Early access can be great. DayZ spent years in early access and was at the time an incredibly fun janky experience that myself and a lot of other players have fond, chaotic memories of. It’s neat to see how far it came, and the game that exists today wouldn’t be here without that process. Those memories of exploding legs and invisible zombies are worth something.

If you absolutely must have a finished game when you spend money, don’t pay for early access. Nobody’s forcing it on you. But for those who like the look of a project and want to help get it off the ground while also getting to participate in its early stages, it can be rewarding.

And yeah, there are going to be games that flop in early access, but there are also plenty of games that flop on official release. I’d take some unique and interesting jank over something polished but boring and uninspired any day.