Prospector

About

Prospector is a single player casual simulation game. It was developed by Loonworks Games and was released on July 31, 2025. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Land on an alien world with nothing but your wits, your tools, and your drive to thrive. Build, explore, and automate in this sci-fi resource management game. From humble beginnings to a sprawling space base! Construct your base from scratch using anything you can find - from primitive resources to unknown alien materials. Unlock blueprints, optimize your workflow with automation, and pu…

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

77%

Audience ScoreBased on 74 reviews

graphics4 positive mentions

grinding7 negative mentions

The game features charming pixel art and a cozy atmosphere, making it visually appealing and enjoyable to explore.
Gameplay is engaging with a mix of resource gathering, base building, and automation, reminiscent of games like Forager and Astroneer.
The developer is responsive to community feedback and actively works on improving the game, which gives players confidence in its future development.

The game is plagued by numerous bugs and unfinished mechanics, leading to frustrating gameplay experiences and game-breaking issues.
Many players find the game too short and lacking in content, with limited replayability and unclear progression paths.
Quality of life features are missing or poorly implemented, such as inventory management and crafting systems, making the gameplay feel clunky and unpolished.

gameplay
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
74%
13%
Gameplay reviews are mixed, highlighting both potential and significant flaws. While some players enjoy the engaging mechanics and visuals, others criticize awkward controls, lack of polish, and poorly implemented features that detract from the experience. Despite these issues, many appreciate the game's exploration and base-building elements, suggesting that with further updates and fixes, it could evolve into a more cohesive and enjoyable experience.
- “After a few hours of gameplay, I can easily say that I’ve had a lot of fun.”
- “So far, I’ve enjoyed over 10 hours of gameplay on the Steam Deck.”
- “The gameplay blends features from several genres quite well.”
- “It really is horrendous both visually and in gameplay and truthfully might require a full exorcism to entirely remove.”
- “Elements that look like placeholders rather than mechanics implemented in a sound manner, several independently caused crashes, FPS drops, and weird building rules that were left out because the developer was running out of time.”
- “The pacing is not thought-through, the core mechanics like the energy network lead to the base becoming a chaotic mess antithetical to an orderly factory game, and honestly the game feels like it came out in early access and is due for a significant overhaul.”
story
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
60%
20%
The game's story is generally well-received, praised for its engaging narrative, art, and sound design, making it a refreshing experience in the indie genre. However, players have reported bugs that hinder progress, such as infinite respawning bosses and unclear quest objectives, which can detract from the overall enjoyment. While the story is straightforward and serves as the backbone of the gameplay, some players find the quest mechanics frustrating and the pacing occasionally disrupted by distracting notifications.
- “Great story, art and sound design.”
- “It's important to know this is a story-driven sandbox, where the narrative comes first.”
- “After completing the story: loved it, I would take more game please!”
- “It has bugs like any other, but after an hour and a half, I have already noticed bugs that lose you items and I was hard locked by an infinite respawning boss who was fun to fight the first time but won't stay dead, preventing me from progressing the story.”
- “I stopped playing at end-game because I have shipping contracts maxed and now only need to fulfill faction quests, which are super awful as explained below, and at this point, I can't be bothered to guess how to feed animals.”
- “The animated quest icons and the notification at the top center of the screen are distracting, creating a false sense of urgency.”
graphics
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
31%
46%
23%
The graphics of the game are characterized by a charming pixel art style that enhances its cozy atmosphere and complements the gameplay. While some players appreciate the unique 2D top-down view and cartoon aesthetic, others feel that the visuals lack polish despite the game's lengthy development period. Overall, the art style is well-received, contributing positively to the game's engaging mechanics and exploration elements.
- “I have nothing against pixel graphics; in fact, I find them charming, easy on the eyes, and great for the Steam Deck battery, overall true to the 'cozy' vibe.”
- “If the unique art style and 2D top-down view are your thing, I highly recommend it.”
- “The pixel art visuals add a lot to the cozy atmosphere and perfectly support the laid-back but engaging gameplay.”
- “Clearly the reported 5 years the game was in development were not dedicated to making the graphics look smooth.”
- “Oh, and the graphical style?”
- “A chill Factorio with a cartoon aesthetic.”
grinding
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game frustrating, particularly in the late game where it requires collecting random items without clear guidance on how to obtain them. The manual crafting system is described as tedious and clunky, compounded by inefficient storage filters that complicate resource collection. Many reviewers also note that significant portions of their playtime are spent waiting for resources or orders, detracting from the overall experience.
- “On top of that, late game is grindy not because it requires a lot, but because it requires random items which the game doesn't explain how to get.”
- “No +5/10, no craft half, can't input an individual number; manual crafting therefore becomes tedious and clunky.”
- “Now on Nova Lands, about 6-10 hours of my playtime were just fillers waiting on resources to get 100% completion. I spent 6 hours on filler just waiting for ranching to get me materials to progress the faction bar. As I am writing this, I am still finishing the last faction and I've been waiting for over 60 minutes for orders to come in that are for the faction and completable by me.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
100%
The game offers significant replayability due to its engaging base-building mechanics, allowing players to optimize production and automation strategies. With hours of gameplay in the initial playthrough, players are encouraged to revisit the game to refine their approaches and enhance their experience.
- “My verdict: it’s a polished, cozy indie game that invites you to explore its world and offers great replay value thanks to its base-building mechanics.”
- “Start small and manual, get enough resources to start exploring, get more technology in order to build more crafters, start automating, etc. It has hours of gameplay on the first playthrough and is replayable to optimize production, automation, or speed up your progress.”
- “The game has hours of gameplay on the first playthrough, but it lacks significant replayability as there are limited ways to optimize production or automation.”
- “While the initial experience is engaging, once you've explored the mechanics, there isn't much incentive to replay the game.”
- “After completing the game, I found that there was little motivation to start over, as the gameplay feels repetitive and doesn't offer new challenges.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is criticized for being unfinished and buggy, with issues such as unclear mechanics and janky controls affecting gameplay. Despite these problems, some users see potential in the game and remain optimistic.
- “It's unfinished, buggy, and unclear.”
- “The controller is kind of janky; I couldn't place a miner (might be because it was overlapping two different powered zones?). It seems buggy, but I think it has potential, so I am giving it a positive review.”
music
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The music in the game is described as pleasant and unobtrusive, making it an ideal backdrop for relaxation while engaging in other activities like listening to podcasts or chatting.
- “Not too long, a nice game to play if you're looking for something to relax and play through while listening to music or podcasts.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, the game is well-optimized, with smooth performance and controls that are effectively tailored for gamepad use.
- “Aside from that, everything runs smoothly, and it seems like the controls are already well-optimized for a gamepad.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The pixel art visuals significantly enhance the cozy atmosphere of the game, complementing its laid-back yet engaging gameplay.
- “The pixel art visuals add a lot to the cozy atmosphere and perfectly support the laid-back but engaging gameplay.”