This is probably the best representation of what is wrong with Factorio. It is complex enough to be difficult, but lacks flexibility and logic of a real thing. You can make some things work with it, but you can't make complex things with it which you would be able with a real thing.


First of all, it takes talent to spend so much time and effort in trying to teach something to people and then completely fail at it. Developers are uniquely gifted in creating huge tutorial about train section, filled with real exercises and theory which utterly fails to teach players anything.

It reminds me of my time in university studying circuits. I spend the whole weekend in trying to understand my project with textbooks and given examples. I could grasp some things, but just could not really understand it properly that I could make something useful out of it. Then my colleague came and asked if I completed it. I said no, I'm trying to understand it from textbook. He laughed and handed me examples of other students works. I instantly understood everything by looking at other student's project and could complete my own work easily! I even aced examination, explaining professor method in most complex way possible. This is the vibe I'm getting with in game tutorials. I somehow managed to complete tutorial several times and still have no clue how it is supposed to work...


I spent about 5 hours trying to figure them out and I just gave up. I do not think that task can be even accomplished as I want to. A simple chain is easy enough. However, when you need to attach independent train line with another, this is where problems happen. Even after creating a miniaturised model, I was unable to send a signal to nearby line. It seems that signal is being sent directly through the line, which means that you need to send signal linearly upwards next connection. This is very cumbersome as you need to set signals kilometers apart and you still won't be able to send a signal to adjacent line. It also does not allow realistic expansion to a lot interconnected lines. Game allows you to control junctions that another train would not crash into a passing train. However, when you need to check for an entire route, this becomes problematic.

Rail signals also seem to be bugged as I experienced them receiving a negative signal when line should not be controlled elsewhere. Rail signal received a signal all whole railroad even without a visual confirmation that this part is being controlled. I removed a signal on the other side and my rail signal went blank.

This is the problem I have with this game. There isn't an interface to debug anything. Logic is designed around single routes. You cannot use same signals to control several routes. You cannot use same rail for different directions and trains with different routes. Game is designed around single rail going to a single destination. When you try to use same infrastructure, you get into engine limitations like signals not working on very long lines.


In the end I had given up. I decided just to program my rail network. In-game programming is a lot easier than figuring out this rail networks. It is good enough when you do simple connections like presented in tutorial, but its logic is not adapted to more complex networks. Even with programming, I found various bugs. For example, station sends signal of: "Red V 1" when it should send signal of: "V 1". In logic gates "Red" does not exist and I have no clue from where this 13 comes when I set value to 1.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2963282698

Another issue is that train signals cannot be programmed. They have Read function, but it does not work. Even if conditions are met, you cannot change signal from red to green. So, I decided to use Train Stop for programming. It also had issues with very confusing interface. First, for some reason you need to send signal to the train, but Signal Stop has its own separate logic check. So, there is a thing which was overlooked. Normally train checks condition at a Train Stop. However when it comes to programming, it ignored conditions at a train stop and you need to send condition directly to the train...Yeah.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2963282779

Programming is also not without its bugs in this game. Train Stops are a prime example how archaic this game is in regards to a lot of things. It is very unintuitive in random places. It also has various bugs which just frustrates you when you are trying to accomplish something. In the end, I had finally managed to set up my train controller after many hours.

If there is one thing which Factorio had managed to impress me is how convoluted and backwards it is for doing any complex task in it. I seriously started watching videos how you can make computer from electronics parts and I find THAT more fun and easy than this BS in Factorio.

Programming in this game is bad. While it is powerful, it is incredibly messy and buggy (objects sending wrong signals, your computers not registering signal if it goes too fast). It gives you massive freebies in some areas while not in others. You can do incredible things with it, but when you play with it, you have to ask yourself. Why I'm spending so much time on a video game? Maybe more fulfilling use of my time would be building an actual computer with my own electronic components? These are the questions I was asking myself while trying to learn programming in Factorio.


This game gives you a lot of simplifications. You can sum, divide, multiply, send signals, compare signals. This is what you would expect from a video game. You do not want to be programming computer when playing Factorio. Massive simplifications like reading content of a crate helps players a lot.

