Orebound

About

Orebound is a single player and multiplayer casual simulation game. It was developed by Emberforge and was released on October 24, 2024. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

"Orebound is a first-person, open-world voxel game that combines exploration, factory building, and automation. Mine for precious resources, construct dwarven structures, and automate mining with drill rigs. Craft a variety of tools, items, and runes to enhance your abilities and discover new sources of valuable metals."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Skip User Reviews

80%

Audience ScoreBased on 386 reviews

gameplay7 positive mentions

stability18 negative mentions

The game offers a unique blend of mining, crafting, and base-building mechanics, reminiscent of games like Satisfactory and Factorio.
The developers are responsive to community feedback and actively work on updates and improvements.
The game has a charming aesthetic and engaging gameplay loop that keeps players invested in exploring and automating.

The game suffers from performance issues, including lag and crashes, particularly during autosave.
Building mechanics can be clunky, with inconsistent snapping and alignment issues that make construction frustrating.
Combat feels simplistic and lacks depth, with enemies often spawning in ways that disrupt gameplay.

gameplay
43 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
77%
7%
The gameplay is a blend of resource management, automation, and exploration, offering a satisfying core loop of building, upgrading, and optimizing production chains. While the mechanics are generally intuitive and engaging, players have noted issues with clunky interfaces, limited construction options, and some poorly executed features, such as the hunger mechanic and base defense systems. Overall, the game shows promise, especially for fans of the dwarven aesthetic and factory-building genres, but it requires further refinement and quality-of-life improvements to reach its full potential.
- “The core gameplay loop is satisfying as heck: build, automate, upgrade, repeat.”
- “Exploration and production chain optimization are at the heart of the gameplay, and you quickly get hooked on searching for rarer minerals and improving your underground industrial network.”
- “Orebound is a pleasant surprise for fans of automation games and dwarves, with gameplay focused on ever-deeper mining.”
- “There is no overflow mechanic, so you can't deal with overflow resources. This means rail networks can't be mixed, causing massive havoc.”
- “No way to blueprint a series of buildings, making base building a tedious chore for every setup as you fight the game mechanics.”
- “The premise is appealing, but it all grinds to a halt as you start suffering from a clunky interface, unnecessary mechanics, and limited construction options.”
graphics
29 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
49%
10%
The graphics of the game have received generally positive feedback, with many praising the unique and charming art style that enhances the dwarven aesthetic and overall immersion. While some users noted that the visuals could benefit from more environmental variation and refinement, the cartoonish design and attention to detail have been well-received, making it an enjoyable experience for players who appreciate the genre. Overall, the graphics contribute significantly to the game's appeal, despite some minor criticisms regarding simplicity and originality.
- “The art style immediately grabbed my attention — it’s unique, charming, and gives the whole world a personality of its own.”
- “The graphics are nice, it's a very aesthetically pleasing environment and it's just a good all-around way to immerse yourself in an entertaining package.”
- “They have taken the Unreal Engine and added voxels, which means the sky's the limit on where they can take the graphics.”
- “My only gripe, if any, is that the world and graphics are a bit simple. That may just be the art direction, so to each their own, but I think this game could look better overall with a bit (maybe a lot) more variation in environmental assets.”
- “Graphics are in the cartoon style and are very well done but not highly original (like Nightingale).”
- “No crashes during my time, but the graphics need some refining. In general, if you're the type of person who is going to get bugged with early access feeling like early access, I'd wish list this game and wait; if you can handle a lack of content and some minor UI bugs, I'd say this is an easy buy.”
story
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
65%
12%
The game's story begins with an engaging premise of embarking on a mission to support the empire, but it ultimately feels underdeveloped and simplistic, with quests lacking depth and incentive. Players appreciate the potential for future content and unique ideas, but current gameplay often feels repetitive and hindered by interface issues. While the setting offers interesting exploration and base-building elements, the narrative remains minimal and requires further refinement to enhance player engagement.
- “It really feels like a casual survival game starting out. From what I have gathered, I'm on a mission to supply the empire and 'for the king,' along with a massive quest involving relics and a lot of LOTR/D&D kind of deal, which I'm excited to delve into later on.”
- “Very fun, lots to explore as the story unfolds.”
- “You're a dwarf with a mission to eventually find some special gems for three mucky-mucks, but to do that you have to first survive against the orcs and goblins, mine and smelt ore, build and expand your base, gradually automate the processes of manufacturing, and get rich.”
- “The quests seem hollow with little incentive to complete; I'm glad they're there, just wish they had more to it.”
