uFactory
I believe someone already said somewhere that uFactory feels like what we would get after Factory and BigPharma had a baby. As much as I enjoyed both of those games, uFactory feels like it hits the sweet spot for me in many ways. With the limited space and funds, maximising every level is super satisfying and with the products of your factory being so different every time, it feels fresh and it doesn’t get boring at all (awesome way to prevent having to do the same thing at the start over and over again).
– Real player with 146.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Real-Time Strategy Games.
uFactory is well worth the price! I appreciate the method the game uses to coach you through the required machinery and resources. Too many games these days give you a play-by-play walk through and ruin the challenge. Let me elaborate, you are required to look through a “Manual” which presents the information as if it were taken as notes and sketched in a notebook. This information will guide you on what order to set up your machinery and what resources are required. Figuring out how to deliver said resources at the proper time can be quite challenging! After you have spent hours playing and have mastered the art of delivering resources and parts at the proper time, you can then spend hours upon hours tweaking your factory to higher and higher efficiencies. uFactory also contains some “Hard modes” by allowing you to process raw resources into more elaborate components that would be simply bought in “Easier mode”. I happen to be an Automation Engineer in profession and have found the game quite entertaining yet challenging. If you are a perfectionist as I am, you will enjoy hours of fun tweaking your factory until you cannot squeeze any additional production or profit from it. I recommend this game and am eagerly awaiting expansions/updates! As for cons… At this time, the game is in early access and a few achievements are not working correctly. And, of course, you are bound to find a few bugs. However, if you save often, I have not found any game-breaking bugs, and I have been able to complete all scenarios without major issue. Good luck!
– Real player with 65.7 hrs in game
Time Bandit – Part 1: Appendages of the Machine
A Game That Takes Time
A dark life sim that unfolds slowly in real time, with an unusual combination of elements from idle, stealth, and puzzle genres.
Make your choices carefully, because everything you start will take time to finish–just like in real life. Place down one of these automated forklifts to push a box for you, for example, and it’ll take an actual half an hour to finish moving it:
You’ll just have to go and do other stuff and come back later.
You work as an independent contractor for a mining company, but soon you discover they’re trying to take control of time in order to make you work for them forever. Manage your money, fuel, and energy while slowly solving puzzles to collect the time crystals and then pull off high-stakes stealthy heists to steal back from your employer.
Featuring tons of real-time game mechanics:
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Move boxes, grow trees, build bridges, and compact trash–and wait for them to finish.
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Different guard rotations and different consequences for getting caught depending on the time of day when you play.
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A story that unfolds slowly through conversations that work like real-life phone calls. Characters will only call you periodically to advance the story over the course of days and weeks of playtime.
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Your energy meter goes down while you play, and it takes up to 8 real-time hours of good sleep to fill it up all the way.
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Meet characters at the actual meeting times that you set with them.
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Real-time dynamic music.
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And much more.
A Story of Political Intrigue
The first part of an epic, explicitly anticapitalist melodrama, told through lowpoly cutscenes and radio conversations inspired by early cinematic games. The company’s CEO and shareholders have come up with a scheme to live forever, but it will mean sacrificing the lives of their workers. Fight for a world where everyone has a right to their time.
Use the realistic radio to call characters anytime for dialogue about whatever situation you’re in. You’ll find hints on what to do next, details that expand the story, fourth wall–breaking humor, and more.
A challenge with real consequences: Don’t get caught by guards or let yourself fall asleep, or you might end up stuck waiting it out in jail or the hospital.
Fixed camera angles in gameplay, just like in the old days. With a real-time day-and-night cycle and real-time weather tied to your location, to make the game integrate more with your life.
Tons of playtime in part one alone. And you can use your save file to continue where you left off when the next part comes out. Truly commit to the long haul of the real-time experience.
Join Time Bandit’s Discord to receive development updates and offer your feedback on work in progress! https://discord.gg/vhue5NtN39
Read More: Best Real-Time Narrative Games.
Transport INC
Disclaimer: Ol' Il Pallino has Asperger’s, and the characterization of aspies having a high tolerance for repetition is mentioned in the Negatives section of this review. If stereotypes of aspies offends readers (however true) the reader is advised to go read someone else’s review. Ol' Il Pallino and REXCurse hereby disclaim liability of triggering snowflakes who become butt-hurt as a result.
Overview
This is one of those times where writing a review is tricky, because recommendations are purely Yes/No and management sim Transport INC is in a gray area with a slight red tint from what was experienced in the story. Apart from the story, which is a campaign about the son of a bus driver who has ambitions of becoming a shipping tycoon who’s father very early own proves to not share-in on the main character’s ambition, the main character branches out from a bus empire to also trucking, which leads to other modes of transporting passengers and cargo. The game also has a casual Free Play mode and Global Race mode where the player and AI opponents compete against each other to “capture” cities by being the most profitable carrier.
– Real player with 21.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Real-Time Transportation Games.
[url] Please see my curator page for more games that are well worth your time[/url]
I’ll start this review with something I normally wouldn’t need to do, a WARNING: At the time of writing, there is one achievement in the game that you can’t unlock (yet).
There is an achievement for completing the campaign on expert mode, however, the expert mode appears to not be added to the game. People who’ve completed it on Hard Mode have reported on the Steam Forums that it hasn’t unlocked the Expert Mode. I’m not sure if that is how it should unlock or if there is something else currently causing the issue, I just hope that in the future, this warning will not be needed.
– Real player with 19.7 hrs in game