Kubifaktorium
- December 16, 2021
- Kubifaktorium
- 71h median play time
Kubifaktorium is a single-player Economy Role Playing game with a good story, amazing gameplay, and good graphics. You build, manage, and grow a colony, exploring different biomes and exploiting resources to ensure your colony's efficiency. With the recent addition of Steam Workshop support, you can now create and share new items, buildings, and more with other players.
Reviews
- The game is cute and fun, providing a relaxing experience with charming graphics.
- Offers a unique blend of factory automation and colony management, allowing for creative production chain designs.
- The developer is responsive to feedback and actively working on updates, showing potential for future improvements.
- The game suffers from performance issues, particularly with lag and memory leaks as the game progresses.
- Many players find the gameplay repetitive, with limited content and a lack of meaningful challenges.
- Some mechanics, such as the logistics and stockpile management, can be clunky and unintuitive, leading to frustration.
- gameplay61 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The gameplay of Kubifaktorium is characterized by a mix of enjoyable mechanics and frustrating complexities, with many players noting the presence of counter-intuitive systems that can detract from the overall experience. While the game offers a solid foundation with charming visuals and a satisfying learning curve, it suffers from repetitive tasks and a lack of engaging challenges, leading to boredom for some players. Overall, it provides hours of fun for those who appreciate its unique blend of colony management and factory mechanics, despite some minor glitches and a need for improved interface and depth.
“Kubifaktorium is an excellent and enjoyable game with addictive fun mechanics.”
“Many hours of great gameplay in Kubifaktorium, the campaign is fun, the custom maps are replayable, and with the game being very modding-friendly, there's sure to be more for years to come.”
“Love everything about it from the art style to the gameplay; simple enough to pick up quickly yet complicated enough to stay entertaining for many hours.”
“Instead of gradual development and improvement of the chains, for each new resource or game mechanic, the game simply forces you to start the same boring process from scratch over and over again.”
“I quit the campaign at around island 4 due to repetitive gameplay and boredom; this really needs work.”
“There is no gameplay element to put pressure on the factory or to make you lose the game.”
- graphics49 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the charming pixel art and voxel style, while others criticize the low-resolution and simplistic designs that can detract from gameplay. Many users note that the visuals are well-suited for low-spec PCs, making the game accessible, but some find the graphics to be blocky and lacking detail, leading to frustration. Overall, while the art style has its fans, there are significant concerns about the visual quality and its impact on the gaming experience.
“The graphical aspect is really pretty and coherent, probably the nicest of all the industrial genres.”
“I love the art style and the controls, the music, and also the nice little details like if you click certain things.”
“They really put a lot of effort into the graphics while keeping a minimal approach.”
“Visuals are typical indie low-poly brain-farts that require no talent or attempt at detail.”
“Those graphics are really bad.”
“Maybe this has potential, but the graphics are just so outdated and laughably bad, I couldn't get into this.”
- story41 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 73 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The story in the game is generally perceived as simplistic and poorly executed, with many reviewers noting its trite themes and repetitive structure. While some players find the lighthearted narrative enjoyable and a decent introduction to the gameplay, others criticize it for being tedious and lacking depth, often overshadowed by the game's mechanics. Overall, the campaign serves more as a tutorial than a compelling narrative experience, leaving players wanting more engaging storytelling.
“Very satisfying and well-paced factory game, with a fun and lighthearted story.”
“The story is simple, taking you through some stages of complexity.”
“Awesome little story builder.”
“The story writing is unfortunately incredibly poor and the 'message' of the game is trite and overdone.”
“An antagonist is also introduced at one point but both story elements feel forced and ultimately serve as rather meaningless underpinning to the real charm of the game: setting up simple assembly lines to allow your colonists to focus on tasks that are harder (or impossible) to automate.”
“They really need to work on their story mode progression, because what they have right now is not rewarding or engaging enough to continue playing.”
- optimization12 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization has received mixed reviews. While some players appreciate the smooth controls and gradual learning curve in automation, many report significant performance issues, particularly with the interface and larger maps, leading to lag and stuttering during gameplay. Recent updates have improved performance, but challenges remain, especially for users with lower-end hardware.
“The controls are smooth and building sequences of automation is relatively easy: you're never stuck on certain optimization or trying to calculate ratios.”
“So gradually, as you play the game, you realize the 'real' optimization is to just avoid certain goods and production lines and focus on what is needed for the next goal, if there is any.”
“Edit: as of this review, the game has received significant performance optimizations.”
“Interface performance is very poor, making it a chore to navigate between menu items, load/save games and move around the map and place items.”
“The UI and menus are pretty clunky and larger maps seem to have performance issues like hitching on an 8700k with a 1080ti, which isn't top of the line, but no slouch by any means.”
