Little Big Workshop

Little Big Workshop is an enjoyable entry in the management sim game. It features cute diorama style visuals, but has surprisingly deep systems to tinker with that will keep you focused and strategising for the best way to grow your factory.

68%Game Brain Score

gameplay, graphics

story, stability

84% User Score Based on 874 reviews

Critic Score 72%Based on 2 reviews

Platforms

Buy Nowfrom $3.35

Buy NowGet on Steam€19.99

Buy NowGet on Xbox Games Store

Buy NowGet on Play Store

Buy NowGet on Epic Games Store

About

Little Big Workshop is a charming factory management simulation game. Create, automate, and optimize production lines to fulfill client orders and grow your business. Oversee a vibrant cast of quirky workers and machines, each with their own personality and abilities. Expand your factory and discover new ways to build and innovate.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

84%

Audience ScoreBased on 876 reviews

gameplay29 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

Addictive gameplay that keeps players engaged for hours.
Charming graphics and cute character design enhance the overall experience.
Offers a surprising amount of depth in factory management and production planning.

Frequent bugs and glitches can disrupt gameplay and lead to frustration.
Worker AI is often inefficient, leading to idle workers and production bottlenecks.
Lack of meaningful late-game content and replayability can make the game feel repetitive.

gameplay
116 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
61%
14%
The gameplay of this game is characterized by its charming visuals and intuitive mechanics, offering a unique experience that rewards careful planning and strategy. However, many players find the lack of tutorials and the presence of tedious mechanics, such as manual repairs and slow progression, detract from the overall enjoyment. While the core gameplay loop is engaging, it can become repetitive and frustrating due to poorly explained mechanics and bugs, leading to mixed reviews on its depth and replayability.
- “From its charming visuals to its intuitive gameplay mechanics, this game offers a unique and enjoyable experience.”
- “The game mechanics are well thought out, providing a good balance between challenge and fun.”
- “The mechanics for planning your business create a perfect balance between automation and manual labor, and will keep you on your toes.”
- “I wanted to like this game, but there are several gameplay issues that don't seem to have an automatable solution, requiring constant babysitting.”
- “The whole maintenance mechanic is boring too; you basically have to sit and watch your stations and click a button to repair them.”
- “But after 3-4 hours of gameplay, you have unlocked everything in the game and you just repeat the same thing again and again forever.”
graphics
85 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
48%
6%
The game's graphics are widely praised for their cute, vibrant, and charming aesthetic, creating an engaging atmosphere that enhances the overall experience. While many players appreciate the attention to detail and the fun art style reminiscent of tabletop games, some have noted performance issues and graphical glitches that detract from gameplay. Overall, the visuals are considered a strong point, contributing to the game's appeal despite some criticisms regarding complexity and execution.
- “The game's attention to detail is evident in its beautifully rendered graphics, with vibrant colors and intricate designs that make the factory come alive.”
- “The graphics are bright and colorful, creating a cheerful and engaging atmosphere.”
- “The art style is adorable and clever; it is like they animated a tabletop game.”
- “After a few hours of playing, the graphics crap out and the game becomes unplayable, requiring a reload.”
- “Either the graphic card maxes out or the FPS drops to the bottom.”
- “My only major gripe is that the graphics are a bit grainy; even at 4K, they are pretty washed out. The characters have no collision either, as they walk through each other, which is always off-putting.”
story
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
7%
81%
11%
The game's story is generally perceived as lacking depth and brevity, with many players expressing a desire for a more substantial narrative or campaign mode. While the progression of client relationships serves as a loose storyline, it often feels secondary to the gameplay mechanics, leading to a sense of repetitiveness once the main objectives are completed. Overall, players appreciate the unique content and mechanics but wish for additional missions and a more engaging story experience.
- “Loved this game so much, wish there was more storyline to it; I feel like it was over so soon.”
- “Story, different situations to explore.”
- “I want story, not just telephone calls.”
- “The main storyline is short, but you can keep playing forever if you like.”
- “Bad - short game, no main objective, pointless story, nothing more to do after beating the rank 1 workshop.”
stability
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
8%
92%
The game's stability has received mixed feedback, with many players reporting various bugs and glitches that affect gameplay, particularly in worker management and building mechanics. While some users have experienced minimal issues and find the game enjoyable, others highlight significant frustrations with freezing, unresponsive AI, and technical shortcomings that detract from the overall experience. Overall, the game is seen as needing further optimization and updates to address these stability concerns.
- “Great game, no glitches.”
- “Other than that, it's really fun and runs great.”
- “However, at some point since launch this game has become a buggy mess.”
- “Really repetitive and unbalanced management sim with lots of little UX frustrations combined with a buggy worker AI and subpar technical implementation.”
- “Buggy, doesn't give you the tools to properly configure systems, very frustrating when you have tasks in multiple queues and 13 gnomes just sitting in the break room doing nothing, even though they're not tired.”
grinding
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
95%
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, particularly as they progress and manage increasingly complex production chains. While the initial gameplay can be enjoyable and rewarding, many reviewers note that the need for constant micromanagement and repetitive tasks leads to boredom and a lack of relaxation, detracting from the overall experience. The interface and management tools are often criticized for exacerbating the grind, making it feel more like a chore than a fun challenge.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “I'm sure there are more, but I've requested a refund because of all the hassle making it a tedious pain to play.”
