Satisfactory finally got its 1.0 update, and it’s what I hoped for and more. It’s not only brough a story into the game (of which I still have a lot to discover), but it also made a bunch of QOL changes and new features that the community has been asking for. And it’s got me replaying a game which I have 250+ hours on, and counting.

The gameplay of Satisfactory is basically just a factory building game. You build miners to extract ore from nodes, then smelt it, then refine it into increasingly complex products. But where the complexity lies is in trying to achieve 100% production efficiency. It’s not new gameplay at all, but where Satisfactory differs from other games in the genre is just how unstressful and somehow even relaxing it is. I can boot up Satisfactory, put on some YouTube video in the BG or music (or just listen to the great soundtrack of the game), and sure, yes, I may have to do some math, but it’s like trying to figure out a puzzle (plus, the handy built-in calculator makes it easier).

Due to the lack of a lose condition or a time limit, you can just relax while you build your factory the way you like it. There are enemies, yes, but they’re few and far between, and generally just a small nuisance. There’s a reason why it’s called Satisfactory: it’s full with a bunch of aha! moments that just make playing it a delight.

This doesn’t mean the game is easy. If you just want to build spaghetti factories and don’t worry about efficiency, sure, it’s easy. But balancing outputs and inputs, managing power, etc. adds some challenge to the game.

Amazing spaghetti factory by Let’s Game It Out

Apart from the gameplay, the game is just beautiful. Its music, like I mentioned before, but also its environment, graphics, etc. The alien world you’re living in is similar to Earth but different in so many ways too. You can look at the sky and see neighboring planets, hovering over you. And the factory buildings are beautiful in their own way, too. The space elevator towering over your factory, serving as a beacon to move towards when coming back from an adventure.

Screenshot from Satisfactory’s steam page

I also want to talk about the developers. Coffee Stain is an extremely transparent company. The regular updates and videos on the YouTube channel are a nice break from other companies’ more silent approach. They listen to feedback and it shows on each update. Snutt, the community manager at Satisfactory and the face of the YouTube channel, is pretty active in the community and also hilarious.

Jace was also a great CM for the game, though he left to pursue a solo carreer.

Overall, I just love this game. There’s much more I could say about it. It’s great to see how far it’s come and I’m happy it did as well as it did. Can’t wait to see what Coffee Stain is cooking up next.