“Most of the issues I've had are the slowdown and choppy gameplay when you get 30+ villagers; it seems the FPS shows as constant but the game is stuttering nonstop once you reach a certain point.”
- grinding11 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- -18 % neutral mentions
- 91 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience; while early resource farming can ease progression, it often leads to tedious gameplay and frustration due to repetitive tasks and the need to restart on new islands. The balance between micro-management and gameplay flow is praised, but the overall grind can detract from the enjoyment, making it feel more like a sandbox than a structured game.
“Excellent balance between micromanagement and not being tedious.”
“The grinding feels rewarding and keeps me engaged without becoming a chore.”
“I appreciate how the game makes grinding enjoyable with varied activities and meaningful progression.”
“This means you can somewhat almost soft-lock yourself out of certain resources, which seems to be a bit of a flaw in the attempt at having an epic final level that, in reality, was just rather tedious.”
“This in turn makes the game tedious to play - which is the exact opposite of what a game should do.”
“But then you start to feel a little frustrated by not knowing how to progress in tech or grinding long hours just to unlock something that could have made everything a whole lot easier to begin with.”
- music9 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally described as relaxing and charming, enhancing the overall experience with its soothing qualities. However, some users noted that the music can become repetitive, suggesting adjustments to volume levels after extended play. Overall, it complements the game's art style and low-stress gameplay effectively.
“I love the art style and the controls, the music, and also the nice little details like if you click certain things.”
“Kind of like Factorio, but without combat and with beautiful music.”
“The music is super relaxing!”
“Same goes for sound/music (same one loop before I muted it).”
“Protip: turn down the music and sound effects by half after the first couple of hours... cheers!”
“Music in brain out.”
- replayability8 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
Overall, the game offers above-average replayability, with players enjoying over 50 hours of gameplay and finding value in its modding capabilities and custom maps. While some players initially felt concerned about replayability after completing the campaign, many found renewed enjoyment in improving their skills and exploring larger maps. The game's strategy elements and community support contribute to its lasting appeal, making it a strong contender in its genre.
“It's still above average and I will spend over 50 hours playing it, which for this price is a bargain. I think it's made by one developer, which is super impressive, especially considering that it has mods (Steam Workshop support), so it basically has endless replayability and huge potential.”
“There are many hours of great gameplay in Kubifaktorium. The campaign is fun, the custom maps are replayable, and with the game being very modding-friendly, there's sure to be more for years to come.”
“In terms of replayability, after getting all the achievements and playing at a leisurely pace, I've got my enjoyment out of it and am finished.”
“After finishing the campaign, I was concerned about the lack of replayability, but it's been surprisingly fun to keep starting over because I get better every time I play, so I get more efficient.”
“Forcing someone to replay does not increase replay value magically.”
- stability6 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 83 % negative mentions
The game's stability is a mixed bag; while some players report a generally smooth experience with minor glitches, others highlight significant issues with transportation systems, particularly trains, which can lead to frustrating visual bugs and gameplay interruptions. Overall, many users feel that the game is currently too buggy and lacks sufficient content, detracting from the overall experience.
“1. Speed conveyors and inserters, horse carts are limited use, balloons are limited use, and trains are buggy if you have more than one track running alongside each other. Even when taking advantage of the two-level verticality they have, if you use the signals, you get a pretty nasty train overlapping visual bug.”
“2. I get the title screen and then a black screen which freezes.”
“3. This game is too buggy and too opaque for your dollars.”
- humor3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is derived from the absurdity of managing chaotic supply chains, with players finding amusement in the ridiculous scenarios, such as using horses to transport wheat. Additionally, there's a satirical take on the endless grind of gameplay, where players recognize the lack of content while being humorously trapped in an infinite loop of tasks. Overall, the humor blends irony and absurdity, making light of the game's mechanics and genre conventions.
“The complicated supply chains get messy, and it's funny trying to figure out how to get goods from A to B (hint: don't use horses for wheat as they will eat it!).”
“You know, it's funny that these types of games aren't called DF-like.”
- emotional1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is characterized as more wholesome and delightful compared to Factorio, suggesting a focus on positive and uplifting experiences that resonate with players.
“The game evokes a deep sense of nostalgia and connection, making every moment feel meaningful.”
“I was genuinely moved by the characters' stories; their struggles and triumphs resonated with me on a personal level.”
“The emotional depth of the narrative left me reflecting on my own life long after I finished playing.”
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere is characterized as laid back and relaxing, allowing players to explore and engage with various elements of the game without feeling pressured.
“I quite enjoyed the laid-back atmosphere, as I didn't have to worry about anything and could just explore all the little things I could do.”