Sunshine Heavy Industries
- August 17, 2021
- Rocket Rat Games
Get on Steam"Sunshine Heavy Industries" is a simulation game where players manage a space industry, building rockets and satellites to expand their business. The game features a dynamic economy, research and development, and physics-based rocket design. Players must balance their resources, meet client demands, and navigate the challenges of space exploration to succeed in this challenging and engaging industry simulation.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Charming and humorous characters with witty dialogue that enhance the overall experience.
- Relaxing gameplay that allows for creativity in ship design while balancing cost and requirements.
- Great pixel art and a delightful soundtrack that contribute to a cozy atmosphere.
- Some players find the puzzles repetitive and lacking in complexity as the game progresses.
- Limited feedback on ship designs after completing missions, making it hard to gauge optimization success.
- The game may feel short for some, with a desire for more content or a sandbox mode to explore.
- story80 mentions
- 34 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The story in the game is characterized as charming, light-hearted, and engaging, featuring cute characters and witty dialogue that enhance the overall experience. While the main narrative is relatively short and straightforward, it effectively introduces various gameplay mechanics and provides context for the ship-building tasks. Post-campaign, players can enjoy endless randomly generated missions and daily challenges, ensuring continued engagement beyond the initial story.
“The story is fun and doesn't overstay its welcome.”
“But it's primarily the incredibly cute and charming story, world-building, and dialogue that really makes it as great as it is.”
“The story and dialogues are also just perfect for this kind of game - a bit goofy and cute without overstaying their welcome.”
“So many space games feel lonely and isolated with only an occasional radio chatter or mission text to keep you company.”
“But with how the story went out with you getting a station and then just got kicked out of it by pirates and then planning a heist and going back to it, it sort of just felt really short as you really didn't get any further continuation after 'defeating' the pirates, which did feel like it was the first encounter than anything else.”
“While I do feel that this game is very fun and very worth it, I must say that as it stands, the story just...ends.”
- music65 mentions
- 72 % positive mentions
- 23 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its relaxing and charming qualities, featuring warm chiptunes and lo-fi beats that enhance the overall experience. Many players find the soundtrack enjoyable enough to listen to for extended periods, contributing to the game's cozy atmosphere and engaging gameplay. While some note that the chiptune tracks can become repetitive, the overall consensus is that the music is a standout feature, complementing the delightful characters and visuals.
“The music has nice warm chiptunes and beats that don't feel too repetitive.”
“Relaxing game with an amazing soundtrack and witty and charming dialogues :)”
“The pervasive mood of relaxed focus is carried by chill music, cute visuals, lighthearted dialogue, and gently challenging play.”
“Downsides: the chiptune soundtrack gets a bit repetitive.”
“Just played the cobalt core demo and I could swear I had heard music and seen a style similar to it before.”
“Music probably won't fit everyone but I'm in love with it, fits perfectly.”
- graphics46 mentions
- 41 % positive mentions
- 52 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their cute and engaging art style, which complements the relaxed gameplay and humorous writing. Players appreciate the balance between creating aesthetically pleasing designs and meeting functional requirements, with many noting the charming visuals and pastel colors that enhance the overall experience. While some users found the UI occasionally challenging to navigate, the general consensus is that the graphics effectively contribute to the game's enjoyable and laid-back atmosphere.
“Addicting puzzle game with a cute art style.”
“Beautiful graphics, music, and a fantastic bunch of characters.”
“Creative, super fun game with cute graphics and wonderful music.”
“Wish the puzzles were more interesting or there was some kind of reward for making more aesthetically pleasing ships instead of the same borg blobs each time.”
“I would love to see this as the core to a game that adds in trade-offs other than cost... turn radius, survivability (in terms of how close to the exterior a part is), etc. I'd love for the graphics and tone to be a smidge more serious and less cartoony.”
“Don't really love the art style or silly tone, but the game is strong enough it doesn't matter.”
- gameplay43 mentions
- 42 % positive mentions
- 51 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by its straightforward mechanics and lighthearted atmosphere, making it enjoyable for players seeking a relaxing experience. While the core mechanics are solid and introduce a variety of challenges, some players feel that the gameplay can become repetitive after the main story concludes. Overall, the combination of cute art, engaging puzzles, and a gradual increase in complexity contributes to a satisfying and fun gameplay loop.
“The mechanics fit together really neatly, and on top of that the writing is very cute and very funny.”
“I'm a huge fan of spatial optimization puzzles with room for a little creative artistry, and the gameplay delivers that in spades.”
“The characters give Undertale vibes with how cute and unique they are, there's a fun story underlying a pure and intuitive implementation of spaceship building mechanics, a varied array of parts to fit any sort of build style, and a tasteful ramp up in challenge that at no point feels frustrating or artificial.”
