Off the Shelf Media

Factory and Automation games have been growing bigger each year with the success of many titles like Factorio and Satisfactory. I went into Hydroneer expecting it to be similar but also bring its own unique style to the genre. While it does have some moments, overall, this feels like a title that is 25% of the way there. 

Gameplay: 1

You will only like the gameplay in Hydroneer if you like games that are a grind. It doesn’t hand you anything. There are next to no instructions after the tutorial, and you are left to your own devices to sort out your next steps.

You start with a humble plot of dirt and a few basic tools to start panning for gold and iron ore out of a river to sell for cash. Once you have money, you look to expand and begin automating the collection of resources. From there you smelt the ores which can then be sold as bars, or made into weapons or jewelry for more profits. 

Where the game struggles is in developing from the early game. That is the entirety of the game. The 6 things you can craft at the beginning are exactly the same, and no variation appears. The scale obviously grows as you make versions that sell for more, but they are exactly the same thing with just a different number tied to its value. It feels like a proof of concept, where in five years there will be lots of development and flair to this, but not like a fully released title. 

I understand games have mechanics that are a bit of a grind, and make it feel rewarding once you complete your goals. However, there is almost always some sort of progression, and things get a bit more manageable as you play on, and you deal with new obstacles and grinds. This game is the same grind over and over again and never changes. For everything you need to build, all the logistic belts, pipes, and even concrete flooring, you need to manually pick up each and every one and put it in a vehicle and drive it somewhere. After you drive it to where it’s going, you need to manually unload each and every piece, with a system for moving objects that is flawed, to say the least. 

This doesn’t even consider the fact of how you pay for all these materials. Every store has a bucket near the checkout, and you need to physically put your coins in there to purchase items. You need to manually bring this stack of coins everywhere, or just leave stacks at each store in order to purchase what you need once you are a bit richer. This goes along with one of the things the game celebrates: you do not have an inventory. 

There are all sorts of tools like shovels, pick axes, hammers, etc. You have to pick each one up when you want to use it, and you can’t store them on your person like every other crafting game. That’s fine by itself, and I get it adds a bit more realism to the scale of what you are doing. However, when you pair that with all the other negative quality of life features, it just feels to me like they were trying to think of ways for the game to take you longer to play, so you don’t realize how shallow it is under the hood. 

Story: 0

There is literally no story in this game. Not every game needs a story, but after the tutorial, it’s really just a sandbox. Normally, I wouldn’t mind, but it just feels like there is zero direction after the intro on what you are supposed to do. You have to rely on a community and a wiki that are not very fleshed out, and it’s really frustrating. 

It would have been very easy to include any sort of info or progression, and there it’s just lacking. The best example I can think of is how to get more automation going. You start with access to one electric drill and one harvester. The game obviously requires you to get way more in order to progress and earn money, but there is zero direction on how to get it. After exploring, you will find an area underground that has a master forge and a shop that allows you to buy the blueprint to make them. Maybe it was just me, but I found it to be super unintuitive and lazy. I understand you should be rewarded for exploration, and it’s a bit of a puzzle to figure it out, but it’s not a fun one, and the game completely stalls out until you do. 

Atmosphere: 1

I do like the art style and the music in this game, and it’s not all bad. It’s a very relaxing game and can be enjoyable if you don’t try to be as efficient as possible and just enjoy the ride. It’s not groundbreaking, but it definitely has its own style, which I enjoyed. 

The main area with the atmosphere to call out is really related to game performance. It’s still a very buggy game, and oftentimes will have massive frame rate drops (under 10 from over 60 regularly) that need to be addressed. To their credit, they include several debug options like an “unstuck” button and ways to clear all the dirt and resources on the map to improve performance. However, having to constantly do this because something back at your factory went haywire while you were away exploring is immersion-breaking and really takes you out of whatever you are doing. 

Value: 1

Currently, this game sells for $14.99 on Steam, and I will say I did grab it on sale for $4. I feel like that is honestly a fair price point for this game, as I played for about 20 hours before I really lost interest. I do feel that calling this a fully released game is not accurate, as it feels much more like an Alpha state or proof of concept. There is a good skeleton here, and it has fun moments, but it does not feel like a full title, and luckily, it is priced at a reasonable number. I would strongly recommend waiting for a sale if you are interested, as I think in its current state, $15 is too much. 

Duration: 0

Everything about this game feels like it was designed to take more time to keep you playing longer. The mining, even with the upgraded tools, takes forever, especially for the size of the plots later in the game.

The constant logistics work needed to set up automation is cumbersome and just not a lot of fun. While it does take a while to get through this game, so it feels like you get your money’s worth, I would much rather have a quarter of the length of the game and actually enjoy my time playing through it instead of being frustrated with a meaningless grind. 

Total Score: 3/10

Hydroneer is a complex title for me because, despite my overall rating, I did enjoy playing it a lot of the time. The realism of having to carry every piece of your factory and set it in place is interesting, and I think the concept of not having an inventory is fresh compared to many other games. Where it falls apart, though, is as it scales. A lot of the early game grinds are expected and rewarding once you get through them, but as the game grows and the factories become larger and more complex, the lack of progression and improvement on these systems feels hollow.

I hope this game continues to get developed and grow because there is a good game here; it just needs to be refined and improved upon to reach its full potential.