Oxygen Not Included

Funny, clever, and extremely complex mix of management simulator and survival game that manages to make abject failure almost as entertaining as success.

93%Game Brain Score

gameplay, graphics

grinding, stability

96% User Score Based on 51,372 reviews

Critic Score 80%Based on 1 reviews

Platforms

Buy Nowfrom $7.34

Buy NowGet on Steam $24.99 Buy NowGet on Epic Games Store

About

Oxygen Not Included is a single player and multiplayer open world management game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Klei Entertainment and was released on April 30, 2017. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and overwhelmingly positive reviews from players.

Oxygen Not Included is a space-colony simulation game. Deep inside an alien space rock your industrious crew will need to master science, overcome strange new lifeforms, and harness incredible space tech to survive, and possibly, thrive.

Skip User Reviews

96%Audience ScoreBased on 51,372 reviews

gameplay1.2k positive mentions

grinding450 negative mentions

Charming and quirky cartoon art style with expressive animations that enhance immersion and humor.
Deep, complex gameplay mechanics offering rewarding colony and resource management challenges with high replayability.
Engaging and fitting soundtrack and sound design that complement the atmosphere and gameplay experience.

Performance issues in mid to late game with FPS drops, stuttering, and occasional crashes, especially on large bases.
Steep learning curve and poorly explained game mechanics that can make initial gameplay frustrating and grindy.
Story and lore are minimal and considered weak, lacking strong narrative or scripted progression.