“It's mostly more of the same, which is good if you want to relax, but less exciting if you were looking for new mechanics.”
“The gameplay was just way too easy and optimization was not really encouraged as you cannot really do anything interesting with the money.”
“Extremely well-timed game: it ends exactly at the point when its rather simple (but still not 'shallow') gameplay starts to get boring.”
- humor39 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is consistently praised for its charm and light-heartedness, featuring adorable characters and witty dialogue that enhance the overall experience. Players appreciate the blend of cute pixel art and engaging writing, which provides a delightful and often hilarious backdrop to the puzzle mechanics. The game's ability to balance humor with gameplay makes it a standout, offering both relaxation and entertainment.
“After 10 hours in Cobalt Core, I just picked up Sunshine Heavy, and it’s the same extremely perfect pixel graphics, hilarious and adorable writing, and solid enjoyable gameplay.”
“The writing is funny and engaging.”
“The cute characters and funny writing elevate this from a charming optimization puzzle to something special.”
- optimization22 mentions
- 36 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The game offers a rich optimization experience, with numerous puzzles that allow for multiple solutions and creative expression. Players appreciate the balance between challenging optimization and relaxing gameplay, although some feel that the overall difficulty could be improved. While the game is enjoyable and charming, there are calls for enhanced performance and more complex puzzles to further engage optimization enthusiasts.
“Each puzzle has many solutions and can be optimized in a number of ways, if you're into that kind of thing.”
“Sorting out optimization puzzles while stubbornly trying to make the ship not look hideous is great fun, and has me hooked.”
“I'm a huge fan of spatial optimization puzzles with room for a little creative artistry, and the gameplay delivers that in spades.”
“The gameplay was just way too easy and optimization was not really encouraged as you cannot really do anything interesting with the money.”
“Shame that there is no online statistics (optimization categories like 'parts needed', 'area occupied' or 'cost efficiency', would be interesting) and no way to improve earlier builds.”
“You end up needing to make compromises, because perfectly optimizing one aspect of the ship often hurts optimization of other aspects.”
- emotional10 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is characterized by its wholesome and engaging nature, evoking feelings of warmth and care for its characters. Players appreciate the pleasant music and the heartfelt experience it offers, making it a satisfying choice for those seeking a cozy and fun puzzle game. Overall, it successfully combines emotional depth with enjoyable gameplay.
“The music emotionally moves me.”
“It's a wonderfully wholesome game with characters I care very much about (yes, even those who are pricks).”
“Genuinely engaging, heartfelt, and fun spaceship builder with the best soundtrack.”
- replayability3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game offers decent replayability through features like daily ship build challenges and some random variance in campaign ship requirements. However, the absence of leaderboards and replayable levels limits its long-term engagement, leaving some players feeling that it lacks excitement.
“There's a lot of potential here, but ultimately without leaderboards or replayable levels, it's just kind of boring, for lack of a better word.”
“The campaign has some random variance in it regarding the ship requirements, so there's some replayability there.”
“There's even a daily ship build challenge, further increasing replay value.”
- atmosphere3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -100 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game features a relaxed and delightful atmosphere, enhanced by finely-crafted pixel art and soothing chiptunes, which create a chill environment for players. The smart puzzle mechanics allow for creative freedom in ship building, while the interface effectively manages complexity, ensuring players feel informed and not overwhelmed. Overall, the combination of art, music, and gameplay fosters a uniquely enjoyable experience.
“Art and atmosphere are great, and the music is amazing (especially the last track, Azure).”
“The finely-crafted pixel art and soothing chiptunes contribute to a delightfully chill atmosphere, and the interface scales with the smoothly increasing complexity of the puzzles to ensure that you have all the information you need without ever being overwhelmed.”
“The game has a really smart puzzle mechanic that fits its relaxed atmosphere: you get a set of requirements for a particular ship build and can arrange the components in whatever way you like, with ample room for sub-optimal placement and aesthetic flourishes in the ships you build.”
“The atmosphere feels bland and uninspired, lacking any real sense of immersion.”
“Despite the game's potential, the atmosphere is dull and fails to engage the player.”
“The environments are lifeless, making it hard to feel connected to the game world.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the late-game content lacking, leading to a sense of repetition and diminishing interest in ship customization. The focus on cost-effective building and increasing restrictions contribute to a tedious grinding experience.
“It's a bit thin on the late-game content; you start to feel the repetition hitting you when you almost stop caring about how the ship looks by the endgame. You're always encouraged to build the ship as cheaply as possible, and the restrictions imposed by the levels become a bit tedious.”
