Satisfactory

Near 700 hours and just beat the game for the first time so I am FINALLY getting around to review Satisfactory. As one could guess by my playtime, to say I love the game would be a massive understatement. I don't think I've invested this much in to any other game that I have recorded hours for, or can think of. The simple reason - it's FUN. It's fun, engrossing, and endearing. The devs not only made a great game with a lot of character and polish, but it made it so addictively fun that for long stretches I couldn't put it down. I've been a player since early access, and like subnautica - it was one of those games that seemed well fleshed out and playable even before 1.0 released. The devs ensured a high level of quality at every stage, and each new update brought more building parts, more fun things to do, and more challenges to contend with. Coffee Stain - you've made a legendary game, and I am pleased it is receiving the praise it deserves. Bravo. The gameplay is immersive and intuitive, making it a joy to explore the beautifully hand-crafted alien world and build one's masterpieces and monstrosities with the same glee one gets from playing with LEGO. Story and combat are there, but don't define the game and stay mostly out of your way if you don't want to bother with them. There's no time limit, few guardrails and restrictions, and a heavy focus on player freedom. I love how you can freely construct and deconstruct without loss of resources or penalties, so there's no barrier to trying random things to see if they work, or just doing whatever silly things come to mind. Want to build a floating castle in the sky? Cover an entire biome with concrete? A giant brutalist skyscraper that looks out of a dystopian film? Go for it - the world is yours to cover in your creations. Then you can traverse the landcape using the dozen or so methods of conveyance, all of which are fun in their own way. There's no right or wrong way to achieving the goals of the game, including not bothering with the goals at all. I actually stayed in the mid-game for hundreds of hours just because I felt like it. You could build one enormous mega factory, or many small ones all through out the map. You could have machines randomly splayed on the landscape or enclose them in nice and neat structures. You can be a paragon of efficiency, with every process thought out and calculated for maximum efficiency, or simply build as much as you can and make a glut of factory products in the hope it will be enough for the later tiers. The game definitely rewards you for thinking ahead and building more capacity than you need, as the later tier demands get exponentially more complex and need ridiculous numbers of parts along the production chain. You can complete a phase or a tier, pleased with yourself for your accomplishment, then have your eyes pop out when you realize what the next tier wants. I could go on for days about everything I love this game for, but it's better to encourage you to try and see for yourself. It's a load of fun.

Satisfactory is a game about building a satisfying factory. Pros: Having a satisfying factory Cons: Building a satisfying factory

I have played for 1122 hours at the time of writing. This is one of the longest-played games I own. If I wasn't recommending it, I'd be having to have a long, hard look at myself. This game is stupendous. It is incredibly replayable, fun and an amazing co-op experience. Despite the fact that the team working on this game are otherwise best known for games involving glitchy goats, this is an amazing experience, and I recommend it most highly.