NGU INDUSTRIES

About

NGU INDUSTRIES is a single player action game. It was developed by 4G and was released on April 5, 2021. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

NGU Industries (sequel to NGU Idle) is a free-to-play idle game and Factory Manager! It's packed with weird humor, tons of upgrades, and many hours of content!

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

76%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,311 reviews

gameplay19 positive mentions

grinding39 negative mentions

Engaging gameplay with a deep system of resource management and optimization.
Humorous writing and quirky art style that adds charm to the game.
High replayability with various strategies to explore and a constant sense of progression.

Game development has been abandoned, leaving it incomplete and with some impossible achievements.
Frequent need to rearrange production setups after upgrades can be tedious and frustrating.
Lacks the depth and satisfaction of its predecessor, NGU Idle, making it feel repetitive over time.

gameplay
95 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
71%
9%
The gameplay of "Ngu Industries" has received mixed reviews, with some players appreciating its unique mechanics and humor, while others find it tedious and shallow compared to its predecessor, "Ngu Idle." Many users note that the core gameplay loop revolves around resource management and incremental upgrades, but it can become repetitive and lacks depth as the game progresses. Overall, while there are interesting elements and potential for optimization, the execution leaves some players feeling frustrated and disengaged.
- “Be warned that it's kind of silly and tongue-in-cheek, but the mechanics are rich and engaging.”
- “The production chain mechanic is well done and offers deep and interesting optimization gameplay.”
- “Nug Industries is a wonderful idle game that takes the time to give you the basics of the core mechanic, of producing things and making the numbers go up, then lets you add more complexity by research and progression, not overloading you with too many things at once at all.”
- “The whole gameplay just consists of placing a few resource generators on a map, closing the game, and waiting till you get lots of flasks, then getting a few upgrades and repeating it all with just harder to craft flasks.”
- “The core gameplay loop here simply is more frustrating than fun.”
- “The gameplay feels just tedious most of the time.”
humor
73 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is a mix of low-brow, silly, and sometimes forced jokes that resonate well with fans of the developer's previous work, particularly "ngu idle." While some players find the humor charming and entertaining, others feel it can be tedious or overly simplistic, with mixed opinions on its effectiveness in enhancing gameplay. Overall, the game's comedic elements are a significant draw for many, contributing to its addictive nature despite some criticisms of its execution.
- “The sarcastic humor adds a great touch to the game environment, and I particularly enjoyed the simple yet illustrative art.”
- “A free game that made me laugh within the first minute was already worth the download.”
- “The game's descriptions, story lore, and other cosmetic aspects are hilarious and enjoyable just like the spiritual predecessor ngu idle was.”
grinding
39 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The grinding aspect of the game is widely criticized for being tedious and time-consuming, with many players feeling that it detracts from the overall enjoyment. While some appreciate the depth and potential for long play sessions, the repetitive nature of resource management and constant rebuilding leads to frustration and a lack of rewarding progression. Overall, the grinding experience is seen as a significant drawback, often overshadowing the game's positive elements.
- “The tedious and time-consuming nature of balancing resources and optimizing object placement all for the reward of more tedious object placement.”
- “The game is actually so fricking tedious, and it isn't fun in the slightest, compared to the original.”
- “This is tedious, time-consuming, and un-rewarding.”
story
38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
74%
8%
The game's story is characterized by its goofy, absurd humor and irreverent style, often drawing comparisons to Douglas Adams' work. While some players appreciate the lighthearted and nonsensical narrative, others feel it lacks depth and integration within the gameplay, with many elements presented as separate tabs rather than woven into the experience. Overall, the story is seen as a mix of entertaining jokes and quirky art, though opinions vary on its effectiveness and coherence.
- “The game's descriptions, story lore, and other cosmetic aspects are hilarious and enjoyable, just like the spiritual predecessor, NGU Idle, was.”
- “4G has a way of turning simple games into complex story arcs and making an idle game interesting and last more than a day.”
- “With some amounts of humor and a very deep story, it is greatly recommended!”
- “The story is mostly nonsense.”
- “There is a 'story' implemented in the form of short chapters that don't seem to directly relate to each other, but the writing is... well, I read a few, and didn't have the patience for any more.”
- “In ngu, the story consists of very dumb silly jokes, laziness like 'yoho you landed on a sand, butt is hurt, get up, take a gun and don't forget to open your eyes, dooooh!'.”
graphics
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
71%