gameplay
3,791 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
66%
2%
Oxygen Not Included offers a deeply complex and rewarding gameplay experience centered on intricate resource and colony management mechanics such as gases, liquids, temperature, and automation. While initially daunting due to a steep learning curve and limited in-game tutorials, mastering these well-designed systems provides satisfying challenges and nearly limitless replayability. The game’s charming art style and regular updates from an engaged developer team further enhance an addictive, though sometimes unforgiving, survival simulation.
- “The game throws layer upon layer of scientific mechanics at you—from plumbing and power grids to disease control and temperature management.”
- “If you enjoy problem-solving, building efficient systems, and gameplay that requires learning and deep thinking, this is definitely worth your time.”
- “The gameplay combines survival elements with extreme micro-management, making it one of the most challenging games in its genre.”
- “Game mechanics are so poorly explained and non-intuitive and most of two dozen starting menu items are just greyed out or unresponsive and have zero information feedback.”
- “It takes at least 100 hours of playtime to even comprehend the game enough to have any fun, and even then it will get ruined by a bug, random chance, or some other mechanic you just never saw before.”
- “The gameplay is simple: you are constantly punished by mechanics you were never told about.”
graphics
2,302 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
48%
51%
1%
The graphics of "Oxygen Not Included" feature a charming, quirky, and distinctly hand-drawn cartoon style typical of Klei Entertainment, which many find adorable and full of personality. While visually simple and not cutting-edge, the art style perfectly complements the game's deep, complex mechanics by making the challenging gameplay more approachable and enjoyable. Overall, the pleasant animations, expressive characters, and clear visual overlays enhance immersion without overwhelming players, though some note occasional performance issues in large bases.
- “The graphics of Oxygen Not Included are charming and functional, utilizing a cartoonish art style that effectively conveys the complexities of the game's systems.”
- “The art style is charmingly cartoonish, with detailed animations and quirky duplicants that add humor and personality, making a challenging survival game feel strangely delightful.”
- “The combination of deep gameplay mechanics, charming visuals, and a supportive community makes this game a must-have for anyone who loves a good challenge.”
- “I have a 12700k and a 4090 — not that the graphics card matters here, but I should absolutely not be experiencing low FPS and stuttering in a game like this, especially not this severe.”
- “The artwork is embarrassingly cheesy and low-effort.”
- “The art style is quirky and unique, but I love watching my dupes go about their tasks occasionally sticker bombing the wall. However, I find the art style and animations a bit over the top and sometimes hard to read as your colony expands, making things messy.”
humor
764 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in this game is widely praised for its quirky, dark, and often absurd style, blending cute, funny animations with slapstick and scatological comedy. Players enjoy watching the duplicants' silly behaviors, mishaps, and disastrous failures, which add levity and charm to an otherwise complex and challenging simulation. The humor is both subtle and intellectual, making even frustrating moments entertaining and contributing significantly to the game's unique appeal.
- “The duplicants have quirky personalities and animations that add a surprising amount of humor—even when your colony is on the verge of collapse.”
- “Humor is everywhere—from item descriptions to the expressions of the duplicants—turning even the most disastrous moments into pure comedy.”
- “Your duplicants are hilariously flawed, and their shenanigans—like compulsively pranking each other mid-crisis—make you laugh when you should be panicking.”
replayability
681 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
42%
1%
Oxygen Not Included is widely praised for its exceptional replayability, driven by its deep, complex mechanics, procedurally generated worlds, and diverse challenges across different asteroids and biomes. Players appreciate the endless strategic possibilities, constant updates, and mod support that keep the gameplay fresh and engaging, making it feel nearly infinitely replayable. While the learning curve is steep and late-game repetitiveness is noted by some, overall the game offers a highly rewarding, varied experience that encourages repeated playthroughs and creative problem-solving.
- “Overall: one of the best systems-driven colony simulations, with outstanding depth and high replay value.”
- “Endless replayability, with each world offering unique challenges that keep things exciting.”
- “The satisfying noticeable progress you make with every failed colony allows for great replayability, accompanied with its randomly generated maps creating new challenges.”
- “Replayability is much lower than anticipated - due to having in essence only single resource paths for production, all bases need to be extremely similar.”
- “After a few times trying and trying again I realized the replay value was poor... why would I restart playing?”
- “But because you reach the late game in roughly the same way every time, the game doesn't feel as replayable.”
story
553 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
76%
10%
"Oxygen Not Included" largely lacks a traditional, linear storyline, focusing instead on emergent, player-driven narratives where each colony's unique events form its own story. While there are bits of lore and background revealed through logs and exploration, the story elements are minimal and often considered secondary to the complex survival and management gameplay. Players seeking a strong, scripted story or mission-based progression may find it lacking, but those who enjoy creating their own stories through challenging base-building and survival will appreciate its depth.
- “Every decision matters, and every colony tells a different story.”
- “The mix of deep mechanics, emergent storytelling, and Klei’s unique charm make this a game that stands the test of time.”
- “With a deep and complex gameplay loop, an engaging story, and charming pixel art graphics, Oxygen Not Included is a game that will keep you entertained for hours on end.”
- “After some time, the colony becomes self-sufficient, and we are left following a plot that is practically nonexistent.”
- “The story/lore is very dull; a bunch of pointless emails and diary entries to read.”
- “The other issue I have with Oxygen Not Included is its story, or rather how flimsy it feels and how little there is of it.”
grinding
503 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
1%
10%
89%
Grinding in this colony sim can be both engaging and tedious; early gameplay is often fun and rewarding, but mid-to-late game phases involve intensive micromanagement and repetitive tasks, especially with farming, plumbing, power, and resource systems. The steep learning curve and complexity require patience and planning, though automation can alleviate some grind. Overall, it’s a grindy experience that appeals to players who enjoy deep, challenging management but may feel exhausting or frustrating to others.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “The UI makes managing everything very easy and not too tedious.”
- “In terms of survival mechanics they are not tedious.”
- “It becomes so tedious at some point that, at least for me, I stop caring whether my colony survives and I kind of want them to all starve to death.”
- “Every time you find yourself with gases or liquids or critters in the wrong place it is tedious and boring trying to fix things and keep on top of everything.”
- “Once you can use them, there's very little else to do but tediously manage your rockets.”
optimization
394 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
68%
12%
While Oxygen Not Included offers deep and engaging optimization mechanics that appeal to fans of logistical and engineering challenges, it suffers from significant performance issues, especially in mid to late game when colony complexity increases. The game is generally well-optimized for small to medium-sized bases and lower-end hardware, but as the base grows, players often experience FPS drops, stuttering, and occasional crashes due to limited multicore support and heavy CPU demands. Developers continue to release updates improving performance, yet late-game optimization and multi-threading remain problematic bottlenecks, making a high single-core CPU essential for smooth gameplay.
- “The developers have continuously patched and optimized the game over its full release life cycle, resulting in excellent performance on less powerful systems including those with onboard graphics.”
