NGU INDUSTRIES

77%
Game Brain Score Based on 1,293 reviews
  • gameplay
  • humor
  • story
NGU INDUSTRIES Game Cover
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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!

  • Mac OS
  • PC
  • Windows
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

77%
Audience ScoreBased on 1,293 reviews
gameplay19 positive mentions
grinding37 negative mentions
  • The game features a unique blend of factory management and idle gameplay, providing a fresh experience for fans of both genres.
  • The humor and quirky writing style of the developer, 4G, adds charm and entertainment value to the game.
  • It's free to play, making it accessible for anyone interested in trying out an idle game with depth and strategy.
  • The game can feel tedious and repetitive, requiring constant reconfiguration of production lines after upgrades, which can diminish the sense of progress.
  • Many players have reported that the game lacks meaningful depth and variety compared to its predecessor, NGU Idle.
  • The game has been abandoned by the developer, leaving it in an unfinished state with some impossible achievements.
  • gameplay95 mentions

    The gameplay of "Ngu Industries" has received mixed reviews, with some players appreciating its humor and engaging mechanics, while others find it tedious and shallow. The core loop revolves around resource management and incremental upgrades, but many feel it lacks depth and meaningful evolution over time, leading to repetitive gameplay. While some enjoy the strategic elements and optimization opportunities, others criticize the UI and the overall execution of the mechanics, suggesting that it may not appeal to fans of the original "Ngu Idle."

    • “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.”
    • “Unfortunately, by the time I unlocked Candy Land planet, the core mechanic shifted.”
  • humor70 mentions

    The humor in the game is a mix of sarcastic, low-brow, and sometimes forced jokes, often likened to the style of its predecessor, ngu idle. While many players find the humor charming and entertaining, some feel it can be tedious or overly simplistic, with a few noting that it occasionally detracts from gameplay. Overall, the game's comedic elements are appreciated by fans of silly humor and idle mechanics, making it a fun experience for those who enjoy this style.

    • “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.”
  • story38 mentions

    The game's story is characterized by its goofy, absurd humor and nonsensical elements, often drawing comparisons to the style of Douglas Adams. While some players appreciate the irreverent and quirky narrative, others find it lacking depth and integration within the gameplay, with many wishing for a more cohesive storytelling approach. Overall, the humor and art are well-received, but the story's execution leaves room for improvement.

    • “The game's descriptions, story lore, and other cosmetic aspects are hilarious and enjoyable, just like the spiritual predecessor, NGU Idle.”
    • “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!'.”
  • grinding37 mentions

    The grinding aspect of the game is widely criticized for being tedious and time-consuming, often requiring players to engage in repetitive tasks without meaningful feedback or rewards. While some players enjoy the grind typical of idle games, many find it frustrating and unengaging, leading to a sense of burnout and a lack of motivation to continue. Overall, the grinding experience is seen as a significant drawback, detracting from the enjoyment of the game.

    • “It doesn't ever quite feel like you're really solving interesting problems, and there's a distinct lack of feedback to help you figure out optimal solutions, which when there's a vast sea of choices to pick from doesn't help you progress other than by very grindy blind experimentation.”
    • “The tedious and time-consuming nature of balancing resources and optimizing object placement all for the reward of more tedious object placement.”
    • “The game can get tedious as you need to place many different buildings over and over in ever-changing ways (to progress through the game and satisfy building dependencies respectively).”
  • graphics28 mentions

    The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many players describing them as simplistic or reminiscent of MS Paint, yet some appreciate the charm and humor embedded in the art style. While the visuals are often criticized for being unattractive or inconsistent, others find them fitting for the game's tone and enjoy the hand-drawn aesthetic. Overall, the graphics are seen as a secondary aspect, with gameplay taking precedence over visual quality.

    • “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.”
  • optimization19 mentions

    The game's optimization features are a mixed bag, with many players finding the lack of quality of life improvements and auto-optimization tools frustrating, especially as the game progresses to later stages. While some enjoy the challenge of optimizing production chains and upgrades, others feel that the frequent need to rearrange setups after purchasing upgrades detracts from the overall experience. Overall, while the game shows potential for deep optimization gameplay, it requires significant improvements to make the process more enjoyable and less cumbersome.

    • “Similarly, players should be aware that they should upgrade their most space-intensive tech tier, rather than whichever one they 'want more of'; this is a factory game where footprint optimization is of the utmost importance.”
    • “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.”
    • “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.”
  • monetization7 mentions

    The monetization in the game has been criticized for being exploitative, with mechanisms that create artificial challenges to encourage spending, leading to perceptions of it as a cash grab. While some players find the microtransactions to be fair and not essential for enjoyment, others feel that the game is designed primarily to extract money rather than provide a quality experience. Overall, opinions are mixed, with some appreciating the free-to-play model while others condemn the underlying monetization strategies.

    • “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 legitimately not balanced around the purchase of them.”
    • “[*] The game has a lot of microtransactions, and they do speed the game quite considerably.”
    • “The problem is, such monetization mechanisms inherently influence the way the game is being designed, leading to more tedium and artificial problems that can be solved by paying more money.”
    • “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 fact that this is just a nasty cash grab.”
    • “If you're going to spend money playing video games, at least invest in high-quality, genuine games rather than this extremely lazy, low-quality, low-effort cash grab.”
  • music5 mentions

    The music aspect of the game has received largely negative feedback, with many users noting the absence of sound and music, leading to a dull experience. However, some mention that older versions of the game do feature music, alongside unique and complex gameplay elements. Overall, the lack of audio elements is a significant drawback for most 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.”
  • stability2 mentions

    The game is criticized for its significant stability issues, with numerous bugs affecting gameplay, such as resource production errors that lead to unintended losses. Despite its potential, players find it unpolished and frustrating due to these persistent problems.

    • “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.”
  • emotional1 mentions

    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 deep emotional engagement for players.

    • “It comes from his emotional wellness, an inspiration of something he could append to his work, and the ambition to do so.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

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Play time

11hMedian play time
55hAverage play time
8-70hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 6 analyzed playthroughs

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