The Auto Sort Is Broken

About

The Auto Sort Is Broken is a single player action game. It was developed by Fractal Projects and was released on January 23, 2025. It received positive reviews from players.

In "The Auto Sort Is Broken," you organize chaotic RPG/MMORPG player inventories by grouping identical items to earn rewards. As adventurers bring increasingly messy bags, you'll uncover stories about game struggles like pay-to-win and unbalanced classes. Use earned coins to unlock secret achievements that reveal the deeper narrative behind the game world’s profit-driven developers.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

81%

Audience ScoreBased on 54 reviews

gameplay6 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

The game features charming pixel art and a humorous narrative that resonates with players familiar with MMORPGs.
Organizing inventories is a satisfying mechanic that provides a sense of relaxation and challenge.
It's a short but enjoyable experience, making it a good option for casual gaming sessions.

The item placement mechanic is imprecise, often causing frustration as items do not snap to the intended slots.
The game can feel repetitive quickly, with limited gameplay mechanics and a lack of depth in puzzles.
There are technical issues, such as bugs and a lack of options for screen scaling, which detract from the overall experience.

gameplay
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
25%
25%
The gameplay is centered around a simple mechanic of dragging and dropping items onto a grid, which can be entertaining but is marred by imprecise controls and frustrating limitations, such as time constraints and inability to replace items. While the core concept is enjoyable and offers a satisfying inventory organization experience, minor mechanical issues can lead to frustration. Overall, the game provides a brief but engaging experience, enhanced by beautiful pixel art, though it may be better suited as a feature within a larger game.
- “The core gameplay is fun, but a lot of minor issues quickly build frustration.”
- “It's a simple game and the controls are imprecise, but the gameplay idea is nice and entertaining enough for the short time it takes to complete the game.”
- “Beautiful pixel art, great gameplay experience, and a perfect mix of challenge and relaxation.”
- “The game does try to make them harder sometimes by putting you on a time limit, but I honestly do not enjoy that mechanic as I often found that it was a complete crapshoot as to whether I'd solve them in time depending on if I happened to put everything in the grid in an optimal way on my first try.”
- “There is literally one mechanic in the game, which is dragging items in the inventory and sorting them.”
- “There are other mechanical issues as well like not being able to drag items over top of one another (the item you're dragging immediately goes back to where it was instead of replacing the items it is dropped on top of) and mouse cursor placement of items being inconsistent, often requiring repeated dragging to get items into the slots you intended which is then exacerbated by the aforementioned inability to replace items and then the added time constraints later, these all lead to a lot of needless frustration.”
humor
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized by witty dialogue, amusing achievements, and a clever meta-narrative that resonates with jaded gamers. While some players found the dialogue slow and not particularly funny, others appreciated the game's lighthearted take on inventory management and RPG tropes, resulting in a blend of humor that is both entertaining and nostalgic. Overall, the game successfully combines humor with engaging gameplay, appealing to fans of both organization puzzles and RPGs.
- “Cute, short, funny, kind of sad game about the death of an MMORPG.”
- “Wonderful little game with some pretty hilarious achievements.”
- “With all that in mind, by virtue of telling the story of jaded gamers through their eyes, you get a lot of hilarious meta and also a fair few easter eggs, which I always appreciate.”
story
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
45%
33%
The game's story is brief yet engaging, utilizing achievements as a unique storytelling device that reflects the experiences of jaded gamers, complete with humor and easter eggs. While the narrative centers around the decline of an MMORPG, it offers a lighthearted and entertaining experience, allowing players to immerse themselves in inventory organization and character interactions. Overall, the story enhances the gameplay, making it a fun and memorable journey despite its short length.
- “Its little bit of story and the flair of items, player characters and genre in-jokes round up the short-but-fun experience.”
- “However, the achievements are also being used as a storytelling device in this game.”
- “Sad story about the death of an MMORPG, but all in all, rating-wise I'd put it at, can I recommend?”
- “The actual 'story' is pretty short, but if you need something for idle brain cycles, it's pretty simple to not do the thing that 'ends' the run and play it endlessly.”
- “It tells a story as you sort the inventories of an MMO losing players and closing down.”
music
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
75%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews; while some players appreciate the immersive and complementary soundtrack, others find the single track repetitive and tedious after extended play. Overall, the sound design enhances the game's atmosphere, but its limited variety may detract from the experience over time.
- “The pixel art looks good, and the music sets the vibe.”
- “The pixel graphics are charming, and the music really gets you thinking about where everything goes, though it does get a bit tedious after 2 hours.”
- “Additionally, the soundtrack is amazing, perfectly complementing the experience and making the game even more immersive.”
- “The music is repetitive and lacks variety, making it hard to stay engaged during longer play sessions.”
- “While the graphics are charming, the music feels out of place and doesn't enhance the overall experience.”
- “The soundtrack is forgettable and doesn't contribute to the atmosphere of the game, leaving it feeling flat.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, being described as clunky and buggy with a bare-bones interface. Users find the frequent bugs frustrating, especially given the game's simplistic design, which detracts from the overall experience.
- “Clunky and buggy with a bare-bones interface and options; it's quite a lazily made game, honestly.”
- “That's a problem when you have 30 seconds to get everything placed perfectly, even if it's part of the joke that the game is buggy.”
- “For how incredibly simple and plain this game is, it's surprisingly buggy and frustrating.”
graphics
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
100%
The graphics feature charming pixel art, but users report issues with scaling and blurriness in fullscreen mode, particularly on higher resolutions like 1440p. While the day-night cycle adds a clever touch to the visual experience, the overall graphical options are considered limited and could benefit from improvements to avoid distortion.
- “The pixel graphics are charming, and the way the game secretly mocks you while sorting out the inventory as you take longer than it should is delightful. The game world transitions from day to night, which I find witty, and the music really gets you thinking about where everything goes.”
- “The game's options are lacking, and the scaling is weird; going fullscreen makes the graphics blur a bit, even though I'm using a standard 16:9 ratio.”
- “Would've preferred to see the graphics a bit less stretched; on a 1440p monitor, the text feels like a NES game that was just stretched out.”
- “The pixel graphics are charming, but the game world changes from daytime to nighttime, which I find witty. However, it does get a bit tedious after 2 hours.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the game resonates emotionally, as it captures relatable feelings of pain and struggle, enhancing the overall experience beyond just gameplay mechanics.
- “This game captures the emotional struggles we all face, making it relatable on a personal level.”
- “The emotional depth of the characters really resonates, drawing players into their journeys.”
- “I found myself connecting with the story on an emotional level, feeling the highs and lows alongside the characters.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviewers commend the game's dialogue for reflecting the developers' respect for gaming and their opposition to predatory monetization practices, particularly regarding microtransactions.
- “The dialogue works and really shows the developers' appreciation for gaming as a medium and their stance on predatory business practices, especially when it comes to microtransactions.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players appreciate the charming pixel graphics and the clever inventory management mechanics, which add a humorous touch to the grinding experience. However, many find that the gameplay becomes tedious after a couple of hours, despite the engaging day-night cycle and thought-provoking music.
- “The pixel graphics are charming, and the way the game secretly mocks you while sorting out the inventory as you take longer than it should is clever. However, it does get a bit tedious after 2 hours.”