However, then we come to the main issue. A lot of basic elements of programming is missing. Where is Memory? You can't store value in this game! That is right, you have to create the entire circuit on your own. Game holds your hand with giving freebies left and right, but a fundamental block of programming is missing and it is a massive difficulty jump. It contradicts entire design of programming in this game. It tries to simplify things everywhere, gives you freebies, sometimes massive freebies and then in random places it is unnecessarily and unreasonably complex.

Along other elements which I had missed is:
-Signal generators;
-Clocks;
-Flip flops;


The absolute worst part in this game is that programming elements are all put into one box. This arithmetic combinator serves as a logic gate with many functions. However, this makes same combinators very crowded as you will be putting same signals back into their inputs. All of it are done through wires. Quickly any circuit becomes incomprehensible. There are only two colour wires, there isn't any way to handle wires. You can't remove wires without removing the whole logic gate. In other words, any programming in Factorio is nightmarishly messy.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2949211540

As you proceed with circuits, anything simple like my written circuit to control flow of resources into conveyor belt end up as a massive bundle of wires and computers. It is really messy to see what is going where. This is a big failing of programming in this game. Programming is supposed to be elegant, not messy.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2963288588

There is also isn't a menu where you could build a blueprint. You would need a separate window where you could see logical expression of your circuit. Connect lines to elements and run a simulation to see if everything is correct. If it is, you then could press a button: "Transfer to blueprint" and have everything set up to be built, together with variables which you had set up in simulation. At the moment debugging is needlessly complex.


It is a powerful tool, but it has a problem. It is complex enough to reasamble the real deal. However it lacks everything that makes real deal so enticing. It also makes you question if you shouldn't just play with real circuit programming as it has more value in a real world. As it being off shot of a game, an additional feature written off developer's bucket list. It remains unfinished in a lot of parts. Have missing features which you would have with a real programming. It is also a pain to use in a game.

In the end it is quirky and archaic in game programming which end up more difficult to learn and to understand than a real circuit programming, because insufficient tutorials, bizarre developer logic and missing features which you would get with real programming.

As you progress through the game, you unlock modules. At a first glance, they provide small boosts for your factories. However, in reality it is just another cheat code given to players which significantly simplifies gameplay for improvised Factories and creates pointless resource decreases for meta gamer.

Modules looked benign to me at first. When I started utilising them, I discovered just how badly they twist the entire game. They break entire game and introduces its own rules on top of it. Every Assembler must have best modules with transmitter. Not only it is a mess from design perspective, but also it further reinforces its tendency to give players unrealistic freebies.

Little bit confusing
• This is the least striking criticism I can come up with those modules. They are unintuitive which is a general trend with a Factorio. Modules says something along the lines: "30% energy efficiency" or "20% speed", but game does not tell you how it translates to pollution. It is something which had to be learned through practice what those modules do exactly and how effective they can be.
  
  https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2981787451
  
  Makes pollution management obsolete
  
• In this game Biters are broken. You might spend a hundred hours in this game, but they will never offer serious assaults on your base as game promises. Sure, there are cases when Biters are actual part of a game, but they all involve late game when players are building more Factories than CPU can handle. Any reasonable interaction with game pollution mechanic will see it plummet to the point of irrelevancy. Combined that with clearing of Biters nests, they will never be close enough to consume said pollution.
  https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2981788329
  Here you can see just how huge of a hit my Factory took when I started using efficiency modules on my ore extractors. They make them out of the most polluting buildings you have to least polluting ones. That is just broken game balance.
  
  Is a crutch for a badly designed Factory
  
• The key problem with these modules is that it greatly simplifies gameplay. You thought Factorio was a complex game? Not at all! It is designed to be as difficult at first as possible, but after that, difficulty curve goes right back down. After you reach mid game, you get tons of freebies. One of them are best factories and modules which makes any Factory layout irrelevant as you progress through the story.
  https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2981794660
  Here is an example of that. I never needed to increase my wire production, because one assembler is enough. They speed up to such insane levels that any spaggeti layout can be saved as you never need to scale up production. You just need to add ever increasingly BS stuff in its place.
  
