Anyone else playing? It’s an exploration base builder / crafting game with a light SCP setting, at least in the early going. Hopefully the weirdness ramps up. Full release July 2025 after a year of early access. The big negative is that people say it looks ugly, so if you can’t get into the aesthetic you’re in good company. I kind of like it. Anything 3D is fine by me, usually.
I picked this up during the Spring sale on Steam and got really into it a week or so ago. I’ve spent many dozens of hours playing with base designs, and in terms of story I just finally unlocked Manufacturing West.
The first time returning from Manufacturing West on the tram convinced me that on top of the security station outside the cafeteria is the intended place to build your base. Or at least a base; I don’t know yet if one single base location can suffice for the whole game. Right next to the tram seems promising, at least.
It’s not currently on sale so now is not the ideal time to pick up, unfortunately.
I saw mention of this game in the general video games thread and have become somewhat obsessive reading reviews of it, as it sounds just up my alley. But I’m trying very hard to wait for a sale. I will not last long if one is not forthcoming.
Yeah, I’d been similarly closely eyeing it for a couple months until the spring sale. But looking at my receipt, it still cost me $27.07 before tax. I picked it up in a bundle with Planet Crafter to get that price even though I already owned Planet Crafter. It’s on a similarly meager sale now for $29.73 at gamebillet in case you wanna say screw it. Or maybe the bundle is better if you also already own Planet Crafter.
Okay, I’ve tested makeshift batteries and have some numbers.
First, night lasts 4:30. One battery lasts 4:10, a second chained battery lasts 1/2 that (2:05), a third battery lasts a 1/3 of the original (1:23), fourth lasts 1/4 (1:02), etc… One battery on each device leaves you 20 seconds short each night.
To avoid chains, have one battery connected to a plug strip, and that plug strip connected to three batteries powering three devices. That initial battery will last longer than 20 seconds so you’ll have uninterrupted power for all three of those devices. Add as many groups like this as you please, power outlets supply infinite power.
Technically a single battery can provide the extra 20 seconds for up to 5 devices (each with their own battery), but it’s cleaner to just do one extra battery per power strip and call it good enough.
For military purposes I tend to want multiple devices on a single line that I can feed through a switch, turning them all on and off at the same time. How many batteries you need in a single chain to power x number of devices was difficult to google, and I’m finding most of the numbers on wiki wrong. Although it’s possible my testing is flawed, here are the numbers I get in-game with default settings:
Devices
1:5
Chained
Tax
1
2
2
0
2
3
4
1
3
4
5
1
4
5
7
2
5
6
9
3
6
8
11
3
7
9
14
5
1:5 being the optimal setup of one battery feeds 5 batteries powering 5 devices. Chaining them isn’t too bad up to three devices, only requiring a single extra makeshift battery.
The irony is all of this will become moot in short order when I unlock the next level of battery, which I feel like I’m about to do.
I played 100+ hours of this last year solo and, despite the low res voxel graphics, the gameplay is quite deep and involved. If the game had been made with a conventional graphic style, I imagine it would have made a bigger splash. I appreciate gameplay over graphics so I quite enjoyed my time with it, but I did peter out before the end. Maybe I would have stuck with it with a group.
I’m always surprised when people get caught up on the graphics of it, I like old 3D graphics and have a soft spot for PSX/N64 looking games. Guess I was in the minority.
And seeing how many people are interested in it on this board, would it be a bad idea to start a server for all board members to join in on? The game is normally 6 player, but with dedicated servers you can go up to 24 I believe.
Abiotic Factor is included in the Playstation Plus Extra/Premium tier, in the off chance you have that.
I think I have to start over, having just unlocked Manufacturing West. That’s still very early, right? (lol at my 70 hours played already.)
My character choices were abysmal; I need the extra two hotbar buttons so badly. Stinks that character creation choices are so lopsided. I don’t care at all that my character with crafting bonuses crafts things a quarter second faster or whatever the bonus is.
I finished it on the PC, I do wonder if I miss much or have a much harder time because I play it single player having nobody to co-op with. Do they put in more enemies with co-op?