11%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many users describing them as simplistic or reminiscent of MS Paint, yet some appreciate the charm and humor in the hand-drawn style. While the visuals are often criticized for being unattractive or inconsistent, they are also noted for fitting the game's overall tone and enhancing the comedic elements. Ultimately, players seem to agree that while the graphics are not the main draw, they contribute to a unique and entertaining experience.
- “The graphics aren't a masterpiece, but everything fits well, and I like this kind of MS Paint graphics.”
- “The hand-drawn visuals have their charm, and the sense of humor is there, if not just a little forced.”
- “Everything about the game has an irreverent but polished and unified style, from the artwork in the frame around the window to the giant red tutorial arrow, to the story descriptions.”
- “The graphics are disgusting too, I'm not a fan of the MS Paint aesthetic.”
- “The graphics are an improvement from NGU, but let's be real, you're not playing this thing for the graphics. If that is where the dev-time went, I view that as a massive mismanagement of resources.”
- “Not that it really matters for the genre, but the humor is as childish as ever, typos on just about every single screen in the game, and an incoherent art style make the game rough on the eyes.”
optimization
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
63%
16%
The game's optimization features are a mixed bag, with players noting that while it offers deep and interesting gameplay, the lack of quality of life improvements and auto-optimization tools can make the experience feel tedious, especially in later stages. Many users find the upgrade systems confusing and feel that optimizing production chains is challenging due to frequent resource imbalances caused by upgrades. Overall, while the game can be enjoyable for those who appreciate optimization, significant improvements are needed to enhance the user experience and streamline gameplay.
- “The production chain mechanic is well done and offers deep and interesting optimization gameplay.”
- “The optimization challenge is in which upgrades to get in which order and which products to optimize your factory for.”
- “It feels like early game of idle for me - lots of optimization to do, but still able to 'idle' it effectively for progress if you have time.”
- “The game needed more quality of life and auto-optimization/placement features because it felt like a chore as soon as you got to the third island.”
- “I really wanted to like this game, but without significant optimization, it's just boring and unfun with confusing, disconnected upgrade systems and minimal progress.”
- “It's next to impossible to build an optimized production chain, both because the input/output amounts are difficult to really know, much less match, and as you buy upgrades, what balance you once had gets thrown off.”
monetization
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The monetization in this game has been criticized as a cash grab, with many users noting the presence of numerous microtransactions that can significantly speed up gameplay. While some players find the monetization fair and the game enjoyable, others feel it lacks balance and quality, suggesting that it prioritizes profit over player experience.
- “If you like idle games, you will probably enjoy this. It is free, and the monetization is very fair, so it doesn't hurt to give it a try and see.”
- “Has microtransactions, but they are legitimately not balanced around the purchase of them.”
- “The game has a lot of microtransactions, and they do speed the game up quite considerably.”
- “It's laid out with more of a production line process than most clicker idlers, but this slightly more complex model shouldn't detract from the way this is just a nasty cash grab.”
- “If you're going to burn money playing video games, at least spend your money wisely on high quality, genuine games rather than this extremely lazy, low quality, low effort cash grab.”
- “The game has a lot of microtransactions, and they do speed the game quite considerably.”
music
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
20%
60%
The music aspect of the game has received mixed feedback, with some users noting a complete absence of sound or music, leading to a dull experience. Conversely, others appreciate the presence of music in older versions, highlighting its unique and complex gameplay despite its age. Overall, the lack of sound design appears to be a significant drawback for many players.
- “It is also old, but has music, graphics, and some core gameplay which is unique and complex.”
- “Meh, the game has no music, sound, or much of anything; it's pretty dull.”
- “Alright, apparently, the developer gives no care about graphics, story, animation, sounds, or music (there is no sound/music/animation to begin with).”
- “I relaxed for 5 minutes to this music long enough to realize that I was going to be okay.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, with numerous bugs affecting gameplay, such as resource production mechanics that lead to unintended losses. While it shows great potential, the overall experience is marred by its unpolished state.
- “Buggy as hell - for example, buying an 'improving resource production of iron and copper industries' somehow ends up with losing copper and iron afterwards, with no changes to placed structures.”
- “Tl;dr buggy, unpolished idle game with a frick-ton of potential.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is rooted in the protagonist's journey of self-discovery and wellness, driven by inspiration and ambition to enhance their work. This connection fosters a deeper engagement with the narrative and character development.
- “It comes from his emotional wellness, an inspiration of something he could append to his work, and the ambition to do so.”