Fay's Factory

[h3]OUTLOOK:[/h3] [table] [tr] [td] [h3][strike]TRAINWRECK | SUBPAR[/strike] | [b]ON THE FENCE[/b] | [strike]PROMISING | IMPRESSIVE [/strike] [/h3] [/td] [/tr] [/table] [h3]SYNOPSIS:[/h3] [table] [tr] [th][b]IMPRESSIONS:[/b][/th] [/tr] [tr] [td] Fays Factory (FF) delivers an odd combination of simple adventure with a strange capitalism-meets-spell-factory theme, in a peculiar industrial age setting. The story and audiovisuals give it an ethereal quality like Spellcaster University. One that is charming, but not enough to alleviate the superficial feel of auto-battler combat. Lite deckbuilding used in factory management provides a fair basis for strategy, while house decorating and food making mini-games counter the heavy dialogue of its storytelling experience. It remains unclear how choosing certain socio-economic options will impact gameplay. More content is needed and everything must be scaled up. While solid foundations hint at what may be, so far expectations remain [b]ON THE FENCE[/b]. [/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [td][b]STATUS:[/b][/td] [td]In Early Access where it awaits the final x2 acts of the game. What's currently there is a playable extended demo [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][b]APPEAL:[/b][/td] [td]May appeal to fans who want something different than a fantasy adventure, with a penchant for a quirky setting, a modern minimalist look and feel, that has streamlined gameplay [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][b]VALUE:[/b][/td] [td]If the disjointed feel is ironed out and the rest of the planned content is added, the current full-price may be close to acceptable, but there is a long way to go [/td] [/tr] [/table] [quote=]Key provided by the developer through curator [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/][b]INDIE GEMS[/b] [/url] | Click to follow and receive updates for similar reviews[/quote] [i]More info below....[/i] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3271187835 [h3]POSITIVES:[/h3] 🟩 A fairly familiar PREMISE is confounded by an odd style that hints at the novel experience it could become. Casual adventure joins narrative-driven role-playing, factory deckbuilding and management, spell-casting auto-battler jousts and a few other minor elements. 🟩 The unusual combination of Industrial Age SETTING, corporate and socio-economic THEMES that permeate FF tie in with factory management and spell production, generate a most peculiar GAME WORLD. One that baits the curiosity to discover what lies within. 🟩 The involving nature of FACTORY MANAGEMENT comes from the sizeable number of MODULES that convert elements into a wide range of spells. A fixed factory layout delivers the quandary of which modules should be in place for the next spell joust. Later concepts such as CALIBRATION and CORNERSTONE options provide additional depth to customisation and strategy. 🟩 Already there are many immaculately hand-crafted LOCATIONS on the nodal map to visit. These follow the minimalist theme having a few points of interest to click on, NPCs for dialogue or a fewer number of combat driven ENCOUNTERS. Almost all are unique. A few are revisited for alternate purposes. 🟩 FACTORY MODULES for producing spells are already varied and numerous. Providing a number of possible combinations to trial and explore strategies. A greater selection is sure to add to the complexity and result in a greater satisfaction. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3271172484 [h3]NEUTRAL:[/h3] 🟨 CHARACTER CUSTOMISATION doesn't cover stats nor gaining abilities during with progression. Spells come solely from the modules currently assigned to the factory. The socio-economic preference and in-game choices don't seem to impact much in the way of gameplay. 🟨 Exploring the GAME WORLD feels limited due to the sequential nature of the journey. At the moment its only possible to journey across a WORLD MAP with four regions. Each region equates to a nodal map containing a mix of distinct locations with a mix of medieval, contemporary and industrial age look and feel. 🟨 The STORY is dialogue heavy, told through numerous self-contained chapters. Its socio-economic theme and industrial age setting give it purchase, but to what end currently remains unclear. While a backstory of recovering memories for the player's character is a fair vehicle for banter between them and the mage companion, but proves lacking in connecting the two. 🟨 The WRITING has it's moments, it can be confusing to follow and hard to invest in. At least for gamers used to more familiar subject matter such as fantasy. 🟨 The SPELL SYSTEM is very basic relying on converting certain elements into damage potential, depending which elements RNG provides every turn. It is the range of currently installed modules in the factory that change the make-up of these and create spells. 🟨 COMBAT is an uncomplicated auto-battler with IGOUGO format against single, fairly non-descript enemies. Right now since spell strength and rewards seem capped to reflect the limited content, it feels inconsequential. A feeling reinforced by defeats not being fatal. At least the RNG used to deliver spell elements can be curtailed by the use of certain modules. 🟨 Decorating and food-making MINI-GAMES are a nice touch. Both provide change-up to gameplay. Its unclear just how much influence they will have in the full game. Installed decorations do not provide any bonuses like they tend to do in other games. 🟨 AUDIOVISUALS work well together. Visuals have an elegant minimalist style, a nice change from more visually stunning games. The solitary melodic tune aptly captures the mood, but doesn't do enough to amplify the changes between combat or during dialogue exchanges. Voice acting would work great even if beyond an Indie title. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3271173090 [h3]NEGATIVES:[/h3] 🟥 The game has a causal PACE and relaxing manner. SCALING feels flat and taking the wrong region exposes the player to some very one-sided combat encounters. The limited nature of spell components restricts the combat experience. 🟥 Not really the CRPG that it calls itself. No character class can be built and only the health stat is increased by a miniscule amount at the end of every chapter. There are no skill or spell trees to choose from. 🟥 GAMEFLOW has a disjointed feel due to the heavy volume dialogue/exposition versus the amount of staged combat jousts there are. 🟥 HEALING is undercooked and results in the mage character starting with low health in too many encounters. Strangely at some map nodes it automatically goes back to max for no apparent reason. The food making mini-game would better serve BALANCE if introduced earlier. 🟥 STORY DELIVERY feels off right now. Different characters are highlighted by colours, but are not indicated on screen or shown as a portrait, so its not entirely clear which NPC is talking or whom the exposition is aimed at. [table] [tr] [td][b]REVIEWED WITH:[/b][/td] [td]Build 74 - May 18 INTEL i5 6600 3.3GHz, 8GB RAM, GTX970 4GB @ 1920x1080 windowed, EVO850 SSD, Speedlink XEOX Pro Analog Gamepad [/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [td]Click for:[/td] [td][b][h1][url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/TheIrregularGamer/discussions/0/4347743556804736767/]FULL REVIEW[/url][/h1][/b][/td] [/tr][/table] [table] [tr] [td]Click for:[/td] [td][b][h1][url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/nourl1/screenshots/?appid=772710&sort=newestfirst&browsefilter=myfiles&view=grid]MORE SCREENSHOTS[/url][/h1][/b][/td] [/tr][/table] [table][tr] [td]Click for:[/td] [td][h1][url=https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/772710/view/4175477072258854070]ROADMAP[/url][/h1][/td] [/tr][/table] [quote=]Thank you for reading | Click to follow my curator[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40556040-The-Irregular-Gamer/] THE IRREGULAR GAMER[/url][/quote]

