Jynks
some heroes are born, some made, some wondrous
Factory Games are fast becoming the best genre in gaming.
So every now and then, we see a new genre emerge in gaming. It’s not as rare as you might think. Even if we ignore the birth of mobile gaming, we observe brand new genres popping up fairly regularly. While games like Doom, Heroes of Might and Magic, Master of Orion, XCOM, Space Invaders, Dune 2, and others are lauded, people tend to forget that many game archetypes, such as Hidden Objects, Meme Games, Job Simulators, Board Game Conversions, Idle Games, Survival Games, Walking Simulators, etc., are actually quite recent additions to the gaming landscape.
Back in 2013, one of these new genres came into being with a game called Factorio, known as Factory Games or Automation Games. The defining characteristic of these games is the player building vast networks of objects that form a production chain of some kind, taking an input and outputting another kind of thing, usually to feed as an input into a different chain, and so on.
Side Note: First does not mean definitive. There was RTS games before Dune 2 and first person shooters before Doom and even Wolfenstien, but it was Dune 2 and Doom that defined the entire genre. They are the games that form the definition that other games look to. Just like Kings Bounty was before Heroes of Might and Magic and so on. So yes, automation games did exist before Factorio , but it was Factorio that solidified the genre.
Anyway, these games are ridiculously addictive and extremely fun. I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that they are easily my favourite type of game at the moment.
There are no AI issues, as the point of the game is the mental puzzle of creating the production lines. There are no "old man reflex issues," as there is usually no combat, or at least minimal combat. There is no monopoly of attention; you can walk away from the computer at any time, take a phone call, or whatever, and the game simply sits there until you return, without change. I could go on, but the genre as a whole bypasses almost all the pitfalls and issues that plague most all "strategy" games, realtime or turnbased.
Then there are the positives. The games provide a steady drip-feed of dopamine, with small but continual achievement milestones. There is a creative aspect, as much of your playtime is devoted to building the "perfect" base. In fact through the move to 3D these games are becoming more creative play sets, like lego or something, than ever before. They are mentally stimulating, almost like puzzle games. They tap into a fundamental human desire for creation. The construction of a functional "factory" that takes days to build—not merely aesthetic but actually operational—brings an incredibly satisfying feeling as you sit and watch it do its thing.
I liken these games, particularly the 3D ones, to a "train set," much like the one your grandad used to have in his garage. You build these worlds, set them up, make them beautiful, and then watch them go. I think that’s key: they are functional. They do something. It isn't ike a city sim where exiting is the only point of the stuff you build.
These games have come a long way since Factorio was released in 2013, and we’re just beginning to see the genre branch out, expanding beyond the base core concept. For example, there’s Hero Factory, where you construct RPG-style heroes from statistics like Strength, Intelligence, skills, and the like, then send them to fight in automated battles. This flips the genre on its head, allowing the player to design and optimise their own "products" to fulfil a task rather than the game providing a product for them to build. There is Block Factory where you design lego blocks and can use them to make all these fancy builds.
This genre is quickly becoming the most addictive and, consistently, the best value for money games in my library. I love these games and have not played a single one that wasn't awesome.
So whether you’re playing granddaddy Factorio (a new game-sized DLC just launched vtw), Satisfactory (the breakout game that mainstreamed the genre and is a shoe in for the game of the year and golden joystick), Shapez 2 (the game that strips the genre to its very core), or one of the newer titles like Desynced, which doesn’t use belts and instead employs a visual programming language—this genre is something special.
My Top Recommendations
• Satisfactory
• Shapez 2
• Factorio
• Astro Colony
• Mindustry
• Foundry
Games on "Buying and Playing Next" list
• Oxygen Not Included
• Dyson Sphere Program
• The Crust
• Final Factory
• Block Factory
• Desynced
Some Other Games
• Block Factory
• Techtonica
• Facteroids
• Infinifactory
• Infraspace
• Oddsparks
• Plan B Terraform
• Starground
• Autoforge
• Hydroneer
• Atrio : The Dark Wild
• Kubifaktorium
• Factory Town
• Captain of Industry
