Even though I still haven't "beaten" this game yet, I've sunk darn enough hours into it thus far to leave a review. Getting closer every time; just haven't quite crossed the finish line yet. "What? You wrote this review with 63.1 hours played? This looks like a DOS game! What's up?"
Well, be prepared for the ultimate grindfest. If you don't like grindy games, you may not like G.E.O. Because you will grind. Oh, will you grind.
So what is it? Well, in the simplest of terms, it's a mining and upgrade game. You know the drill (pun intended) - just like games like Wall World or Bore Blasters, you mine deep into the earth (or comet, or gas giant, or moon, or whatever). You get minerals. You use your mined profits to buy upgrades. That allows you to mine faster and deeper. This gives you access to more cash, which you in turn use to... upgrade, so you can mine faster and deeper. Again, if you've ever played a mining game, you know what's up.
This game comes with a ton of extra stuff you do on the side. You work on completing collections - various amounts of rocks or items. You do research. You buy stuff from the market. You play roulette, because of course you do. You build rooms for your mining base and hire employees. You fight to climb the offline leaderboard so you can become the top mining corporation. In between mining sessions, there is just a TON of stuff to collect, upgrade, and tinker with. In fact, that's one of the many things about this game that keeps drawing me back - the never ending tinkering. If you like mining, grinding, and tinkering, this game is going to be way more attractive than the videos show.
I will provide a word of caution - one of the reasons this game has SO much content is that it trickles in slowly. Again, GRINDFEST 3000. At first I got a bit discouraged, and was even considering giving up. Although it was fun, it just seemed like I was making no progress. Keep at it, though, young miner, and eventually you will be like me, drilling straight to the bottom of planets like a hot knife through butter.
The earth you mine through is littered with goods and bads. Each block type has its own unique strength against your drill, and this is multiplied by how much gravity the planet has. You further face environmental hazards, such as burning heat or freezing cold. The further you drill, the more these effects impact you. Meanwhile, there are plenty of bonus blocks - be it increasing your cash modifier, giving you more resistance to pressure, giving you a temporary shield against environmentals, treasure chests, and much more. On the flip side, the planets are filled with monsters - and as you may have seen from other reviews, no way to kill them. Some people really don't like this, but I think it keeps you on your toes. You may be able to find the bonus item that gets rid of ALL monsters in a level, but otherwise it's a dodge-fest. Stay alert!
If you manage to drill down to the core, you can collect "cores," which you can spend in the.... whatever the heck they call that shop, to increase your stats, allow you to build more rooms on your base (which increases your stats) so you can hire more employees (which increases stats) and stuff like that. It's all about slowly but surely increasing those stats so you can drill ever deeper.
It's been so long that I can't remember if the tutorial was any good or not. I seem to not remember it being too involved. I do remember being a little confused about a couple of the things, but trial and error will teach you much.. and if you're going to play THIS game, you're going to go on mission after mission after mission.
I guess I don't fully understand why I like this game so much. Maybe it's a sunk cost fallacy at this point. I HAVE to earn the #1 spot now, and I will never give up until I do. I may push myself to gain all the collectibles and whatnot.. I cannot, at this point, give up until I've mastered this world.
It may sound like I'm not enjoying myself, but I am. I LOVE the slow and steady progress.
This is the PERFECT kind of game to listen to talking shows on YouTube or music to. (The game has its own perfectly-suited soundtrack, but a lot of times I'll just listen to some YouTuber babble about whatever). Once you get the hang of it, it doesn't take a lot of thought.. Just takes a lot, and I mean a LOT, of drilling.
Despite looking cheesy, graphics are fine. Sound effects and soundtrack suit the gameplay just fine. Controls are pretty darn easy... Bunch of clicking and moving your mouse, pretty much. (Plays on Steam Deck just fine - 63+ hours and not a single crash.) Basically, everything about it is... just fine.
I can honestly say I'm kind of a fan of the WindyBeard team. I've been grinding on this game FOREVER and NEED to finish it out... and I just bought another game of theirs, some kind of brick-breaker game, and was horrified by the fact that I may wind up in the same spot with that game that I've wound up with in G.E.O.
Basically, end of the day, this is a great game. It's not the kind of game that you beat in one sitting.. Personally, I play for a while, go play something else, come back and play a little, go play something else... and the time just racks up. You don't need to think too much - plenty of relaxing time. And again... the tinkering between digs is a collector's/tinkerer's dream.
Worth full price? Easy yes. For nine bucks I have drawn 63 hours (SO FAR... who knows how much more) out of it, so it's an EASY, EASY sell. If you can get it on sale even better - so good it should be illegal. I can't remember if I bought this full price, on sale, in a bundle or what, but even if I paid the $9, I'm very happy I did.
So if you like mining games, collecting stuff, grinding, tinkering, and relaxing... This is a game that should probably be in your library.
