Assembly Planter
- August 4, 2020
- Timon Herzog
- 27h median play time
Get on Steam"Assembly Planter" is a soothing puzzle game that challenges players to create efficient assembly lines using a variety of parts and tools. Careful planning and strategic thinking are required to minimize costs and pollution while meeting production goals. With its calming atmosphere and gradual increase in complexity, it's a great choice for fans of relaxing yet engaging puzzles.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game offers a unique shrinking mechanic that allows for recursive factory design, making it engaging and rewarding.
- At its price point, the game provides a significant amount of content and hours of entertainment, often exceeding expectations.
- The gameplay is simple to learn but offers depth and complexity as players progress, making it suitable for both casual and dedicated gamers.
- The user interface is clunky and can be frustrating, with many players reporting issues with controls and navigation.
- There are several quality-of-life features that are lacking, such as better inventory management and clearer tutorials, which can hinder the experience.
- Some players have experienced bugs and crashes, particularly in the late game, which can disrupt progress and enjoyment.
- gameplay82 mentions
- 24 % positive mentions
- 72 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by unique and engaging mechanics that encourage optimization and automation, though some elements can be counterintuitive and require a learning curve to fully grasp. Players appreciate the satisfying assembly mechanics and the potential for multiple playthroughs, but many have noted issues with the user interface and occasional crashes. Overall, the game offers a fun and affordable experience, typically providing around 20 hours of gameplay, with a strong focus on production line efficiency and a zen-like quality to the gameplay.
“The assembly mechanics are tight and satisfying.”
“Unique mechanics, plenty of playtime and potential for multiple unique playthroughs.”
“Very fun automation/idle game, could benefit from some kind of prestige mechanic, but balancing production of the various materials in an efficient manner is very fun.”
“Beyond the game's core concept, there's little other gameplay to be had.”
“The mechanics are amusing, but the way you get to them is extremely low quality.”
“There's this mechanic where you sift material to get seeds to plant more things, but there are multiple types of sieves as well as types of things to sift, and remembering what I need to sift where to get the things I needed was needlessly frustrating.”
- grinding42 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 5 % neutral mentions
- 95 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience; while some appreciate the rewarding nature of the gameplay, many criticize the tediousness of manual crafting and resource management. The need for multiple crafting benches and the difficulty in adjusting faulty machines contribute to a sense of frustration, particularly when resources are tight. Overall, the game blends farming and factory mechanics but can feel overwhelming and grindy at times, especially in the early stages.
“If you're tight on resources and need to adjust a faulty machine, this is extremely tedious.”
“Multiple crafting benches required to build items manually, which is just tedious.”
“The concept of manually adding more space in a not so controlled fashion for the player to build setups makes the game unnecessarily tedious, thus limiting the concept of expandability or grand scale automations such as main bus setup, thus forcing me to refund.”
- graphics18 mentions
- 22 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally considered adequate for its genre, with some reviewers noting that while they aren't exceptional, they serve the gameplay well, especially in late-game scenarios. However, there are reports of graphical issues, such as hard-freeze problems and repetitive textures, which detract from the overall experience. Despite these flaws, many players find the graphics acceptable and enjoyable, emphasizing that the gameplay compensates for any visual shortcomings.
“[b]Graphics:[/b] 4/5 - perfect for what the game is.”
“Good graphics and fun gameplay.”
“I hesitated buying for some time due to the graphic style (that I ended up liking), but let me tell you, the gameplay compensates for it.”
“Some peculiar graphics hard-freeze issues appear to be a plague, but very early access.”
“A few graphical and polish niggles - for example, the repeated texture on the grass (plus its artificial-feeling flatness and shininess) takes a bit away and feels somewhat amateurish.”
“Sure there are some rough edges in the interface, graphics, and depth, but would you really expect a Factorio or Satisfactory?”
- optimization16 mentions
- 19 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is praised for its scalability and performance, allowing players to manage large systems without overwhelming complexity. The unique shrinking mechanic enhances the optimization experience, making it enjoyable and accessible, though some users noted the need for better control over visual elements like particle effects. Overall, the game effectively balances fun and technical efficiency, appealing to fans of optimization and automation genres.
“The pressure is low, iteration is easy, and optimization is just as fun as any other factory game.”
“Fun factory simulator with a unique shrinking mechanic that encourages optimization without resulting in sprawling networks you have to manage.”
“Thanks in large part to the shrinker, it handles large scales extremely well from a technical and performance perspective.”
“The upgrades seemed unpredictable, thus I felt that after every major level I wanted to rebuild everything as they were just optimized. I feel a skill tree would improve this experience.”
“Needs a toggle button for the flying particles, not for performance, but because if you have advanced enough to have 400 million storage and they fluctuate, the particles get in the way.”
“Do you like optimization games, but don't want to have 20 wiki tabs open just to play the game?”
- music10 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 40 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally described as repetitive and overly intrusive, making it difficult for players to focus on gameplay for extended periods. While some find the sound effects satisfying, many prefer to keep the music off due to its tedious nature and short looping. Overall, the presentation, including the music, is considered unpolished and detracts from the gaming experience.
“Even the music is pleasant, though I usually have it off.”
“The sound effects are nice though; I kept them on a very low volume the entire time, very satisfying pops.”
“The background music loop, while not unpleasant, is 10 seconds long.”
“The music is too in your face for a game that you want to spend hours hyper-focusing on perfecting ratios and blueprints. I turned it off after just 20 minutes of gameplay. The sound effects are nice, though; I kept them on a very low volume the entire time, very satisfying pops.”
“The UI is a little clunky and the music gets repetitive.”
“The music got a bit tedious after a while.”
- story8 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 75 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The story is primarily mission-based, but players find the in-game guidance insufficient, often leading to frustration as they must repeatedly restart to progress.
“The in-game book or quest is less than helpful.”
“Eventually you'll come to figure out this game is mission-based and you must follow the intended course or restart over and over.”
- humor6 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the humor in the game to be quite engaging, often highlighting its amusing take on automation and assembly line design. The comedic elements resonate well, with many users appreciating the lightheartedness that complements the gameplay experience.
“Funny automation haha (beat the game in 42 hours)”
“Very funny.”
“Funny thing is that I had been dreaming of this exact same concept when I found this game (creating and shrinking assembly line designs) with the only difference being the planting part!”
- replayability4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Users consistently rate the game's replayability as excellent, with multiple reviews highlighting a strong desire to return to the game. This suggests that the game offers engaging content and experiences that encourage repeated play.
“Replayability: 5/5 - will definitely be coming back”
“Replayability: 5/5 - will definitely be coming back”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game is described as moderately buggy, with users recommending frequent saving to avoid issues. Despite these stability concerns, it remains highly enjoyable, particularly for fans of puns.
“Moderately buggy (save often) but a great game, especially if you like puns.”
