Virtual Pets Santae

I played Santae for a handful of months and while the updates are daily, there really hasn't been much of any substance added. Mostly just more items and cash shop stuff. Even the newer features are just reskins of the old features. What there is to do is locked behind hours long timers that you have to lower with items, but they have so many events that you're expected to use these items en masse to get anywhere with little time to breath or save up. They stated early on to be anti-FOMO, but in practice they seem to be more annoyed by that statement than anything. When users expressed burnout, the threads were deleted and the owner said the game wasn't about people's feelings. They were caught using AI art and retaliated against the whistleblowers before finally admitting it was true. As soon as the outrage started to die down and new users were coming in the post about the AI was unpinned in spite of people asking for it to stay up and the art still being used. When things start to get tough the owner goes on gift bombing sprees with emotional quotes and complaining that he can't have fun anymore without upsetting people and that just feels very manipulative.

Maybe Santae can give what they've promised eventually, but as it stands right now I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I think the owner should step back and let someone else do the PR and that rather than constantly berating users with events, just release small and consistent updates to build up the game's base as the rpg it was promised to be. In spite of thousands of users signing up for beta only a couple hundred are on at any given time.

Feel free to check out the available pet species and colors here, no account needed! Click me!

If you'd like to experience Santae for yourself, you're more than welcome to sign up with my referral link. You get access during this beta, and I'll send you some goodies to help get started!

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I've been a member of Santae for about 2 weeks now, and absolutely love it despite the listed cons. I've been a member of sites like Neopets, Gaia Online, Grundo's Cafe, and Subeta before this, but those all felt a bit dated after a while and I was glad to find something new. Just sad I missed the Kickstarter.

Santae has a lot of appeal with the art, the pets, and the community. It being pretty new and still in beta (at the time of writing), it makes it a lovely time to jump in. Not much has been missed joining now, and if you are into collecting like myself - they have a strong stance against retiring items permanently, which is a big relief.

Pets do not starve or get sad, so no need to worry about feeding them or them becoming depressed or sick. It really is a game you can play casually if you'd like, and there's no penalty for skipping days. The economy is in a decent state even with regular and premium currency, though trading and auctions have yet to implemented and could sway this later on. Questing is usually very fast and you can mindlessly do it with Youtube on if you'd like. Users can sell from their own shops, but you'll make decent currency just from quests even if you don't.

All of that being said, as stated in my cons it certainly is not perfect. There have been bad eggs in the community from time to time that have resulted in changes needing to be made, and the site can sometimes feel a little cluttered with the way the menu's are done - something that is actively being adjusted. Community events can go by a bit quickly, but they aren't impossible to finish or buy the rewards for by any means if missed. If Discord isn't your thing, it may feel a little isolating because the forums aren't as active as the server.

All of this being said, I'm having a ton of fun with Santae so far and don't see that stopping anytime soon.

Santae has absorbed my free time between work and chores. There's questing, herding, First Edition name gossiping, and fishing to do. A lot of the meta gameplay is on the beta Discord channels instead of on the site servers, but the potential is so palpable. Everyone is really positive and hoping for greatness out of this pet site. The ability to morph your pets at will with dusts (color palettes) or figurines (species AND color) grants a lot of flexibility without commitment FOMO. The collections on site do leave a bit of FOMO for figurines: need more sources for the non-magical toys that every player wants to have to 100% their profile. Beta updates are nightly, which shows the staff is determined to meet their roadmap that was laid out in the Kickstarter demands.

I am an alpha and beta tester of Santae, and wanted to share my thoughts