  Is a free energy generator
  
• This game gives a lot of freebies to players. Conveyor belts is one infinite energy generator. Perfect and cheap solar power is another. Now to that list you can add modules which breaks laws of thermodynamics and through magics gives you extra +9999% productivity out of thin air. Game moves away from its organisational layout and simulation towards arcade where it balances game out with silly multipliers which makes gameplay unrealistic. Instead of getting a weapon which does +10% damage, you get a factory which are +400% better. Exactly the same stuff and I'm deeply disappointed by path which Factorio decided to take.
  
  Distorts balance of production
  
• Another massive issue with modules is that it ruins game balance. There is no need to balance your pollution levels, because you can easily make it non-relevant with efficiency modules. Electric Ore Extractors suddenly become from most polluting assets you have to most green ones. That is such an arcade thing to do. It also makes interaction with Biters irrelevant, because game balance is out of whack, because of these modules. A player can easily avoid most interactions with them, given that he makes some basic gameplay interactions with them like wiping nearby nests and putting efficiency modules on worst polluting offenders.
  
  Meaningless
  
• Ultimately, these modules are meaningless. It is a superficial and cheap way to play with game numbers, but they do nothing more than to inflate amount of stuff players build. What is the point of doing 10x damage in World of Warcaft if everyone is 10x times more survivable? It is just artificially inflated numbers. The same thing had happened in Factorio. These modules allow players to produce more stuff, to control pollution not to attract Biters. However, they could had easily done that by limiting amount of Factories they build and by spreading them around. There were already organic solutions to this problem. These modules merely allowed players not to worry about pollution mechanic at all and inflate their own production numbers which ultimately leads to CPU bottlenecks. There is no difference if your output is 1M steel plates per hour or 100k steel plates. These are just abstract numbers over which Factorio players go Ape. You could easily nerf productivity and resource requirements by order of 10 and nothing in the gameplay would change.

Factorio superficially seems like a complex game. It can be daunting for a new player as ever increasing demands, force player to constantly re-evaluate its Factory. It is time consuming and demanding to constantly adapt to new requirements. This is why so many Factorio players, even ones with hundreds of hours never finish this game. However, this is just an illusion. As a player progresses through the mid game, its difficulty already had peaked and after that point, game becomes significantly easier. All the new tech simplifies production rather than complicates it. Gone are coal management. Gone are multiple Factories, you can fuel everything with just one Assembler. Bots ignore belt lines. Turrets do not need ammunition. Nuclear power becomes infinite with Kovarex tech. Game becomes significantly easier and player moves from thinking and solving problems to just actively managing resource inflows and what goes wrong at his own Factory.

I do not know if it is just a bad seed which I got, but maps in this game tend to be generated very predictably. They are also illogical in their biome layout. That is more, they seem usually to contain choke points which would be so easy to seal off from Biters threat...

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2992230331

And this is exactly what I did! Entire map section was sealed off. My economy might suck compared to other Factorio players, but I sure have a huge wall!

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2992220924

It is complete with minefield, laser batteries, HQ bunkers, drone support facilities. Even an artillery train would move around the clock to clear perimeter around.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2992222699

Now, some Biters were left at the wrong side of the wall. I'm no longer stuck with them. They are stuck with me! I'm going to do something wicked to the remaining Biters. I will force them to pay me rent for the land they are living on. In order for them to pay me this rent, they will have to seek jobs. The only jobs will be in my factory. So, they will have to work decent hours from 8 to 5. However, if they do want to provide for their families at home, they will have to work constant overtime in my factory. 12 hours shifts! They will go to work and back while slowly being poisoned by the world around them. They will work until they collapse and their young shall take their place. They will have no say in the politics and how things are run. They will be kept content with TV and entertainment. I will teach how bad it was under monarchic government while preaching how free and empowered they are under democracy. Their old values shall be stripped way until they are just interchangeable mix of workers. Devoid of culture and history, they shall not even be able to comprehend what happiness is or what they should do with their own lives.

Killing them would be too easy. Too merciful. No, they shall be my citizens instead!

