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Nucleares

Nucleares Game Cover
80%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:gameplay, graphics
Most mentioned negative aspects:stability, optimization
80% User Score Based on 719 reviews

Platforms

PCWindows
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Nucleares Game Cover

About Nucleares

Nucleares is a single player shooter game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Iván Marcelo Pretti and was released on March 13, 2023. It received positive reviews from players.

Update NotesMajor Updates: Enhanced Core and Safety Systems (V 2.2.21.172) New Core Design: Operate a reactor with nine fuel blocks and 72 control rods for increased power output and complexity. Advanced Safety Features: Three-tier resistance banks, improved circulation pumps, and real-time monitoring panels for control rods and fuel blocks. Operational Tasks App: Manage reactor functions remo…

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Nucleares screenshot
Nucleares screenshot
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Nucleares screenshot
Nucleares screenshot
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Nucleares screenshot
Nucleares screenshot
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Reviews

80%Audience ScoreBased on 719 reviews
gameplay15 positive mentions
stability27 negative mentions
  • Very detailed and unique nuclear reactor simulation with a deep and rewarding learning curve.
  • Active and responsive solo developer with frequent updates and community engagement.
  • Fun gameplay involving reactor management, maintenance, upgrades, and disaster scenarios.
  • Steep and poorly supported learning curve due to insufficient in-game tutorials and unclear documentation.
  • Numerous bugs and performance issues including save/load instability, UI problems, and AI helper glitches.
  • Missing or broken multiplayer/co-op features and some gameplay mechanics lacking realism or polish.

  • gameplay

    85 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    18% positive mentions, 76% neutral mentions, 6% negative mentions

    The gameplay offers an in-depth, complex nuclear reactor simulation that appeals to players who enjoy learning intricate systems, though it suffers from a steep learning curve, minimal guidance, and occasional unclear or unrealistic mechanics. While some players appreciate its immersive challenge and ongoing expansions, others find it punishing, buggy, and lacking adequate tutorials or explanation for new features. Overall, the gameplay loop centers on managing reactor stability with a balance of routine adjustments and crisis management, but may become repetitive or frustrating without better support and refinement.

    • “There are many ways to play this game, and the reality is you really don't need to spend a lot of time learning the mechanics in order to run the plant decently.”
    • “The joy lies in immersing yourself in the intricate systems—adjusting valves, mastering mechanics, and experiencing the thrill of knowing that even the smallest misstep could lead to disaster.”
    • “Overall, this game offers a unique and engaging experience for players who are eager to learn and master intricate mechanics.”
    • “I tried wandering the facility and dozens upon dozens of huge mechanical things have no tooltips, no idea what they are.”
    • “Used to enjoy this game, until the last big update which introduces new mechanics with zero explanation on what they do, affect, etc. Dev needs to put better explanations, tutorials, and control panel layouts; as well as actually putting the switches for the new valves on the correlating control panel.”
    • “There's a welding mechanic with no tutorial and no feedback so even if you wanted to try it yourself you'll likely give up after failing and learning nothing.”

  • graphics

    43 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    16% positive mentions, 77% neutral mentions, 7% negative mentions

    The graphics of the game are modest and somewhat inconsistent, often causing frame drops and micro-stutters even on high-end PCs, though they are considered decent for an indie title developed by one person. While not visually impressive or highly optimized, the graphics effectively support immersion and gameplay focus on simulation rather than visual fidelity. Players appreciate the game's niche aesthetic but note performance issues and graphical roughness compared to AAA standards.

    • “It practically teaches you everything about a real nuclear power plant (like the control room part of a power plant). It's not completely graphically accurate to a real nuclear reactor but it's close enough to make it immersive feeling.”
    • “Stunning graphics, incredible simulation.”
    • “While the graphics are modest, considering it's developed by a single individual, the mechanics are excellent and well thought out.”
    • “Even with a 9950x3d and an RTX 5090 (that for some reason is heavily taxed by this game despite its simple graphics), this game has wildly inconsistent framerates ranging from 29 fps to 111 fps along with occasional hiccups and stutters.”
    • “The only drawback is the low graphics performance (on GTX 1050 Ti the framerate in 2560x1440 does not exceed 40).”
    • “With the highest setting there are framedrops, while not really improving the graphics all that much, so the settings are somewhat pointless to max.”

  • stability

    27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game is notably buggy and unstable, with frequent glitches, a problematic save system, and multiplayer issues, though the developer is actively addressing many problems through updates. While these stability issues hinder gameplay and user experience, the game's potential and engaging core mechanics keep players invested despite its unfinished and unpolished state.

    • “One of the most unstable multiplayer games I've ever played; it's extremely buggy and feels like an unfinished game. Multiplayer issues and frequent bugs make it hard to recommend playing with friends.”
    • “Consider the game an unfinished buggy demo.”
    • “The UI is very buggy; changing settings often has no effect or shows incorrect values.”

  • optimization

    27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    11% positive mentions, 52% neutral mentions, 37% negative mentions

    The game's optimization is notably poor, with frequent performance drops, lag spikes, and inefficient rendering—especially during picture-in-picture views—resulting in heavy CPU usage and issues even on high-end systems. While the simulation itself is praised, significant improvements in performance and optimization are needed to provide a smoother experience.

