Satisfactory
In Vegas, there are people who remain mired in their own filth, rather than leave a slot machine they’re so sure is going to pay off any minute. I used to mock those people…then I bought Satisfactory and have become one of them. In fairness, Satisfactory actually does pay out, consistently.
I’ve never been so sucked into a game. When I first got it, I played through until just before nuclear tech, then managed to pause for a few weeks until Update 4 came out, then went nuts on it again. I thought it had run its course, and I could reintroduce myself to society…then Update 5 hit the experimental build.
– Real player with 495.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Automation Multiplayer Games.
I was pretty sure I’d spend 15-20 hours playing it. Which I did, right before update 5. 200+ hours later and I still can’t put it down. Every time I play the game I feel like I pick up a new way to do something and have to build yet another factory to test my theory.
At first I hated the xeno creatures that guard resources and drop pods, but now I actually kind of like that I can choose to go deal with them or not. Chasing down some xenos and hunting for pods or clearing resource nodes is a good break from building on occasion.
– Real player with 258.2 hrs in game
Factory Defense
Jabo sends an expedition of humanoid robots to a planet identical to Earth for the purpose of taking it over and building a huge industrial factory there. But it’s not all that simple, because not only does Jabo want to take over the planet, the rival company Toady has similar plans. Toady regularly sends assault ships to land their troops to drive their competitors off the planet and destroy their factory. Your task is to protect the factory at all costs and take over the planet!
RESEARCH
Earn experience by killing enemies, Pump up your research tree to get more powerful weapons! Send resources to your company with the railgun to get new mechanisms and buildings! Explore the open world and find various components!
DEFEND
Set up turrets, artillery, air defenses and other defensive structures, devise tactics, team up with your friends, pick up your weapons and destroy the enemy!
BUILD
You’ll have to build various mechanisms to create the items you need to evolve. Over time you will unlock new, more complex structures and items, so you will have to expand your factory and think carefully about its design.
Read More: Best Automation Tower Defense Games.
PoliPlanet
Your galaxy is a blank slate; An untamed wilderness full of potential! Travel from planet to planet and develop each one into a beautiful village, town, or city through the use of machines and crafting!
Physics-Based Interaction
Actions in PoliPlanet are generally completed by interacting with the physical world rather than through the use of menus and UI. Whether it’s gathering resources, loading machines, or planting trees, it’s all done in real time and space.
Free-Form Building
No grids, no point & click. Whether it’s a segment or a complete structure, you’re free to build wherever and however you want. Let your creativity flourish!
Real Relationships
Citizens in PoliPlanet are not mindless NPCs who follow a predetermined set of instructions. They build complex relationships with the player and each other. Treat them well!
Natural Progression
As you develop your skills, you’ll learn more about the resources at your disposal and gain the ability to craft bigger and better structures and machines. As your planets become more inviting, NPCs will begin take notice. If they like them enough, they might even fly over in their rocket ship and take up residence! But of course, everyone is different. A merchant might want to see a few other citizens living on your planet before they’re willing to set up shop. They need someone to sell to after all!
Elaborate Procedural Generation
Each planet is unique, with its own resources and features! So what if your citizens are requesting some plant life on your sandy, desert planet? Well, it’s off to your spaceship to search for a shiny new planet, lush with trees and plants! But how will you get them back to your civilization? Rockets? An overly complicated tube system? Build a transportation robot who exists solely to carry out your every request? It’s up to you!
Read More: Best Automation Building Games.
Dyson Sphere Program
Easily my game of the year. In my decades of gaming, never have I encountered a game this satisfying.
It’s basically Factorio in space, but there are 2 major differences: the end goal, and the visuals.
In Factorio, your goal is to launch a rocket.
In DSP, it’s to plan and build your very own fully customizable Dyson sphere.
Factorio’s moment-to-moment gameplay is a bit more engaging and interesting, but as soon as you put your first solar sail into orbit around your home star, you’ll know this game is something special.
– Real player with 649.4 hrs in game
Pros:
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Visually stunning
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Straightforward tech & production graph
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Planets
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Strip mining planets
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Good early to mid game performance
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Feels more accessible than Factorio or Satisfactory
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Modding (can help with the cons below)
Cons:
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Late game performance and file sizes can become horrible
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Tedious editing of the titular Dyson Sphere
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Boring and repetitive placing of mining equipment and factories late game
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Not much replay value beyond going for certain achievements
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Late game is practically waiting for hours for research/mining/achievement progress
– Real player with 577.4 hrs in game
Factorio
The absolute gold standard in factory games, standing out as the exemplar of smooth progression curves, options out the ears, gameplay that keeps the “one more turn” itch going and developers that care far beyond selling copies. To elevator pitch this one, “If you can do it, you can automate it.”
To describe Factorio by only using games that preceded it feels like an exercise in futility. The concept was born from Minecraft mods, but it feels unfair to compare the two or make the Terraria reference (this, but in 2D). So, taken on its own, Factorio is a game where you play an engineer who is trying to escape the situation they are in by building a rocket. But since the refining and assembling of material components for that sort of thing is unfeasible by yourself, you must build a factory to automate the process. Along the way you must research concepts and upgrades for the planet you are on, mine resources and deal with the locals (in the form of giant insects).
