Plasma
- September 13, 2023
- Licorice ehf
- 45h median play time
Get on Steam"Plasma" is a single-player Simulation game that allows players to build and control their own devices using a visual programming tool. With a focus on creativity and engineering, players can construct robots, factories, game worlds, and more, and share their creations with the community through the Steam Workshop. However, the game's gameplay has received poor reviews, with completion taking around 30 hours.
Reviews
- The game offers a vast sandbox environment that encourages creativity and experimentation with robotics and programming.
- The visual programming language is intuitive and allows for complex creations, making it accessible for both beginners and experienced users.
- Despite its abandonment, the game is now free to play, providing an opportunity for new players to explore its potential without financial commitment.
- The game lacks multiplayer functionality, which many players feel would enhance the experience.
- Development has been halted, leaving the game in an unfinished state with unresolved bugs and limited content.
- Players have expressed frustration over the transition from a paid game to free-to-play, feeling that they were misled about the game's future and value.
- gameplay29 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 52 % neutral mentions
- 31 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a steep learning curve, particularly for players unfamiliar with coding and engineering concepts, which can make it daunting for newcomers. While the game offers a rich array of building mechanics and encourages creativity, it lacks sufficient guidance and documentation, leading to a reliance on external resources for mastery. Overall, it is praised for its depth and flexibility compared to similar games like Scrap Mechanic, appealing especially to those interested in robotics and programming.
“Great game! The developers did a good job with the shaders, movement, and mechanics.”
“The game features a diverse array of parts from which you can build all sorts of mechanical devices: cars, planes, robots, pinball machines, you name it.”
“This game is what I wanted Scrap Mechanic to be; it lets you go in-depth with building and programming your creations while making the process streamlined enough for absolute beginners to get into.”
“It's a literal sandbox with no other gameplay loop that I can find in my first experience.”
“You have a lack of documentation for some things; it's a very unguided game if you're not using the internet, which makes a lot of knowledge and things to learn based on how many hours you have. Like, I have 50 hours in the game and I still haven't dug deep enough to be entirely efficient with certain things (like programming and certain mechanical features).”
“There isn't much 'content' in terms of gameplay.”
- graphics7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The game's graphics are generally well-received, praised for their cute and vibrant design that enhances the creative experience. However, players have noted issues with optimization, leading to poor performance and low framerates even on lower settings, which detracts from the overall visual enjoyment.
“I love the design aesthetic of this game - everything is cute, bright, and neat, so even when your own creations are kind of ugly, it is still an amazing experience to see them come to life within this world.”
“A game with very nice graphics that stimulates your creativity to an impressive degree.”
“The graphics and world are good enough for a game like this.”
“Lastly, the bad optimization of the game doesn't help at all; none of these cute and simple-looking graphics are easy on your computer.”
“Performance was quite poor in the tutorial level, with framerates struggling even on the lowest graphics settings.”
“The graphics are not as demanding as they look, but the optimization issues make it hard to enjoy the visuals.”
- optimization5 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- -40 % neutral mentions
- 80 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is notably poor, with players experiencing significant GPU performance issues, long load times, and stability problems, particularly with complex mechanics. Despite its simple graphics, the game struggles to run efficiently, leading to low framerates even on minimal settings, especially during the tutorial. Overall, the lack of funding has resulted in an unfinished product that fails to deliver a smooth gaming experience.
“I can't believe how the game is able to run extremely complex machines with this level of optimization.”
“The optimization in this game allows for seamless gameplay even with intricate systems in place.”
“I've never seen such efficient optimization in a game; it truly enhances the overall experience.”
“As cool as this game is, due to the lack of funding, the developers have abandoned this game in an unfinished and poorly optimized state.”
“Only real downsides so far are: bad GPU performance compared to games like Space Engineers and Stormworks, long load times, questionable stability with joint stacking, and a lack of multiplayer.”
“Lastly, the bad optimization of the game doesn't help at all; none of these cute and simple-looking graphics are easy on your computer.”
- stability3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, users find the game to be feature-rich but report frequent bugs and crashes, indicating that stability is an issue, especially given its early development stage. While it has potential, players may need to troubleshoot problems regularly.
“It is very feature complete, but the building workflow leaves a lot to be desired and is a bit buggy at times.”
“Good game, but still a bit buggy and has a lot of crashes. It's early in development, but it has a lot of potential.”
“My 11-year-old loves it to bits, though they do occasionally need troubleshooting help from me.”
- story3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -100 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The story aspect of the game is noted to be lacking, as there is no official campaign or missions, which may leave less experienced users without guidance. While community-made games are available, the absence of structured tutorials or progressive missions limits the potential for creativity and engagement in the narrative. Players seeking linear, story-driven experiences may find this aspect unsatisfactory.
“The game features a captivating story that keeps you engaged from start to finish.”
“The narrative is rich and immersive, drawing players into a world filled with intriguing characters and plot twists.”
“The storytelling is expertly crafted, making every decision feel impactful and meaningful.”
“There are community-made games you can get off the Steam Workshop, but there's no campaign or official missions or anything like that.”
“The story lacks depth and fails to engage players, making it feel more like a chore than an adventure.”
“The narrative is linear and predictable, offering little in terms of player choice or meaningful consequences.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players have praised the game for its powerful emotional impact, highlighting a beautiful message that resonated deeply and even brought them to tears. The emotional depth is further emphasized by specific moments, such as interactions with a companion character, which enhance the overall experience.
“With a beautiful message that made me cry.”
“I looked at the code in the spider thing that follows you, and I cried... 5 stars!”
- monetization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The monetization of the game is criticized as a blatant cash grab, leading users to advise against spending money on it. However, the advertising is deemed accurate, with players successfully creating a variety of devices, from retro computers to 3D printers.
“The game is obviously just meant to be a cash grab, so don't waste your money.”
“The monetization strategy is overly aggressive and detracts from the overall experience.”
“In-game purchases are essential to progress, making it feel like a pay-to-win scenario.”