- “It was fun for the first 5 hours, then things just become tediously boring.”
- “This is great early on and is fun to play around with, but later in the game when you have many complex products you want to build, it starts to get tedious to micromanage every product you want to make, and it makes it difficult to scale up properly while keeping your production chains running smoothly.”
humor
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
94%
18%
The game is praised for its charming humor, primarily through the cute gnomes and their amusing antics, which enhance the overall experience and engagement. Players enjoy the funny mini-games and dialogues, although some find that the humor can become repetitive as the game progresses. Overall, the lighthearted atmosphere and comedic elements contribute to its addictive nature and nostalgic feel reminiscent of classic tycoon games.
- “The adorable lil' workers add humor and personality to the game, making each task feel engaging and enjoyable.”
- “Despite having complex possibilities, it has a funny vibe, close to old games like Gadget Tycoon or Transport Tycoon, Theme Hospital.”
- “Although it needs a bit more work, it is definitely a solid game already, with interesting logistics challenges and management issues; what it lacks in being able to optimize workflow, it makes up for in aesthetic charm and humor in its dialogues.”
- “This happens in all unfunny variations that turn what should be a ten-second task into an ordeal that takes three to five times as long.”
- “The jokes fall flat and often feel forced, making it hard to enjoy the game.”
- “Instead of humor, I found myself cringing at the attempts to be funny.”
optimization
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
53%
18%
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with many players expressing frustration over poor performance on various hardware, including high-end GPUs, resulting in low frame rates. Critics highlight a lack of effective tools for optimizing production processes, which is particularly disappointing given the game's focus on factory optimization. Overall, while some enjoy the gameplay, the consensus is that significant improvements are needed in both performance and gameplay mechanics to enhance the optimization experience.
- “Performance - this game runs almost flawlessly.”
- “Or actually, indeed the gnomes are cute but this is a pretty deep and complex production line, logistic and space optimization game with nice art thrown in as a bonus.”
- “Fun little optimization puzzle.”
- “Overall, I like the game, but it has way too many stupid and poorly implemented mechanics that don't belong in a game that should be about production line optimization.”
- “The game seems not to be very optimized; I mean, 25 fps on a 3060, come on.”
- “For an optimization game, it just doesn't provide enough tools necessary to optimize stuff, and there are too many random factors.”
replayability
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
53%
20%
The game's replayability is a mixed bag, with some players finding it highly addictive and offering varied experiences, while others criticize it for having low replay value once completed. Many reviews highlight that, despite enjoyable gameplay, the lack of significant depth and repetitive elements may deter players from replaying after finishing the main content. Overall, while some aspects encourage multiple playthroughs, many users feel that the game does not provide enough incentive for repeated plays.
- “The fun and replayability is unlimited, and the tutorial does a very good job of teaching you everything.”
- “It's so highly addicting and the type of game that offers a lot of replay value because every time you play, it is a different experience, and it always leaves you wondering what's next.”
- “Very fun gameplay with replay value, since you can go into great detail with micro-optimizations.”
- “Fairly low replay value and unfortunately, due to reasons posted in others' reviews, the DLC doesn't appear to be worth the $10 price tag.”
- “Otherwise, the only drawback I can think of is the replay value; once you have gotten to the end of it, I doubt you will want to redo it again.”
- “It is always the same start/world/map (little to no replayability).”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
50%
The music in the game is described as fun and engaging, complementing the casual yet strategic gameplay. Reviewers appreciate its ability to evoke emotions, enhancing the overall experience with cute graphics and effective sound design. Overall, the music contributes positively to the game's well-designed atmosphere.
- “The game is well-designed and technically solid, with effective graphics, sound, and music.”
- “It's graphics and music scream casual, and the core gameplay scratches that deeper strategy itch.”
- “Comprehensive simulation gameplay that makes running a workshop rewarding and fun, cute graphics and music, plenty of clever intricacies.”
- “The music feels repetitive and lacks variety, making it hard to stay engaged.”
- “The soundtrack doesn't match the game's atmosphere, which detracts from the overall experience.”
- “The audio quality of the music is subpar, and it often feels out of place within the game.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's atmosphere is characterized by bright, colorful graphics and cute sounds, fostering a cheerful and relaxed environment that captivates players from the outset. Users appreciate the engaging and immersive quality of the atmosphere, which enhances their overall experience.
- “The graphics are bright and colorful, creating a cheerful and engaging atmosphere.”
- “The general atmosphere is relaxed; the graphics and sounds are cute and functional.”
- “This game manages to create a very particular atmosphere that I completely lost myself in from the start.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players appreciate the game's concept and overall enjoyment, despite some dissatisfaction with the character design. There is a hope for future updates that could introduce more diverse character designs, indicating a desire for improved character development.
- “After playing the game most of the night, I really like it, even though I hate the choice of character design. But I can live with that.”
- “All in all, a great concept, and I hope the developers keep updating this game and maybe add different character designs.”