SPOILER-FREE, HONEST REVIEW FROM 600+ HOURS EXPERIENCE ON EPIC


Often-Asked Questions

• Is there multiplayer? Yes, up to 4 players, drop-in-drop-out, peer-to-peer. Dedicated Servers for Experimental Version Currently.
  
• Can I crossplay multiplayer with Epic versions of the game? Yes. And you can link your Steam and Epic friends lists together if you'd like.
  
• How does this game differ from Factorio?
  
  • Both games have enemies and combat, but you don't need to defend your base in Satisfactory. Think of Satisfactory's challenge more like clearing out biters from strategic resource deposits.
    
  • Ore deposits in Satisfactory don't run out like they do in Factorio. The challenge is finding new Iron Deposits so you can make X Motors/minute.
    
  • Did I miss something? Oh right, the game has an entire extra THIRD DIMENSION. What more could you possibly want? But the third dimension greatly differentiates the logistics challenges between Factorio and Satisfactory.
• Are there player "levels"? Can I fall behind my multiplayer friends? No! When you join a multiplayer game you have access to the technologies unlocked as part of that save. If you join a different game, you'll have access to THAT game's technologies/progress.
  
• Is Early Access buggy? Bugs are few and far between in the Early Access branch, and the developers have been quick to fix any game-breaking or frustrating bugs as the result of a new update.
  
• Is there a story mode? Not yet, but the developers have hinted at story elements being added to the game in the future. There IS a tutorial that walks you through concepts in the game, and then progression and exploration is left up to you!
  
• Is there procedural map generation? No, but that's a good thing. The continent is 30 square KILOMETERS and every inch was hand-crafted by humans. It takes 18 MINUTES to walk from one corner to the next. Only the most dedicated players will experience the entire planet in a single playthrough, or you could play the game 20 different times for 20 different challenges. And from the moment you land on the planet, you're given an open-world to explore: there are hidden caves, easter eggs (made by the same devs as Goat Simulator, so you know it's gonna be good), optional jumping puzzles, unique resources to collect, alien creatures both friendly and aggressive, and more.
  
• Are there mods for the game? Yes, there's an growing third-party modding community (I use mods every day to record YouTube tutorial videos). As I write this review, it's not clear if Satisfactory on Steam will use the Steam Workshop, or some other method.
  
• Are there resources to help me if I get stuck or need help? TONS! There's an official wiki run by the game's developers( https://satisfactory.gamepedia.com ) - careful, there are a lot of spoilers there, I run a YouTube channel with clear, no-BS tips and tricks to help improve your factories( https://www.youtube.com/maxthecatfish ), and there's an active streaming community on Twitch as well ( https://www.twitch.tv/maxthecatfish ).
  
• I Enjoyed X, is Satisfactory for me?
  
  • Minecraft w/ Factory Mods - ABSOLUTELY
    
  • Factorio - Yes
    
  • Oxygen Not Included - Probably
    
  • Rimworld/Terraria - Maybe

Long-form Review
Some background: I've played Factorio, Oxygen Not Included, Rimworld, Terraria, Minecraft, all extensively. I love think-y games like these and others, and Satisfactory provides so much more.

Satisfactory fairly compared to Factorio - both are factory building games that reward players for designing well-tuned factories. Place a miner over some iron, smelt it into iron bars, craft those iron bars into iron rods, turn those rods into screws, combine those screws with some iron plates and you've crafted your first Widget. Now craft hundreds more and combine your widgets into a MEGA WIDGET. So on and so-forth. If that sounds boring to you - picking yourself up by your bootstraps and literally building up civilization from scratch - then you might want to stop reading here. That said, many of you have likely played Factorio, or adjacent games like Oxygen Not Included and are wondering if it's worth letting go of a few more of your [Insert Local Currency Here] for a similar game.

But what sets Satisfactory apart from Factorio is that it brilliantly combines the thoughtful puzzling of a factory builder, with the sheer joy and excitement of an open-world exploration game. In Satisfactory you might spend equal time tuning and designing your factory as you will exploring the continent hunting for unique resources, upgrade modules, and staring at awe at the planet's 20 hand-crafted biomes.

The game gives you the tools be creative with your designs, too! Want to build a factory that looks like a sprawling megacity? Do it! Want to create a regal Grand Central Station for base? Go for it! Want to litter the countryside with phallic effigies?...technically possible! But the beautiful thing is that you don't HAVE to do any of these! Or, you can do them all – whenever you want. The game as it stands is entirely open-ended and relatively stress-free, from the moment you gain control of your character you can do whatever you’d like, go wherever you’d like, and that freedom is…exhilarating!

If you simply want a factory building experience without the explorative aspects of the game, you can have that. If you want a sandbox to build in then – in all honesty - Minecraft might be more your style - but you can ALSO accomplish that in Satisfactory with the right mindset. The game provides both mental and dexterity challenges but you can bypass each of these in creative ways using the tools at your disposal in ways that feel authentic to the gameplay experience!

But the game does have a tendency to feel lonely. You’re the sole human inhabitant of this far-off planet. And other than snuggling with your pack of “Lizard Doggos” or the voice of A.D.A. – the player’s snarky AI assistant - in your helmet, you’re on your own.

Unless…you bring some friends! Satisfactory offers drop-in-drop-out peer-to-peer multiplayer across both Steam and Epic versions of the game and the developers have mentioned that Dedicated Servers will be added to the game sometime…soon™. Until then, up to four pioneers can build together, fight monsters together, plan factories together, rebuild factories together, yell at each other for rebuilding that part of the factory without consulting the others, delete a pivotal conveyor belt out of spite for being berated by your friends, then go off and form a NEW factory, with NEW and BETTER friends who know that conveyor belts should be build at 90 degree angles and how DARE you even CONSIDER using the default recipe for crafting screws when the steel screw recipe is obviously superior in both throughput and resource requ-

On second thought, maybe the single-player experience is best for you. I kid, of course – it’s a nice change of pace to experience the full breadth of the game with your friends. And for the most part the multiplayer experience in Satisfactory is smooth. The game IS still in early access and there are a number of known bugs and issues, but all-in-all the game has been relatively bug-free and that’s an accomplishment worth praising these days. The game's team is incredibly communicative , and the community has responded in-kind with community-driven resources like satisfactory-calculator.com and the ficsit.app unofficial modding community.

If you enjoy think-y challenges and building structures in a massive open-world, you'll enjoy Satisfactory. If you want an FPS-forward adventure game, look elsewhere. But if you'd like some factory building mixed in with planet exploration mixed in with a bit of combat, you should absolutely consider buying Satisfactory.