Idle Expanse

About

Idle Expanse is a single player casual role playing game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Lyrical Games LLC and was released on September 7, 2020. It received neutral reviews from players.

Idle Expanse is a sci-fi themed incremental game where you play the role of the planet's most successful industrialist, whose greed knows no bounds. Your objective is to grow your wealth beyond what anyone has ever imagined, but why do it yourself when you can hire others to do it for you? Core gameplay revolves around hiring mercenaries, equipping them with the most "state of the bada** a…

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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56%

Audience ScoreBased on 106 reviews

gameplay4 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

Engaging idle/active hybrid gameplay with squad management, gear upgrades, and planet exploration providing a unique space-themed idle experience.
Well-polished visuals and interface with pleasant pixel art style and an atmospheric soundtrack matching the sci-fi theme.
Free to play without pay-to-win mechanics; the DLCs mainly offer convenience or minor boosts, and the developers appear responsive with regular updates.

Invasive anti-cheat system aggressively detects and shuts down the game based on running programs, including legitimate software unrelated to cheating.
Gameplay involves excessive clicking and micro-management for an idle game, leading to a slow and repetitive progression especially in mid-to-late game.
Save system issues causing loss of progress, combined with confusing UI and poor menu navigation that detract from the overall user experience.

gameplay
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
58%
18%
The gameplay offers a well-designed and visually appealing idle experience with unique mechanics involving multiple teams and quick-paced raids, along with engaging mini-games and humorous elements. However, it tends to become repetitive and stagnant after a short time, with some players finding the interface clunky, progression slow, and lacking depth compared to other strategy games. Overall, while initially engaging, the gameplay may not sustain long-term interest for all players.
- “Maximum casual idling with one of the best settings and mechanical structures I've seen.”
- “It has pretty unique mechanics for an idle game allowing you to set up and jump from team to team of space marines and having them do raids in different places similar to maybe Soda Dungeon but much faster paced and with multiple teams going at once; that's the end of the similarities though.”
- “Super engaging idle mechanics that keep you hooked for hours.”
- “Gameplay stopped evolving after a fairly short time, so it didn't seem worth investing more time.”
- “Missions are short and the only "idle" mechanic is on a ridiculously long timer, the tutorial doesn't explain a lot of things, menus feel clunky and constantly managing your merc's equipment is a chore.”
- “Very awkward interface and not very interesting gameplay.”
music
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
64%
27%
9%
The music is consistently praised for its fitting, space-themed style and strong soundtrack, enhancing the game's atmosphere without overpowering it. Although some note it isn't very frequent, the overall reception is positive, with many appreciating the artfully crafted background music.
- “I dig the art style and killer soundtrack; I could listen to the background music forever!”
- “For a space-themed game, the soundtrack is perfect.”
- “The soundtrack is great too!”
graphics
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
55%
18%
27%
The game's graphics are generally well-received, praised for their neat, polished pixel art style, cartoonish character design, and aesthetically pleasing UI. While visuals and audio stand out positively, some users find the graphics lacking in animation and visual variety compared to other games in the genre. Overall, the art style is a strong point despite limited gameplay content.
- “I dig the art style and killer soundtrack, I could listen to the BGM forever!”
- “The UI is very neat and aesthetically pleasing with cartoon-ish character and environment art.”
- “Well-designed interface with polished visuals.”
- “Those three have zero graphics, zero animation, and zero visuals.”
- “Graphics: 70/100”
- “Very nice graphics for an 'idle' game.”
story
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
37%
38%
The story aspect is minimal, lacking dialogue, a clear storyline, or overarching goals, resulting in repetitive and boring missions. Gameplay revolves around automated monster slaying and resource collection, with frequent manual checking required for contracts and bonuses. Overall, the narrative element is weak and primarily focused on basic progression mechanics.
- “Which is the missions.”
- “I imagine as the game progresses and the missions grow in length that will slow down a bit, but dang it's engaging.”
- “Boring, repetitive missions.”
- “There's no dialogue, storyline, or goal to speak of.”
- “And the repeating missions must be manually visited (at least once each time) to check for contracts, diamonds, bonus exp, and x2 speed boost.”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is often seen as repetitive and click-intensive, especially since key tasks like base turret management can't be automated. Players find limited benefit in grinding lower-level areas and prefer progressing to higher-level planets. While the idle aspect is appreciated, the early active gameplay is considered too grindy and tedious.
- “As things like the base turret can't be automated for grinding money and take many clicks.”
- “Grinding the same planet over and over doesn't have much benefit; it's always better to be on the highest level planet possible.”
- “If you're going to lock the idle function away, you should really make the active function less grindy and annoying up to that point.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by comical dialogue and amusing merc quotes during battles, which players find genuinely funny. The cartoonish art style complements the lighthearted tone, enhancing the overall comedic experience.
- “The comical dialogue barks when your mercs are in battle made me laugh.”
- “The mercs run around saying random quotes, it's hilarious!”
- “I enjoyed the cartoon-ish character and environment art.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's monetization heavily relies on microtransactions and paid DLCs to access features and progress, leading to a perceived low-quality, cash-grab experience. Additionally, the payment system is structured to avoid refunds, which has raised concerns among players, especially within the EU.
- “It requires you to buy DLCs for missing features and pay for progress through in-app purchases.”
- “This is a very low quality cash grab style game, and some people will get tricked out of their money by it as you're not allowed money back for what you pay to progress within the 30 days under law within EU, which is the sole reason the payment for the game is laid out that way instead of a price tag.”
- “There are always downsides to free games that have microtransactions.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game offers increased replayability through randomized levels unlocked via the "alternate realities" feature, which becomes available relatively quickly, enhancing the overall experience.
- “Randomized levels when you unlock 'alternate realities' (it's pretty quick to get there, to be honest) increase the replay value even more.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere is airy and immersive, creating a captivating experience that balances a relaxed vibe with occasional energetic moments to maintain engagement.