– Real player with 3172.1 hrs in game
I read a comment by a user saying “If you enjoy creating your own problems and solving them this is for you.” and he was bang on the money.
tl;dr
The knock-on effect caused by dependencies across an entire production chain will drive you nuts and it’s this that makes you play and I mean MAKES you play. Sleep is not an option.
Factorio
Engineers rejoice. Learn Technology, Automation and Efficiency in one easy to learn package. No? Seriously. this is a hard game to put down.
– Real player with 1654.2 hrs in game
Astro Colony
Astro Colony is an endless simulation focused on exploration, automation and management.
Traverse the universe full of unexpected events and discover unknown grounds.
Construct unique transport systems using conveyor belts and pipes.
Recruit new Astronauts and fulfill their needs by providing food and shelter.
Research over 70 unique technologies to progress in colony development.
Move stations, dock them and create a galaxy network no one have seen before!
But be aware, the danger is lurking around the corner!
Atrio: The Dark Wild
It’s still very early access but this is a fun game! I was in the mood for a new base-builder game when I found the demo for Atrio. I liked it enough that I bought the game on day one. I’ve sinked a few hours into the game and I am loving it. It’s like Factorio and Don’t Starve had a cute baby.
Right now I’m playing in story mode. I’ve reached the end of chapter 1 (which is as far as the story goes right now), but I’m still building out my base in preparation for when the next chapter comes out. I have almost everything automated and almost everything researched (that’s available right now). Once I’ve done everything I can do in the story mode I’ll switch over to free mode and see if I can take it further.
– Real player with 34.6 hrs in game
I love making your own factory and the fact that you can make it longer, shorter, and it works the way you want 100% but 4 parts really bugging me is the bees just stand still and group up for hours unless your blow them up, the chests can be very little and take up alota space, its little but kinda anoying when you have to make 3 blocks touching the water for it to work, and the worst part is the deers wont stop stealing your glowbubs and making poos everywhere its anoying when you cant make them run away but other than that i would love 1-4 players that would be really cool since its simple and fun and you have so many tasks you can help your friends out
– Real player with 18.0 hrs in game
Demonsions: Industry
As one of the first reviewers of this game, I should offer my personal experience and opinion of the game here.
The game is VERY EARLY ALPHA PROTOTYPE; this is obviously incomplete and anyone expecting a full game right now is out of their mind.
That being said, lets get down to basics: The game seems to be a very interesting concept of voxel mining and machine making using different materials for different looks; however as of right now it just looks different from what I can tell. Response times to bug reports are astoundingly fast, even on Steam which is not their main contact point for reporting said things, though there are still quite a few bugs that need to be ironed out. This may also have been caused by the fact that my desktop is very old.
– Real player with 5.4 hrs in game
This game is early but it looks like it will be really really good, I like it already but yeah it will just keep getting better!
– Real player with 3.8 hrs in game
The Planet Crafter
From Hostile to Habitable
You are sent on an hostile planet with one mission: Make it habitable for Humans. You’ll have to survive, collect resources, build your base and machines in order to heat the planet, create an atmosphere with enough oxygen and eventually geo-engineer an entire planet!
Survive, Collect, Craft
Gather minerals and resources to survive. Craft all the tools you’ll need in order to fulfill your mission. Explore old crashed ships and ruins and discover a planet full of mystery.
Build you own base
You’ll need a base and all sorts of machines to make yourself at home, and be able to bring life on this planet!
Key Features:
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Character Thirst, Oxygen, Temperature, Health Mechanics
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Base Building
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Crafting
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Mining ores
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Build machines to create atmospheric pressure
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Build machines to heat the planet
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Create a biosphere with oxygen
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Create life on a planet !
FortressCraft Evolved!
I play every 4x/base building game that comes out. In almost every game, I find myself wishing that X would be automated in some way. Such as, hiring bots, employees, or machines to do marketing, sales, shipping… whatever the task happens to be in the context of the game, and I’m invariably let down every, single, time. No developer has ever gotten this workflow right. In fact, some even argue that too much automation takes away “work” from the game. I’ve hand delivered X item to X person 100 times now; Why do I have to keep doing this same damn mission over and over Elite Dangerous? I literally can’t hire a space mailman to deliver packages? I gotta do it myself? Jesus.
– Real player with 5700.5 hrs in game
I recieved Fortresscraft Evovled in a Indiegala bundle when it looked to me like a minecraft clone. I didn’t get the bundle for this game, but for another one but I’m glad I did! I didn’t play it until I saw direwolf20 had a let’s play on it, and the name sounded familiar. I’d recommend watching his let’s play or at least part of it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTQQ6lLtL04&list=PLaiPn4ewcbkH0rlPVUYSR1QmkDe8jFGv8
What the game is
Fortresscraft is
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95% logistics
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4% Tower defence
– Real player with 1024.3 hrs in game