    • “According to the developer, he has already implemented all of his ideas, so all that remains is to finalize performance, which is essential here.”
    • “Performance is okay but be warned a strong CPU is needed as the game is a sim.”
    • “Awesome game in everything, I'm addicted already but performance of the game must be improved; it is fine but it is noticeable that it's slow at times and FPS drops on my mid-high end range PC seem weird for such a 'graphically simple' game.”
    • “The performance dies anytime it does picture-in-picture to show some other part of the reactor, as if it's rendering a second 4k display to a small part of the screen instead of letting that second camera be intentionally low-res with simplified settings (even AAA games like Hitman do this where you can tell their picture-in-picture uses different settings to save on performance).”
    • “Very, very badly in need of optimization.”
    • “However, the developer needs to significantly improve the performance because this game runs like crap on a high-end system.”

  • story

    14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    7% positive mentions, 64% neutral mentions, 29% negative mentions

    The game largely lacks a defined story, with most users noting its absence, though a few mention a minimal or unclear narrative. Players suggest that adding training missions or scenarios could enhance understanding and engagement. Overall, the focus remains more on gameplay dynamics than storytelling.

    • “No story”
    • “No story”
    • “No story”

  • grinding

    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 50% neutral mentions, 50% negative mentions

    Grinding in the game is described as extremely time-consuming and repetitive, requiring extensive trial and error, guide consultation, and significant effort to upgrade components. Players may find the process monotonous and costly, appealing mainly to those who enjoy detailed, tedious simulations.

    • “So you're left with this both frustrating and tedious yet still interesting trial and error process, but I can tell you now, you will need to consult guides or watch videos of how to do certain things; I have 50+ hours in the game and I still can't get it right every time.”
    • “You can upgrade your components, but it is so prohibitively expensive that it takes a huge amount of grinding to get there.”
    • “It is an odd kind of game and I think in order to like it you must like a bit of monotony and tediousness.”

  • music

    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    38% positive mentions, 24% neutral mentions, 38% negative mentions

    The music in the game is widely praised for enhancing the immersive atmosphere and making key moments, like running the reactor, feel exciting. While some players prefer to turn the music off for realism, many find it highly enjoyable and have requested its release independently. However, there is feedback suggesting improvements in sound effects and more seamless volume adjustments.

    • “The use of music, vocal announcements of system status, and camera views of the reactor makes the first time you get it running an incredible experience.”
    • “It's a nuclear facility and it's really fun whatever you do, whether you're starting up the reactor, shutting down the reactor, blowing the reactor up, or maintaining the reactor. The music is just fire.”
    • “Music and ambient sounds keep the situation atmosphere nice.”
    • “Also, you shouldn't need to reboot to change something like the game music volume -__-”
    • “Music and ambient sounds keep the situation atmosphere nice, but sound effects could be better”
    • “Music—I keep it off for a more realistic simulation”

  • humor

    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The humor in the game is appreciated for its lighthearted, silly tone, particularly during mishaps like meltdowns and character reactions, making it entertaining rather than realistic. Players find the exaggerated, colorful design and amusing sound effects add to the fun, even if the nuclear reactor aspects lack technical accuracy. Overall, the humor enhances the game's playful and enjoyable experience.

    • “Peak game, it’s the best PWR nuclear reactor game that I know. I love the critical mass cutscene. It’s not the most realistic game but it is very funny to play :3”
    • “The game is great, very educative and also quite funny (e.g., the sound when you get zapped ;)).”
    • “I really like this, it’s fun and enjoyable and really hilarious when you mess up.”

  • atmosphere

    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    50% positive mentions, 25% neutral mentions, 25% negative mentions

    The game's atmosphere is generally immersive due to effective music and ambient sounds, but it is hindered by underwhelming sound effects and several small flaws that make the experience feel incomplete and less exciting.

    • “To me the biggest thing the game is missing is the atmosphere.”

  • replayability

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Users praise the game’s high replayability, highlighting its engaging and smooth experience as well as its affordability. They suggest adding more playable scenarios to further enhance replay value. Overall, replayability is rated very positively.

    • “It works well, it runs well, is interesting, has lots of replayability, won't break the bank, and is a chance to run your own nuclear reactor.”
    • “Also, it would be great to add more playable scenarios, like turbine trip, emergency shutdown, loss of power, etc.”
    • “Replay value: A+”

  • monetization

    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    Users criticize the game's monetization for prioritizing cash grabs over delivering value to initial purchasers, and for implementing demanding power requirements that feel like subtle prompts to spend on additional upgrades rather than earning them through gameplay.

    • “I enjoyed it before realizing that the developers were willing to get distracted by cheap cash grabs while they should be focused on fulfilling their obligation to the initial purchasers of the title.”
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Play Times

22h Median play time
30h Average play time
10-42h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 16 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

Nucleares is a shooter game with science fiction theme. Common tags for Nucleares include first-person, indie, experimental, artificial intelligence, resource management and others.

Nucleares is available on PC and Windows.

On average players spend around 30 hours playing Nucleares.

Nucleares was released on March 13, 2023.

Nucleares was developed by Iván Marcelo Pretti.

Nucleares has received positive reviews from players. Most players liked Nucleares for its gameplay but disliked it for its stability.

Nucleares is a single player game.

Similar games include Stationeers, Derail Valley, Electrician Simulator, Wrench, Railroads Online and others.