

"Rentable" not self hosted

That's disappointing, but if you can turn off sandworm gear loss, maybe still worth it.

I hate that rentable but not self-hostable gaming servers have become a thing.

This game is developed by the same company that made Conan Exiles, which was a worthwhile purchase at $5 or even $20 for the Early Access but is a horrible buggy mess. They're just there for a cash grab and it'll be the same in this case as well.

I actually got Conan for my dad, he enjoyed playing it, but now he is into Helldivers 2. It was an okay game, but not my cup of tea personally.

I found in the beta that it is remarkably hard to get swallowed by the worm unless you're careless. I think the worm mechanic is just fine and adds a fun sense of danger to the game world.

My bf also played the beta, and there were lots of big areas to cross to do the main storyline where it's hard to avoid them. I feel like instant death with permanent inventory loss will lead to us not playing for very long, and it seems like a cool game, so I'm hoping to avoid that.

If you check the map before you go across you can find points where the distance is the shortest and you should be able get across fine, at least in the southern hagga basin. Also as far as potentially losing your stuff, it seems like reprinting all the basic equipment at base is a quick ordeal and doesn't take long to get the resources so I wouldn't be too gear-fearful unless you've found something rare while out and about. It's a bummer being eaten, but it's not the end of the world

I'm just surprised to hear a new game is releasing with the ability to create private servers baked in.

I enjoyed it, too, about 200 hours worth with my wife on it. It had multiple crashes, BattlEye was forced with it, and the whole model was set up to make people rent servers from their affiliated server company for like 20$/mo. There were plenty of servers paid for by people to choose from beyond the official ones, but again it's the same business model. Heard good things about Helldivers but I've been too busy to buy more games lately.