Factory Town
TL;DR:
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A mix of elements from Anno, Factorio and Kingdoms and Castles
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It’s got that game loop in place: discover improve discover improve. There’s always that one new thing you want to build or line you want to change
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Very active dev, daily responses in Discord and weekly updates
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Already a large amount of content, even in its current state you’ll get your money’s worth in playtime
Disclaimer:
I’m one of the early beta testers, probably the 3rd or 4th wave. So I did get the game for free (although I’ve since abundantly made up for it with feedback & bug reporting etc). I’ve also been bumped up to mod on the Discord (come say hi!). So you know, this is a sliiightly biased review ;)
– Real player with 541.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Sandbox Crafting Games.
What is it?
A resource management game where you will find increasingly efficient ways to route goods from source to manufacture, and onwards to sell so that you can grow your town.
You’ll start with a few workers with which you’ll gather wood and stone. Then you’ll manufacture planks which in turn can make a wheel! Along comes a cart that can carry more than all those people. Meanwhile, new buildings will start to unlock, and new products can be manufactured which in turn can earn you coins of differing colours, with more advanced technologies needing the rarer coins to research and unlock.
– Real player with 498.3 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!
Read More: Best Sandbox Exploration Games.
ComPressure
One of the best zach-like games to exist thus far; A perfect rendition of simple rules leading to complex interactions. The retro pixel art and story featuring historically accurate rock star scientists lends itself well to a fun and engaging game about building the worlds first analog computer. The developer is active and responsive, adding more content fairly frequently, and the community is already both friendly and competitive.
10/10, would request lewd etchings again
– Real player with 395.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Sandbox Investigation Games.
First and foremost: This is a positive review.
I’m unable to beat this game however (PEBKAC) though, so I’m going to caution prospective players:
This game is HARD, and the tests in each level are NOT comprehensive, nor will they give the same results when run individually versus the ‘run all tests’ results. It’s VERY possible to make solutions which pass in test-all but fail on every single test when run individually. Chasing the test scores can easily box you into a dead-end solution path.
The test score results are NOT an actual metric for how usable parts you design are, and almost every part is meant to be used later after it’s made, without any clear description of errors compounding or what to watch out for.
– Real player with 16.5 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
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
Making it Home
Pillbug interactive keeps improving with every new title. A very bizzare and unique game.
Great soundtrack and background watercolor art made by some talented people. Game contains a surprisingly mature story despite what the artstyle would suggest, but it’s skippable if it’s not your cup of tea.
The developers have been very nice and receptive to feedback during development. If the game looks interesting to you, and you want to shape the future of where it goes, I highly recommend joining in on early access and talking with them on discord. :D
– Real player with 120.2 hrs in game
Is it a platformer? Is it a sandbox? Is it an optimisation puzzle?
Yes! and it keeps growing and developing in ways I couldn’t have predicted.
Build your vessel, mario all over it to get coins, use coins to make a grander vessel, and all against the clock.
Depending on your style, maybe the vehicle operates itself, maybe it’s 100m tall, maybe it’s 100m long, maybe you can use your melee 20XX skillz to go even faster than automation allows?
– Real player with 56.3 hrs in game
Rail Route
Pros:
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Hours upon hours of tycoon gameplay
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Diverse challenges in a scored timetable mode
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Editor that allows you to build your masterpiece
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Nice community members
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Tons of community-made maps, including most of the ones in the game*
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Community input often considered and sometimes helps remake parts of the game
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Workshop support for easy sharing
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Endless/Tycoon mode replayability - Not for everyone, but I’ve played Prague 21 different times by now in the alpha version of the game.
– Real player with 1277.9 hrs in game
Rail Route is a mix between a railway management game, a train dispatcher game and a puzzle game. You task is to make trains ride , keeping a timetable and make some virtual money so you can invest in more track.
Depending on how you play, it can be very hectic or a very relaxed game. Extending tracks can be hard, because, like in real life, there are restriction. You cannot just put your track where you like. When you gain money and experience points, you can “buy” game upgrades, starting simple like an function to reverse a train direction automatically to high speed tracks, tunnels and so on.
– Real player with 170.6 hrs in game
Blub Emporium
This game is truly unique, colourful, and bubbly (or I guess you could say blubbly ;))
While playing through this game, the first thing I noticed was the vibe it gave when I was watching the emporium sell, the blubs buying items or sitting down, maybe even playing on an arcade; It is really something else, especially with the soundtrack adding to it; It sounds relaxing and ambient, yet it sounds like there’s a powerful meaning behind every song.
I also find that the factory is super fun! It’s puzzles are very challenging, but very possible; Meaning it has a very nice balance! The Farm has a lot more depth than most would initially expect with how you can harvest items and whatnot, you can even automate some parts of it! :O
– Real player with 186.5 hrs in game
I’ve played a few hours and it’s very fun :)
Really cute aesthetic which is a blast to decorate, a relaxing farm which is super therapeutic, and (my favourite) a really interesting factory which plays just like a puzzle game! (with a ton of potential to improve at, optimise, and experiment with).
This game is a perfect example of being worth more than the sum of it’s parts, and there’s something in it for everyone - it’s not the sort of game I would normally play, but so far I’ve had a blast, and look forward to playing more (THERE IS SO MUCH CONTENT O.O)
– Real player with 157.3 hrs in game
Burrow
Burrow is an ever-expanding sandbox style game where you can explore, create, and share small levels (called… burrows)
Creation is a core concept of Burrow, all of the level creation tools are packaged with the game and are designed with simplicity in mind. Hundreds of props, simple terrain deformation tools, and built-in LUA scripting makes designing your own worlds a breeze.
VR and Desktop players are both welcome! Oh yeah, and we’ve got multiplayer too! Cross platform play is supported. You can play alone, or with your friends, no matter if they’re on VR or Desktop.
PixPhys
game crashes for the most stupid reasons like the light bulb touching something after unpausing or using ctrl+v, but the devs read the discussions soo together the community can fix this, but i dont recommend it yet, wait until it has more content, more interesting saves (that dont break on the next version), and less crashes before buying
i think the game is dead
but indeed it has a interesting concept and i support it, but as i said before, wait until its ready to play
– Real player with 28.5 hrs in game
Nice game. Yes, is like People Playground graphics wise (I don’t have People Playground), but it’s a vehicle building (although I’m pretty sure you can do that in both games), physics based game, not a kill the ragdolls in every way possible. There is a lot of parts to play around with, and in general have fun. It’s still in development and has bugs, but it’s very fun as it is. The devs are also really active in the community, which is really nice.
– Real player with 17.1 hrs in game