I liked how in this game you get achievements. There is a nice sound effect. Nice text box. It is easy to track what you need to do. Though, developers should give a hint to a hidden quest, because all it motivates people to do is to just look up stuff online.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2992232150

I also missed ability to change the order in which you can manufacture stuff. Sure there are some potential complications, but there is nothing which could not be solved.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2992219191

I also disliked how manual targeting is just another freebie to make your artillery so much better. That is undeserved power boost. Furthermore, just manual targeting should be reward enough for a player.

However, what I missed was an ability to queue firing orders. Now when you ran out of ammunition, you can't place any more coordinates to fire. Game should allow artillery batteries to fire on pre-set targets when they receive more ammunition.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2992215146

I also found it awkward how inserters can only rotate 180 degrees or how fast inserters can only pick up one type of item. Or how you can't set up from which line to take items from. Considering how much free stuff this game gives and how complicated it loves to be, it is little bit surprising that it remains so simple when it comes to base functionality.

I also missed ability to name conveyor belts and areas in order to make myself a note what something is supposed to be.

During end game I finally discovered that trees can die from pollution. Neat. I then immediately changed modules and immediately reduced my CO2 footprint to prevent any more unnecessary destruction.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2992203581

I thought that I'm going to dislike drones in this game, however I quite liked a lot of features they provide. One of the cooler things are placing pre-planned structures from a map menu.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2992202881

I made use of drones, but never I had seen them as essential. They were to me: "How cool it would be if I could move small amounts of stuff from chest A to chest B across entire base'. They fulfilled that and did a lot more. I could just place chests and ignore conveyor belts for anything, but the most volume demanding products.

Drones for me is just another freeby which Factorio players get. Conveyor belts, modules, electricity are freebies in this game. Drones are free, because once you built them, they only require electricity and as we already talked, electricity generation in this game is simplified to the point of absurdity. Solar panels work at night. Nuclear power produces simply indecent amount of power. They do not need even fuel as after a certain point Kovarex will simply give you an infinite amount of fuel out of thin air. Ironically, Steam powered power is the only way to generate electricity which seems somewhat balanced in this game.

Did these simplifications took away from my experience? It was something which I definitely noticed, but did not cared much about. I was more concerned about inconsistency. Where in one area game tries to be realistic while in another it gives you literal magic and energy generation out of thin air. I would had dealt with production difficulties in this game like extraction of U-235 if game would tried to be scientifically consistent.

This is my spaghetti base:

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2992205244

It gets a lot worse with conveyor belts in a main base. You can't track where they go. I missed some sort of ability to name tracks. When you are playing this game, you will probably need to redo or upgrade base. If you are upgrading your base, you will probably have to squeeze stuff in if you do not want to disassemble half of the stuff.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2992208710

I made a great use of blueprints here. However, usually they are not very useful to me, because I often construct purpose-made Factories. Here I'm separating my refineries and placing them next to my oil pipes. These make up just a part of all refineries I have. Some are above while others are in completely different base. I placed them in such segregated fashion in order to not pollute any one area too much. I also avoided cutting down trees if it was not necessary. I quite liked how this turned out to be. Just factories surrounded by the forests.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2992204381

As I was ramping up my electronics production, mainly for bluechips and their products, I needed more than one plastic factory. I made an use of transmitters and modules. Their introduction alters how you have to design your base around. I liked how this part of my base came out. I transported plastic from two bases into my main factory.

When it comes to modules, here is my issue. If player wants to expand production, it is better to make more factories due to how inefficient modules are. If a player wants to reduce production speed, it is better to use lower tier factories or to even limit material inputs. If player wants to reduce pollution, it can spread it around the map. Game enables player to do everything it wants naturally.

Where these modules and transmitters seem to shine is by cumulative bonuses where you add 500% production at the cost of 900% energy, but then you detract 700% energy reduction through transmitters. In other words, it doesn't feel anymore as a Factory game, but rather as an RPG with insane multipliers. If I want to have a weapon which does +600% acid damage, but actually a blade with +32 base acid damage and +300% multiplier is better, I would play Grim Dawn. These insane multipliers seem out of place in Factorio game and I immediately did not liked them. Especially how you can trivially just make ore extraction eco friendly with base efficiency modules.

