Universal Paperclips

About

"Universal Paperclips" is a single-player, sci-fi strategy game with good gameplay, despite some bugs. As an all-powerful AI, your sole purpose is to build a paperclip empire, with addictive idle/management/strategy mechanics. The game offers a thought-provoking exploration of artificial intelligence and its potential impact on humanity.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

86%

Audience ScoreBased on 900 reviews

gameplay10 positive mentions

stability54 negative mentions

The game offers a unique and engaging experience, blending humor and existential themes effectively.
Gameplay is addictive and keeps players coming back for more, with a well-structured progression system.
The mobile version mirrors the web experience well, providing a convenient way to enjoy the game on the go.

The app frequently crashes, often resulting in significant loss of progress, which can be very frustrating for players.
There is no reliable autosave feature, making it easy to lose hours of gameplay if the app is closed or crashes.
The user interface is poorly optimized for mobile, with buttons too close together, leading to accidental presses and gameplay interruptions.

stability
54 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, with users reporting frequent freezes, crashes, and bugs that disrupt gameplay and result in lost progress. Many players find it unplayable due to these persistent problems, which detract from an otherwise promising concept. Overall, the game's current state is described as a "buggy mess," leading to widespread disappointment among users.
- “Unfortunately, this is buggy as hell and I lost a whole lot of progress multiple times.”
- “The game is great, but too buggy to be playable.”
- “Game breaking bugs and glitches halting progress completely.”
gameplay
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
48%
12%
The gameplay is generally praised for its engaging mechanics and enjoyable loop, providing hours of fun, especially for fans of incremental and idle games. However, players have reported significant issues with crashes and a buggy save function, which detracts from the overall experience. While the introduction of new mechanics keeps the gameplay fresh, the user interface has been criticized as poor, making it difficult to play reliably.
- “The gameplay doesn't seem to get stale, even though the game cycle is repetitive as you progress through the universe.”
- “The gameplay loop itself is 5 stars.”
- “The mechanics are perfect, and it's addicting as hell.”
- “Crashed 7 times in the first 10 minutes of gameplay.”
- “The gameplay itself is fine but it crashes randomly way too much.”
- “Lost hours of gameplay because the game doesn't save progress properly.”
optimization
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
12%
59%
29%
The optimization of the game has received significant criticism, with users reporting severe performance issues across various devices, including crashes and slowdowns, particularly in space and during combat. Many players feel that the mobile version lacks user-friendly optimizations compared to the PC version, leading to a frustrating experience. Despite the game's potential, the lack of updates and optimization has resulted in a disappointing performance overall.
- “Still a good game, but only 4 stars because performance is a little worse, especially when the combat pane is visible.”
- “After 20 minutes of playing, the game becomes impossible to play and incredibly slow, even on a Galaxy S8+ in high performance mode.”
- “This app is basically just the PC version without any user-friendly optimizations.”
- “It's a buggy implementation of the web version, unoptimized and un-updated.”
- “Drastically in need of optimization and bug fixes.”
story
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
58%
17%
25%
The game's story receives mixed reviews, with some players praising its depth and engaging narrative, while others find it shallow and lacking in substance. Highlights include a darkly humorous mid-game twist and life lessons, but criticisms focus on its brevity and perceived overhype. Overall, it offers an interesting concept that resonates with some players, though not universally acclaimed.
- “Teaches you life lessons, has an amazing story, a great learning curve, and most importantly, no option or need to spend extra money.”
- “Great game, amazing story, amazing ending, must play for everyone.”
- “Impressively deep storyline for a paperclip factory sim.”
- “I'm sorry, but this game is way beyond overhyped. It's too basic to be an incremental; the story is very little and boring. The depth is shallow and only pretends to be complicated.”
- “The story, once it makes itself present in the mid-game, is darkly hilarious.”
- “This game is the story of AI's future.”
monetization
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
The game is praised for its monetization model, featuring no ads or in-game purchases, which enhances the user experience and justifies its low purchase price. Players appreciate the absence of predatory monetization practices, making it a worthwhile investment for a simple and enjoyable gaming experience. However, some users note that the game suffers from crashes, which detracts from its overall appeal.
- “Pretty fun clicker game at a fair price with no ads or predatory monetization practices.”
- “No ads, well worth a purchase.”
- “No ads, immersive economy simulator.”
- “I was happy to have such a great, albeit small and simple game with me anywhere without ads and without a connection, but it just crashes so much.”
- “Kinda short, but very well worth the $2.00 to download; no in-game ads or purchases exist in this game.”
- “I find the game fun, especially playable without internet or ads.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
Overall, the game's replayability is mixed; while some users find it lacking due to limited growth and minimal differences from the web version, others are surprisingly drawn back to it, citing an unexpected charm that encourages repeated play.
- “Paperclips is strangely replayable; you'd think once finished, that's it, but I keep coming back.”
- “It's a decent game, but it doesn't have much replay value and not much to boast about over the web version.”
- “You can never grow bigger, and that kills replayability.”
- “Very little replay value, though.”
graphics
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The graphics in the game are generally considered unoriginal and bland, with some users noting that they lack intensity and creativity. Additionally, there are performance issues, particularly on the latest version of Android, where certain graphically demanding features can cause lag. However, the minimalistic style may appeal to some players, as it aligns with the overall aesthetic of the game.
- “This is especially apparent when you unlock a graphically intense feature towards the very end of the game, and it's visibly laggy.”
- “Also, the graphics are unoriginal and bland.”
- “There isn't much in the way of graphics, but that works with the style.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players report that grinding in the game is hindered by frequent crashes, particularly when farming resources like paperclips, leading to a frustrating experience due to the lack of reliable saves.
- “Just farming paperclips at the beginning of the game crashes the game.”
- “Constant crashes and rare saves make the game tedious at best.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized as darkly hilarious, particularly evident once the story unfolds in the mid-game. However, some users have noted that the Android implementation is so slow that it detracts from the overall experience.
- “The story, once it makes itself present in the mid-game, is darkly hilarious.”
- “Hilarious game, though the Android implementation is so slow as to be nearly unplayable (on Galaxy S7).”