- “There is a story quest which, as of now, is still very simple.”
- “Early access status at time of posting (update 2): factory stuff is halfway done, enemies/combat/turrets is perhaps 10% done, decorative construction practically complete (just missing the bells and whistles), story/lore 0.1%.”
stability
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
86%
The game's stability has received mixed feedback, with many players reporting frequent crashes, freezes, and various bugs that affect gameplay, particularly during autosave moments. While some updates have improved performance for certain users, the overall consensus is that the game remains unpolished and buggy, especially given its early access status. Players are advised to manage their expectations regarding stability and to be prepared for a less-than-complete experience.
- “Good game, better now after this update; runs great.”
- “I love the game but it crashes and freezes consistently.”
- “It's like 75% there, and I normally can forgive early access issues, but this one is really frustratingly buggy.”
- “I have died multiple times due to the autosave freezing the game when being attacked, and when it unfreezes, you're dead.”
grinding
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The reviews highlight significant grinding issues in the game, with players noting that tasks can feel tedious and unclear, particularly in base building and resource management. While some enjoy the peaceful and relaxing aspects of the game, they also express frustration over the lack of quality-of-life features that could alleviate the grind. Overall, the game appeals to those who appreciate resource grinding, but many feel it could benefit from improvements to streamline gameplay and reduce repetitiveness.
- “No way to blueprint a series of buildings, making base building a tedious chore for every setup as you fight the game mechanics.”
- “Progressing is very tedious, especially in the beginning.”
- “Super grindy, I enjoy games with a grind to them like Satisfactory, but it just feels like this game is setting up a grind to start a new grind, and continue the grind it should have pushed you past.”
optimization
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
62%
19%
Overall, the game's optimization has received mixed feedback from users. While some players report significant performance issues, including stuttering and lag, others have noted that the game runs well on high-end systems and express confidence that optimization will improve as the game progresses in early access. Many reviewers emphasize the need for further optimization to enhance the experience, particularly for lower-end hardware.
- “Exploration and production chain optimization are at the heart of the gameplay, and you quickly get hooked on searching for rarer minerals and improving your underground industrial network.”
- “Now it's the time for some optimizations :D pretty cool game, have spent a few good evenings getting to crystal ingots and automatic selling.”
- “More than anything though, I'm very impressed by this game's performance.”
- “I like the style of the game, but right now it is buggy without quality of life improvements, has a bad interface, poor building mechanics, and the optimization is the worst for me.”
- “Needs optimization though; it only runs well on high-end systems. Even the lowest settings cause lag spikes on my rig, which has no problem with many other AAA games.”
- “Performance is a little bit all over the place right now.”
music
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The music in the game is generally well-received, creating a strong atmosphere reminiscent of dwarven themes and cave exploration. However, players note that it can become repetitive, with some expressing a desire for more variety as the game is still in early access. Overall, while the soundtrack enhances the experience, its limited range may lead some to eventually turn it off.
- “Music is good; it gives really strong diggy-diggy hole vibes.”
- “The music, though repetitive, is good and the art style is on point; give it some time to develop and we might get a game that surpasses every other dwarf game we know of.”
- “Also, the music has grown on me now!”
- “It is difficult to justify the sale of the 'soundtrack'.”
- “I will say that I know the game is in early access at the moment, but that one song does get a little bit repetitive... (I'll probably turn off the music at some point in the near future, but it's okay for now!) It's nice, but it seems like one song on a loop at the time of writing this!”
- “Hearing the same sounds and songs over and over is annoying to me.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised, with users highlighting the impressive lighting and overall immersive experience. Many find the atmosphere to be a standout feature, contributing significantly to the game's appeal.
- “The atmosphere is awesome.”
- “The lighting has improved and is really atmospheric.”
- “Cool idea, solid atmosphere.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is generally appreciated, particularly for its comedic moments involving goblins, which evoke a stereotypical "London" meme. While players find it amusing initially, the novelty may wear off after repeated exposure.
- “I did like the mining aspects, and there are really funny moments with goblins stabbing each other like a stereotypical 'London' meme.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express surprise at forming deep emotional connections with seemingly simple elements, such as pixelated rocks, highlighting the game's ability to evoke strong feelings and attachment through its design and storytelling.
- “What I didn’t expect was to get so emotionally attached to pixelated rocks.”