It's a little short right now (3-4 hours) and a little buggy (some text tags are missing and I had to restart the game twice when I couldn't progress, but I never lost more than 2 minutes of progress). However, it has a very strong sense of personality. The world is fun and absurd, and the spell-building mechanics are very fresh. You can really tell that this game was made by a creative person. I'm excited to see what it'll become someday.

Fun game with a solid foundation of fun mechanics and amazing story. The choices you make actually have impact on how the story happens, starting from which background you choose. Losing a battle changes the story instead of simply making you try again. That being said I'm eagerly awaiting the full release as the story is still pretty short at the moment.

damn had to put my hades 2 down for this game.... that says a lot. magic, battles, anticapitalism, discoelysiumesque and everything nice wonder if i can romance fay

Yes but not yet... This game is NOT ready. It gives you about 3-4 hours of game and then leaves you with a message about more work in progress is coming... We'll see what may come, I have hope and good faith this will be a good game in the end. What is here is AWESOME... but it cuts short and leaves you kinda sad. The potential for more is there, but I would give it time before buying it.

a hidden treasure among games!!! - blending adventure and factory management so seamlessly - witty and humorous dialogues - meticulous attention to detail - stunning visual style, especially in the interfaces its Early Access but the game boasts an impressive level of content and polish. I eagerly anticipate the full release!!

this game is really something else. i like how modern society concepts and a magic world are woven together. it was fun building the factory, taking part in magic duels and reading hilarious dialogues. the game is a little junky but it's still in early access. it has great potential, can't wait for more updates!

Loved the demo for this, and still love the EA version! The writing is delightful, surprisingly reactive, and the narrative is very happy to let you play against the grain of the story and reward you for it. The core gameplay is also pretty engaging, and I imagine there's a good bit of replayability to be had, too. The content currently in EA is small, but quite fun, and I am happy to have bought in as a show of support for this project. Just know that at the moment the narrative ends fairly early, but the dev already seems pretty communicative about their plans and updates. Final passing thought: The game definitely flirts with politics in an opinionated but fun and humorous way. I definitely got a chuckle out of the "Capitalistic" origin being subtitled as "What-about-ism". It's definitely a selling point for me given the quality of the writing.

It's not really for me. Battles don't feel that great and seem to drag on, which is not a great sign because they are short. The factory pieces could have been cool and added some interesting mechanics but there's nothing I saw in the little bit I played that couldn't have been replaced by plain old buttons. If you compare this to a game like Rogue Voltage you can see the difference. This is a much more stylized "artsy" game but there's not enough substance in game play currently to hook me. You might like it but it wasn't for me personally.

Fantastic game. Gameplay is unique and fun. Awesome setting and style. Looking forward to a full release.