- “Optimization is generally well done, though complex bases can affect performance; the game runs smoothly for the majority of playtime despite the intricate fluid and gas simulations.”
- “Performance has significantly improved with regular updates and optimization patches, making the game enjoyable even on lower-end hardware, and ongoing efforts by the developers continue to address late-game performance issues.”
- “Unfortunately, this game is completely unoptimized.”
- “The only downside of this game is the utter crap performance, once the lag starts, it's only going to get worse until you rage quit.”
- “Unfortunately unplayable due to late game performance.”
music
338 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
54%
45%
1%
The music in this game is widely praised for its relaxing, atmospheric, and fitting soundtrack that complements the game's quirky, sci-fi colony management theme. While generally considered soothing and immersive, some players find the selection repetitive and desire more variety. Overall, the soundtrack, combined with thoughtful sound design and charming audio cues from characters, significantly enhances the engaging and unique gameplay experience.
- “The soundtrack is one of my favorites and creates a great atmosphere.”
- “The sound design complements the visuals perfectly, with ambient sounds that bring the asteroid to life and a soundtrack that evolves with your colony’s progress.”
- “The soundtrack's very relaxing beneath all that machinery sounds.”
- “But it really suffers from a poor interface, repetitive music, sound cues that don't tell you anything, and other problems that just stop the game from being as fun as it could be.”
- “Don't expect any halo-like theme music, the current music fits the game but it's just so you don't place in complete silence, I'd rate it maybe 3/10 as it gets very repetitive after a while.”
- “The music is the game's weakest point at the moment.”
stability
197 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
89%
The game is known for its significant number of bugs, glitches, and occasional crashes, especially in mid to late stages or with large bases, often requiring troubleshooting and reloads. While these issues can disrupt gameplay and frustrate some players, many appreciate the ongoing developer support, regular updates, and consider the bugs part of the challenging and engaging experience. Overall, stability is moderate, with performance and glitch frequency varying by hardware and game progression.
- “Runs great on just about anything, still gets updates after 7 years, and is supremely balanced.”
- “Mostly bug free and the bugs are inconsequential.”
- “The game ran relatively bug free for me; in fact, in 33 hours I only had one gameplay-impacting bug, and that was not much of an issue due to frequent automatic backup saves.”
- “It was released raw, buggy and unplayable; it is cool and funny first 10 cycles before you face all the complexities that can't be overcome without spom's, liquid locks, game physics glitches and geysers taming (which rely on same glitches 100%).”
- “2026: After many updates it still lags on top end hardware from 6 years after its release; in addition to the rather lengthy freeze every save, it has many tiny freezes where it doesn't register inputs, or extends the pipe you happened to be building at that time dead across the entire map in an instant.”
- “First, this game is very buggy, it crashes all the time, many things don't properly work until you reload (puft always starve, morbs down spawn, traps are stuck, research doesn't start and many more problems).”
atmosphere
179 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
49%
49%
2%
The atmosphere in this game is widely praised for its deep, complex simulation of gases, temperature, and pressure, creating a unique and immersive environment that blends scientific realism with charming, cartoonish art and humor. While the intricate systems and detailed management can be challenging and sometimes overwhelming, they contribute to a captivating and tense yet relaxing experience, enhanced by a fitting, atmospheric soundtrack and engaging sound design. However, some players note occasional frustrations with mechanics and the absence of certain expected features like airlocks.
- “The charming art style, combined with the well-thought-out animations and sound effects, brings the world of duplicants to life, making it easy to get lost in the game's immersive atmosphere.”
- “The atmospheric aspects and the many other layers, which are all connected to each other and therefore productivity or survival are great and this game could easily be a 10/10, especially because it is the pioneer in this field.”
- “The soundtrack is one of my favorites and creates a great atmosphere.”
- “Then by the time the new farm is ready after a looooong wait, the atmosphere will be off for no reason.”
- “If you want to maintain very specific atmospheres you need what amounts to an exploit: a fluid airlock.”
- “My base has been thrown into chaos by uncontrolled peeing several times now, my plant-based survival economy has doomed my dupes to death by lung rot, and the only thing I've got going for me is that my fossil fuel usage has rendered the atmosphere too toxic for my lice-infested foodstuffs to rot anymore.”
emotional
75 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
99%
1%
The game delivers a deeply emotional and immersive experience, evoking feelings ranging from wholesome joy and warmth to heartbreak and frustration. Players become attached to their cute, quirky duplicants, making losses impactful and the colony’s struggles poignant. Its mix of challenging survival elements and charming character animations creates a rewarding emotional roller coaster that is both heartwarming and mentally engaging.
- “I would recommend this for people who enjoy Factorio and want a bit more survival elements and getting emotionally devastated at your inevitable loss.”
- “You get really attached to your dupes... don't get too attached, though... because if they perish, it's heartbreaking.”
- “The thing about this game is: you feel emotionally invested in the fates of your small, foolish minions.”
monetization
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
8%
34%
58%
The game's monetization is praised for lacking ads and microtransactions, with skins unlocked through gameplay rather than purchases, providing a refreshing, complete experience without essential DLC. However, some users express concern over recent shifts toward monetization, including perceived cash grab tactics, controversial in-game advertising, and fears of future microtransactions following Klei Entertainment's acquisition by Tencent. Overall, while early impressions of fair monetization are positive, recent updates and corporate changes have generated apprehension among players.
- “There are no microtransactions, yay, and you just get skins as you play.”
- “There is no in-game purchases to tempt you to spend more money and you unlock skins as you play the game.”
- “Though this isn't an inherent part of the game, it's also very refreshing to see a complete game with tons of replayability, reasonably priced, with no essential DLCs or microtransactions.”
- “Another good game turned into a cash grab with DLCs.”
- “This game has become a cash grab and like Don't Starve Together feels much too monetized.”
- “Klei has decided to sell their studio to the publisher Tencent, who has already purchased multiple studios in the past and influenced them into the direction of microtransactions and (most importantly) extensive and unsolicited data collection.”
character development
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
39%
17%
The character development in the game is praised primarily for its charming, unique, and endearing designs paired with delightful animations and detailed environments that enhance the game's atmosphere. While narrative depth is limited, character traits and humor add personality, complementing the complex gameplay and making the characters memorable and engaging.
- “The animations are charming, and the character designs for the duplicants are unique and endearing.”
- “Artistically, this is a wonderful game for the level of detail that goes into every facet, whether it is character designs, procedural world building, or the tiny animations that accompany machines - it's all characteristic of Klei's other wondrous works.”
- “The art style is delightful, with charming and quirky character designs, and the humor adds an extra layer of personality to the game.”
- “The most character development you get from them is when one of their negative traits trigger.”
- “Engineering problem solving in a builder setting, and in some character development & research aspects.”
- “Between the randomness of the character designs and the challenge of managing everything, and I do mean everything, it's just great.”

