Three months ago I came across this little gem in the Steam Store. I was initially intrigued by the premise: man is shipwrecked on hostile alien world and must get back in to space by building a factory. The game was in early access and priced at a reasonable twenty dollars. I was hesitant because early access games are a mixed bag, but after checking the overwhelmingly positive reviews I thought that I would give it a go.
I should tell you straight up: I love building games. I have spent many hours playing SimCity, Banished, Towns, Roller Coaster Tycoon to name a few. So when I say that Factorio has gobbled up my time like a hungry hungry hippo, I want you to understand that this game is a true devourer of leisure time, having consumed just over 250 hours to date.
The best (or worst) thing about Factorio is that it is addictive: you simply cannot build one thing and then say “I’m done”. There is an endless laundry list of things to build or optimise, alien life forms to exterminate, resources to exploit… See what I mean? It sneaks up on you, sucker punches you, and then you wake up eight hours later in a bathtub full of ice cubes without your kidneys.
This game is challenging because it forces you to use your brain to work out complex logic and logistic problems under pressure. The pollution that your factory makes has consequences: the constant threat of alien attack looms closer as your factory gets bigger and dirtier, which means spending precious resources on defence. Your factory layout can turn in to ‘belt spaghetti’ very quickly if you don’t consider the long game and you often find your factory is not spaced out well enough to fit all you would like to build.
I don’t think I am anywhere close to being finished with this game and I look forward to seeing the finished product.