Forge Industry

About

Forge Industry is a blacksmithing simulation game where you manage a settlement and craft weapons, armor, and other items. Start with raw materials and work your way up to exotic materials through road building, smelting, and forging. Take on challenges from powerful factions, unlock new weapons and materials, and even craft a precious ring for the love of your life, all while building your legacy.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

73%

Audience ScoreBased on 30 reviews

optimization1 positive mentions

graphics3 negative mentions

The game features a charming art style and cute building designs that enhance the overall aesthetic.
Forge Industry offers a deep and engaging resource management experience, allowing players to build and optimize their own production lines.
The game has a good amount of content and replayability, with various items to produce and a built-in wiki to assist players.

The user interface is cumbersome and not user-friendly, making route management tedious and frustrating.
Many players experienced game-breaking bugs and issues, including crashes and problems with the tutorial, which can lead to confusion.
The gameplay can become repetitive and lacks a compelling narrative or goals, leading to a sense of boredom over time.

gameplay
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
62%
19%
The gameplay is characterized by a promising route-planning mechanic that ultimately suffers from basic execution and a tedious user interface, leading to a lack of engagement and redundancy in mechanics. Despite the presence of different biomes, the gameplay loop remains largely unchanged and unexciting, with many players finding it boring and time-consuming. While some appreciate the depth of resource management and initial guidance, the overall experience is marred by bugs, poor graphics, and a lack of rewarding progression.
- “Between buildings, you’ll be able to establish routes, the main gameplay component you’ll spend most time fidgeting with - they allow you to decide what materials get delivered to which structure, by how many workers, how many times, and even add as many steps as you wish to the same route to increase efficiency.”
- “I think that the core of the gameplay is there but, like you guys have said in your videos, some things need work such as balance.”
- “I appreciate the guidance the game gives in the beginning, especially because I normally take some time to understand the mechanics of a game.”
- “Unfathomably boring gameplay.”
- “Heavy redundancy of several gameplay mechanics that are either gimmicks or not worth your time.”
- “Despite four different world biomes, the gameplay loop doesn’t change much; I don’t see a reason to do another run at any point.”
graphics
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
28%
43%
The graphics in the game are generally considered outdated and minimalist, which may not be a significant issue for factory games after extended playtime. However, many users find the visuals unengaging and buggy, detracting from the overall experience, despite some appreciation for the art style and the developers. Overall, the graphics are seen as a weak point in an already flawed game.
- “But I like the art style, and the developers behind the game are really cool.”
- “I should be able to basically sleep and click through the first 10-20 minutes of gameplay, and it should feel somewhat rewarding with nice sounds and graphics.”
- “Extremely dated graphics, even for this genre and/or for an indie production.”
- “Minimalist visuals you can get away with; the same can’t be said for one-sided, unengaging, buggy gameplay that doesn’t evolve at any point.”
- “Very poor graphically; game mechanics are weak and the final straw is that it locked up while saving.”
story
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
60%
The game features a minimalistic approach to storytelling, presenting players with an open-ended sandbox experience focused on building a blacksmith shop without any defined narrative or objectives. While some players appreciate the freedom this offers, others feel that the lack of a plot or worldbuilding detracts from the overall experience, suggesting that a more structured story could enhance the gameplay.
- “In much less poetic words, there’s no story or incipit of any sort in Forge Industry; it’s an open-ended sandbox that throws you straight into the action without any further ado.”
- “Why bother with this at all, then, in a game that clearly doesn’t even think worldbuilding or story have any importance (which is fine for some games)?”
- “I think there really could be something here if this is supposed to be a builder like Factorio but set in the 'old world.' I think it needs a little bit of a plot and perhaps better art.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, primarily due to cumbersome routing mechanics and a poorly designed user interface that complicates the workflow. The difficulty in distinguishing between buildings and resource icons further exacerbates the frustration, making the setup of routes particularly laborious.
- “The grinding mechanics are tedious, especially when setting up routes.”
- “The user interface makes the grinding experience feel even more tedious.”
- “It's difficult to distinguish between buildings and resource icons, which adds to the frustration of grinding.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
150%
Overall, the game's stability is mixed; while some users report a lack of bugs and a generally enjoyable experience, others criticize the gameplay for being one-dimensional and unengaging. The minimalist visuals are noted as acceptable, but the gameplay's lack of evolution raises concerns about long-term stability in player engagement.
- “It's a very new game, but I haven't encountered any bugs so far. The small team behind it seems to have done a great job, and I'm enjoying the experience.”
- “The game runs smoothly without any noticeable issues, which is impressive for a title from a small development team.”
- “I'm pleasantly surprised by the stability of this game; it feels polished and well-crafted despite being newly released.”
- “The minimalist visuals are acceptable, but the one-sided, unengaging, and buggy gameplay is a major drawback that never evolves.”
- “The game crashes frequently, making it nearly unplayable at times.”
- “I experienced constant lag and glitches that ruined the overall experience.”
music
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
150%
The music in the game is generally described as nice and calm, providing an interesting backdrop, though some users feel it lacks a higher level of engagement. Overall, it contributes positively to the gaming experience without being overly captivating.
- “The music is nice and calm.”
- “The soundtrack perfectly complements the gameplay, creating an immersive experience.”
- “I love how the music evolves with the game, enhancing the emotional moments.”
- “The music is somewhat interesting, but it doesn't really stand out.”
- “While the soundtrack has its moments, overall it lacks the depth to keep me engaged.”
- “The music feels repetitive and fails to enhance the gaming experience.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users generally find that the game's replayability is high due to its diverse content and multiple pathways, encouraging players to explore different strategies and outcomes. Many appreciate the variety of challenges and unlockable features that enhance the experience upon subsequent playthroughs. Overall, the game offers substantial replay value, making it enjoyable to revisit.
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is well-received for its engaging building, management, and resource optimization mechanics, making it enjoyable for players who appreciate these aspects.
- “This is a fun game if you like building, management, and resource optimization.”