Factorio. You should have at least heard of it by now, even if you don’t really know what the dealio is with it. If you’re anything like me (or most other people on the planet apparently), you will have heard of it but probably not understood why people have labelled it as one of the single most addictive games ever.
At least, until you actually try it yourself.
Seriously, people have likened it to a video game equivalent to crack cocaine. It’s literally the second highest-rated game on Steam, after Portal. Hearing that would pique anyone’s interested no doubt, but then you have a little gander at some stills or videos from the game and you’re all like, “surely not.” It really doesn’t look very appetizing from the outside (or at least, not to a snob like me who generally loves pretty-looking graphics and vibrant colors), but once you actually take that plunge it is really difficult to go back.
Factorio Is About Building Factories
If you don’t even know the basics, here they are: shockingly, Factorio is about building a factory. It’s a top-down real-time logistics and base management game (got your salivation glands all riled up yet? Probably not) wherein you control a teeny tiny little guy who has crash landed atop an alien planet. The ultimate aim - or at least one of them - is to launch your very own rocket into space, but to do that you need to build your own factory that will produce such a thing.
Getting to that stage, however, takes a good while. And there’s a pressing concern in the form of alien-y bug creatures (which are native to the planet) getting a bit triggered by the fact that you’re making yourself at home in their territory and emitting a bunch of pollution. They intermittently attack you and try to destroy whatever construction you have going on.
Factorio Is Beautiful In Its Simplicity
The game was developed by Wube Software, which is apparently made up of a bunch of geeks who like to build stuff, and was released in 2016. These folks grew up tinkering around with games like SimCity, Civilization, and Transport Tycoon, and evidently their own whack at creating a building and management game was born out of a love for these classics.
The devs themselves point out that while these games are far from being the prettiest-looking things ever, they’re still able to deliver a dang fun gaming experience. And that’s certainly descriptive of Factorio, too. Most people who give it a go start out by thinking the same thing: that just by looking at it they can’t really see what the fuss is about. Dull, un-fancy colors and stock-standard graphics to match paired with the idea of building things that build other things, unsurprisingly, give off that impression.
But the uncomplicated premise plus visuals that are free of any distractingly beautiful fluff leaves a superb amount of space for the game’s real strengths to flourish.
The Addiction Factor(io)
There are a few things that Factorio does that draw you into that all-desired state of flow we experience when a game gets it just right. Game flow can be achieved if, amongst other things, there is a steadily-fluctuating interplay between challenge and mastery. Ideally, a game should be easy to learn but difficult to master, and that’s certainly what Factorio is.
The game’s tutorial (which is also the demo, available for free from Steam) sets things out nice and clearly for first-timers to ease into the game without any trouble, not being too overwhelming (because trust me, the game can get pretty dang overwhelming later on). Once you have the basics down - mining coal, building your first furnace, playing with conveyer belts, upgrading to steam-powered electricity, getting some labs up and running, and so forth - it’s time to get into the real meat of the game.
Automation
Automation - that’s where it’s at. It’s another one of those aforementioned ultimate goals in the game, and it’s one which pulls you along and entices you to keep at it for what can turn into hours before you know it. Seriously, the game’s ability to keep you transfixed in a flow state for hours at a time is astounding (game flow’s immersion criterion, check). And that’s because as soon as you reach one goal, there’s always a new goal which immediately pops up, born out of that achievement. And now it’s time to figure out how to automate whatever you just spent ages trying to produce manually.
And there’s always a way to do just that. It’s just the figuring out how to do so, and the prospect of doing so in the most efficient way possible is itself such an addictive thing. Because when you do finally find that optimal method of automation and you see all your little inserters whirring around, your conveyer belts all beautifully and symmetrically set out, and your labs humming along efficiently whilst new research speeds along, it is so deliciously satisfying.
The Ultimate Reward
Playing Factorio isn’t necessarily the most relaxing pastime (unless you’ve reached a significant level of confidence and proficiency in it). In fact, it can feel like you’ve undergone the biggest mental workout ever after a good three-hour session. But the sense of reward you derive from having solved complex problems yourself and seeing your factory grow from nothing?
Now that’s a rush that’ll lure you back in, whether you like it or not.