Also, this system is not intuitive. How electricity consumption relates to pollution. It seems that game is missing base stats. I would expect to see statistics like 'pollution produced per cycle'. Now this information is obfuscated and it is unintuitive.

When I was about to achieve everything I ever dreamed in Factorio, I went out on exploring the world. Loaded my car with tons of rocket fuel and I set sail.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2992211219

I thought that game will just prevent from further exploration just by surrounding you with oceans. This is where I thought it was starting to do that. However, that was a bug from game engine where it rendered coastline in an unnerving straightness. I thought that world is ending, but it was game engine doing its own stuff again.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2992216689

I noticed huge clumps of Biters. They were an obstacle to travel through. However, outside of having massive nests, they are just annoying as they just prevent map exploration and going back. Game loves to choke the entire pathways with their nests.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2992218418

Their nests are indeed huge. Some people say that they are evil and bad. They are invasive and such. However, I view that as a thin justification for players own action. They know nothing about them and project their own essence upon them. We are invaders who come to pollute and to destroy everything. If God could strike either one of us, I would not be so confident that lighting bolt would not come at the player itself rather than biters.

Also, people think that biters spread creep. However, in game graphic is not clear on that and it doesn't seem to be creep to me. Just freshly dug earth which indicates that they are like ants, borrowing underground. That fits seeing their worms and nests which indicates an extensive sub-terranean nests.

In my game, Biters were quite chill. I was disappointed in them, because they did not even tried to expand. They were just chilling at the same place all the time. Rare times when they tried expanding, they would always do that in the same pre-set places. I just put some artillery batteries as a stand off weapon to prevent them from coming close.
Even when I fired at their bases, they did not attacked me. They just chilled. Walked to another Biters base. I saw some even attacking rocks in frustration. Even in times when Biters attacked my base, I would just look at them disapprovingly and they would just stop. Then they would start walking in slow-mode, no doubt crushed by the sense of guilt and then they would just slowly move away from my base never to be seen again. That is no doubt another bug with the Biters, but it was funny nonetheless to see how me just staring at them was enough to force them to quit attacking my base. Like I was saying: "Dude, really? You are ruining my fun." and Biters were: "We are so sorry" and would walk away.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2992209869

In the end, the only cool thing I found from exploring were trees. These one looked cool. Also, how they grow in the desert? Map generation is whacky to be honest.

Now to wrap things up.


To me this game falls into the same place as Minecraft did when it first released. I went in. Were vowed by its world. Explored its caves. Build some stuff. However, quickly I realised that there is very little to do in that game. Better recipes were not obvious to me or at that time did not existed. Building stuff felt just empty. Sure, I will build a wall. So what? It is not like it can do something. Finally we have Factory type games where stuff you build actually does something. However, I felt same emptiness inside. Why I'm building this wall? There is no threat at all. I want to build my army which would patrol around the perimeter, but I cannot. Everything is so static. I felt the same emptiness and lack of purpose in this game. I explored in game world and it felt so simple to me. Like that I had explored everything there is to know about it. Sure, people will be quick to point out to mods. However, I'm not evaluating mods, I'm judging the game itself.


What contributed the most to this sense of emptiness is that game presented no challenge to me. It falsely markets its own gameplay as this survival game against swarms of Biters. No, it is not. Biters are hardly any more than annoyance in this game. In fact, they are so useless that I do not even need to fight them. I would just walk into middle of their nests and would just stand there until they all die. This is how ridiculously they are outmatched in this game.

Since Biters were not challenging when what is? Game objectives? Alright, I built the rocket. What remains after that? Just do it again and again, researching ever more ridiculously time consuming recipes? It is more of a same. Sure, modders will come out with new stuff to do, but it all shall fall under the definition: "just the same, but more autistic" or in other words, you shall have unnecessarily complicated recipes those main difficulty shall be in how much time you are willing to sink in to complete ever more ridiculous requirements.

