Early game impressions after 10 hours in sandbox mode:

TL;DR: Crust is an easy recommendation and stands strong among Factorio alternatives like Dyson Sphere Program and Satisfactory.

The early game is slightly more complex compared to similar titles. It introduces a lot of mechanics right away, including byproducts, which might feel overwhelming. One aspect I didn’t enjoy is that early buildings require resources produced by those same buildings, forcing you into a specific build order. This creates a hard limit on how much you can construct without risking resource depletion or getting stuck. While this issue can be mitigated by unlocking resource trading early on, it was a bit frustrating to notice initially.

The contract system is excellent. However, in the early game, it generates a lot of contracts that feel unrealistic. This might just be to showcase what's to come, as it doesn’t cause any significant issues—you’ll have plenty of factions to interact with, so I was never left without something to complete.

The science tree UI is extensive but suffers from wasted space. Adding text under the icons and implementing a search function would improve navigation and help locate specific research more efficiently.

The UX is solid for Early Access. Players familiar with the genre should adjust quickly, though there is a bit of information overload, with features visible from the start that won’t be accessible for the first few hours. Perhaps hiding those until they are unlocked through research would streamline the experience.

Most importantly, Crust is fun. It requires some problem-solving and optimization of underground space, but it doesn’t heavily penalize early mistakes. Despite the large amount of information presented everything was logical and I never felt that it was too much to handle. Aside from the occasional time pressure when fulfilling urgent contracts, it’s the perfect game to relax with on a Sunday evening.