The last thing I need in my life is another factory game, if only because allowing any factory game into your life risks it being consumed entirely by its sprawling, hopelessly absorbing logistics puzzle.
But then Cordyceps Collective went and mashed up Factorio with last year's colony simulation Empire of the Ants, and now I see I'm going to lose the second half of February to Microtopia.
Releasing in just a few weeks, Microtopia invites players to «become the hive mind of a robot ant colony» designing logistics networks for your automaton insects to produce and convey resources across an elegant industrial circuit-board.
Starting with a robotic ant queen, you must nurse cute metal larvae into baby ants, draw pathways to tell them where to move, and place down sensors and logic gates to instruct them on how to interact with your factory.
Collecting resources and placing down structures lets you upgrade your ants into different types, like flying ants, digger ants, and, er, «inventor» ants, which presumably help you research new tech.