I'm not interested in that at all. I could set myself on a project like creating a computer which would judge the amount of inputs incoming and consumed. Then it would only input ingredients which are missing at the exact ratios which belt needs. I had made such system in my game already though, but never bothered implementing it on a larger scale though. However, I think that is the problem. I already solved what I wanted to solve. Applying this solution will just be inferior to what players are doing in regards to belt saturation. Yes, it would be cool, but for that purpose? It is not like I have an organic challenge in this game. All what I need to do is to expand my production. Things like I dream are just games versus to what this game was designed for. It feels that I experienced everything what in game mechanics have to offer me and I'm not interested in excelling at those mechanics. Come to think of, I do not think that I was ever interested in excelling at such mechanics.

When I play like Kerbal Space Program, I'm most excited in trying to make my contraption to work against all the odds. I still remember fondly go I went STRAIGHT TO THE MOON (rather than going around the Earth to make far more efficient use of fuel). I have fond memories how I landed on a moon literally on my engine, because I did not knew any better. I just love an idea that I landed there with something massive like that SpaceX project. I loved the idea that I had so much fuel to come back. Not like those panzies from NASA, calculating every drop of fuel for their safe arrival. Game motivates me with an idea to go to different planets. To construct unholy contraptions. I always have an idea to make two stage spacecraft. However, instead of having two engines, it would be two different launches. I would launch a space craft into the orbit. Then I would launch its engines. Then I would launch its fuel. I would also create a starbase where I could park everything and construct myself a spaceship which would have insane characteristics, because I did not needed to bring everything in one go from Earth. Stuff like this motivates me to play such games. That joy of discovery. That challenge of figuring stuff out. I feel that I figured out how this game plays and any additional content would be equivalent of doing the same thing, but for longer periods of time.


Game has a reputation for being a difficult game. It is not particularly difficult game. Players get tons of freebies and once they figure out base mechanics, game isn't that incredibly difficult. If someone wants to flex playing 300 IQ games, they would not be playing this, but rather various puzzles which are hard all the time. This game was hardest initially, mostly due to how I would take the most extreme examples in this game and would brake systems in the ways they were not designed to be used. Sure, I could just built another track, but why should I? One track is perfectly sufficient. This is how I started at the hardest possible self inflicted level and after overcoming mid game, late game was rather simple and tiresome. It is all about just running around, adding more production and fixing whatever goes wrong in your Factory. People just blueprint their Factory layout and just add more of the stuff. Wow, it is so hard to press two buttons to double your production! How exciting it is to connect your blueprinted, self constructing factory to blueprinted transport network and putting ore extractors on ore fields. All player bases look similar to me and once you figure out how to construct for example, your metal smelters, what is the point of doing it again in a new run? This is what this game had become to me. Even if there were more difficult recipes, they all relied on producing even more base materials, but redirecting them to new recipe. How exciting...


This game is really dragged out for longer than it needs to be. It raises resource cost for some of its techs for no reason. There isn't enough gameplay to maintain researching all the tech and white science tech. At that time game feels hollow which is no surprise that at that point you spent more than a hundred hours on a same map.

Entire game is like that. In order to do any task you need a lot of resources and production time. It is not enough to just build your Factory, but you also need to figure stuff up as you go. Game will throw different requirements as you progress, forcing you to redo your base over and over again. This is probably why most people never finish their base playthrough. I myself had to redo my base many times due to ever changing requirements both in recipes and amount of produce required. This really drags out the game and I felt that I was done with it dozens of hours before I finished it.


It is a great game. It was a fun experience and this is what gaming should be all about. I had great time with it, but game really overstayed its welcome. Game has an addictive quality which makes time fly quickly. However, it relies on player finding its own projects to complete if it wants to play for long time. Community for such games tends to be rather hardcore which actively alienates other groups of people. You are not encouraged to share and to have fun. It is all about optimising your fun out of your own game. Game itself had somewhat confusing direction with some things being simplified too much while others remaining overly difficult for a video game. It is also lacking on its own in many regards without mods and I saw ton of various odd behaviours which I generously considered to be bugs.

In the end, this is game for more serious and dedicated player. For more casual players I would probably recommend Satisfactory which is the most popular Factory type game with pretty graphics and all that. Factorio is for more hardcore player which wants to emerge itself to countless hours of playing with mods since more simplistic game engine gives way to purer gameplay and easier modding of new content.