Skip Critic Reviews

80%Critics’ scoreBased on 1 critic reviews

Oxygen Not Included is a deep space survival game
Funny, clever, and extremely complex mix of management simulator and survival game that manages to make abject failure almost as entertaining as success.
Co.uk
80%

Skip Game Offers

Buy Oxygen Not Included

125h Median play time

360h Average play time

90h Main story

441h Completionist

21-500h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 435 analyzed playthroughs

Skip Videos

Videos

Skip Games Like Oxygen Not Included

95%153.8kreviews

Satisfactory

2020

Open World Shooter

88%5.8kreviews

Stationeers

2017

Survival Management

76%15.6kreviews

Surviving Mars

2018

Open World City Builder

+10

88%5kreviews

Rise to Ruins

2019

Survival City Builder

91%63.7kreviews

Don't Starve

2013

Open World Simulation

+15

88%5.4kreviews

Rise to Ruins

2014

Survival City Builder

83%49.5kreviews

Banished

2014

Open World City Builder

93%32.1kreviews

Timberborn

2021

Survival City Builder

76%10.4kreviews

Planetbase

2015

Open World City Builder

91%138.3kreviews

Factorio

2020

Open World City Builder

More games like Oxygen Not Included

Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Oxygen Not Included is a open world management game with science fiction theme.

Oxygen Not Included is available on PC, Mac OS, Steam Deck, Windows and others.

The main story can be completed in around 90 hours, while the entire game is estimated to take about 441 hours to finish. On average players spend around 360 hours playing Oxygen Not Included.

Oxygen Not Included was released on April 30, 2017.

Oxygen Not Included was developed by Klei Entertainment.

Oxygen Not Included has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked Oxygen Not Included for its gameplay but disliked it for its grinding.

Oxygen Not Included is a single player game with multiplayer support.

Similar games include Satisfactory, Stationeers, Surviving Mars, Rise to Ruins, Don't Starve and others.

Oxygen Not Included

Platforms

gameplay

graphics

humor

replayability

story

grinding

optimization

music

stability

atmosphere

emotional

monetization

character development