Factorio: Space Age review

pcgamer.com:

What is it? A massive, wildly imaginative expansion to one of PC gaming’s most distinctive creations.
Release date October 21, 2024
Expect to pay $40 / £30
Developer Wube Software
Publisher Wube Software
Reviewed on RTX 2080 Super, AMD Ryzen 5 3600, 32 RAM
Steam Deck Verified
Link Official site

Factorio’s original premise saw players constructing a sprawling manufacturing plant, producing millions of products to fulfil their goal of building a space rocket to escape the alien planet they were stranded on. Doing this was a tremendous feat of planning and engineering, and one of the most challenging, engrossing, and fulfilling experiences I’ve had in a video game.

Factorio: Space Age makes those achievements seem not merely insignificant, but diminutive by comparison. In this massive, galaxy-brained expansion, you’ll be popping off rockets like it’s the fifth of November, your crowning glory reduced to a supporting role in an adventure of mind-boggling interplanetary logistics. Not only does Space Age quadruple the number of visitable worlds in the game, each is so divergent in its geology, challenges, and hazards that you’ll need to completely relearn how to build a functioning factory on each of them.

Indeed, it’s tempting to describe Space Age as a sequel in all but name. Yet while there’s certainly a sequel’s worth of material in Space Age, this description does an injustice to how thoroughly and ingeniously it interweaves with the base game.

Space Age technically begins where Factorio ends, namely once you build a rocket. But developer Wube Software has reworked the process of unlocking rocket technology to streamline your path to the stars. Instead of having to produce five types of ‘science’ to research the relevant tech, you now only need three. Getting to this point still requires a substantial amount of work, and when you finally plant your first rocket silo into the ground, you’ll definitely feel like you’ve earned it. But instead of using your rocket to