Recent reviews by Degraine

Factorio is a fiendishly seductive simulation game. I bought it in 2014 when it was still an alpha, but you wouldn't have known it by playing it then. Of all the games I've seen that have tried to build off the Minecraft experience with an individual twist (and Steam has pushed a lot of them at me) , Factorio has easily had the strongest individual concept; it breaks away from slavish 3D block world-based imitators to make something definitely inspired by Minecraft and its many technology-themed mods, but only using them as a springboard to colonise some fresh gameplay space for itself.

Factorio is a line production optimisation simulator. You might not think a game whose most basic element is a device that picks things up from behind it and places them in front of itself could go anywhere interesting, but you would be very wrong. The game's genius begins to shine through when you assemble a basic ore refining line, automating the transport of raw ores to furnaces, then to storage. Then you extend the output line, adding a factory that converts iron plates into gears. Then another that turns gears and plates into transport belts. You don't have to make them yourself anymore! Then you build some turrets to defend your nascent industrial complex from the sedan-sized bugs that come to attack it (and you) every now and then. You add another factory that makes ammo so you can dump a stack into each turret and focus on building other things... pretty soon, it's 3am and you've declared war on the xenos threat that's continually trying to stymie your mining and production operations by attacking everything in sight. Congratulations, you're Weyland-Yutani and you're not going to be run off by some damn natives. Pack a thermos and top up the flame throwers, it's bughunting time.

Factorio is a remarkably well-executed indie game. It isn't perfect, and has areas that are still very 'beta' at the time of the Steam EA release, but its core mechanics are rock-solid. The multiplayer experience is very stable for a game with such complex systems. It's already inspired at least three imitators of its own (Big Pharma, Infinifactory and Farlight Explorers) and a whole raft of LPs, construction guides and Youtube content. The developers are committed to making a game with the best production values their resources allow - they listen to the community, incorporate the best ideas from the ingenious modding community into the main game, and have just been excellent all round.

Factorio is a game that, if you've read this far, you should buy.

Humanity's first contact with extraterrestrials is mediated via bullets and plasma.

I never played the original game - I discovered I was a fan of isometric squad-based tactical shooters when I saw a preview for this and said '♥♥♥♥ /yes/, sign me up to defend the world from alien invasion'. Which is exactly what you do.

The interface is practically seamless - there's a few issues with multilevel terrain at the moment (a week after release) but nothing insurmountable - and most missions alternate between tense, paranoid advances from cover to cover and nerve-wracking gunfights. Except for terror missions, where the aliens don't consider it unsporting to go after civilians before you've even discovered them. ♥♥♥♥ terror missions.

Combat is nasty, brutal, and even with the very best equipment torn from the enemy's cold, dead hands and repurposed for your troops it can be very fatal very quickly.

If only it wasn't so much fun...

Thsi is a seriously brain-busting game, but I still found it easier to grasp than their previous effort, the Codex of Alchemical Engineering. It has a lot of subtleties and all kinds of different solutions you can apply to the puzzles, all they require is sufficient application of fake chemical engineering.

Atomic manipulation! Giant eldritch monsters! Moustachium! /SCIENCE!!/

Get it.