Microtopia

This game was a lot of fun at first. Very cool theme and you get that automation fix. Pretty open ended on how to setup your factory. At first its all about efficiency and resource optimization, which was a lot of fun. However this soon devolved into processes that forced inefficiency. It really turned into a slog. The other islands are just annoying for the lack of logistics between them. You must have a flying ant move stuff around and it takes forever to do anything at scale that way. There is no faster speed for this game. you basically have to setup a system so its automated, but since you are limited on how many ants you can have, you just have to go AFK while the system works to gather what you're needing. Would be good to have a 10x speed to this game. The technology tree is AWFUL. Its like someone just randomized everything. You get access to stuff you dont want way early and the things you actually need are buried so far in advanced areas that by the time you get them you've done without for so long that its not even a reward or wanted anymore. And there's areas where you can unlock part of a technology but not the whole thing. You can unlock powered versions of resources, which it says is more efficient, but you don't unlock actually using them until the LAST item in the tech tree. There were several times where i thought that progression in the tree was impossible. I had to look at every single node to find the next path forward. It really felt like doing documents tracing/work. They intentionally block you from having access to the tech you need and force you to fail repeatedly. This game went from me not being able to sleep because i was so excited to play this game to being so bored that i didn't want to play anymore. I'm shocked at how quickly this game turned sour.

This is a hesitant recommendation. Microtopia has a really good clever mechanic (trails, and gates, and lifespans) that's been executed very well, and synergizes very well, but the game is not for everyone. On the good side, it feels a fair bit different from other factory games. Workers have a limited lifespan and are also part of getting more advanced workers. Recycling workers for further upgrades and back into raw materials is a huge part of the game, and that's pretty cool. On the bad side: - The game can feel SLOW at times, or downright tedious. There's no way to increase the game speed. - Resources are limited per island, which means if you don't recycle well, you're punished by needing to discover more islands and pull resources from further away. Basically, it's always "hard mode" compared to other factory games. - The upgrade tree kind needs attention. All too often you're presented with a new technology, and unlock it only to discover it's useless until you research another new technology *which requires more advanced resources*. I was frustrated to find I had spent time aiming to unlock something that ended up being useless for many more hours. The game hides details of future nodes on the tech tree so you can't avoid this mistake, either. Overall, I'd recommend the game for big fans of factory games who are OK with a slower pace and just plain harder gameplay in exchange for a very interesting, different experience.

It's interesting, but ultimately falls short. The bottlenecks specifically surrounding ant production and the separate islands make for a frustrating experience, and the novelty wears off quickly. Cannot recommend in current state. There are a LOT of better factory games out there.

This game has some interesting mechanics, but it's hard to call it a factory game when you can't truly automate production. There's no meaningful long-range logistics system, so once you expand beyond the nearby islands, outside of catapult range, progression starts to feel like it hits a wall. By the mid to late game, *Microtopia* stops feeling like a factory builder and starts feeling like a micromanagement simulator. The main problem is the combination of small, finite resource deposits and tiny stockpiles. Once a stockpile fills up, resources are effectively wasted. Aged ants carrying resources either have to leave the work path, or you keep them working until they die. Since ants cost resources to create and upgrade, every lost ant is another resource loss. Instead of spending time designing and optimizing factories, you're forced to constantly revisit every island just to babysit resource patches. I can make one small improvement to a factory on a single island, then have to go around maintaining resource patches on every island before I can make another change. That doesn't feel like meaningful gameplay—it just artificially stretches the game's length. I think this could be improved in a few different ways. An auto-sorting stockpile would be the best solution. Similar to how resources are handled when a building is deconstructed, any resources placed into this stockpile would automatically be distributed to the appropriate storage pads with available space. It would dramatically reduce unnecessary micromanagement without removing the logistical challenge that makes factory games enjoyable. If that isn't feasible, another option would be to make the Colossal stockpile available earlier in the game, or add larger dedicated stockpiles for raw resources. Any of these changes would reduce the constant need to babysit resource patches while still preserving the core gameplay.

Robot ants are very satisfying. I bounced off the prologue ages ago but decided to commit some time to understanding what the game is doing. It's a little different from other factory games, in a good way. You are basically designing a living circuit board, while it's operating. Every time I hit a new problem my first reaction was, "well this is going to be tedious," then I made a terrible solution, learned why it was terrible, made a slightly better one, then learned how to make the proper one. Don't look at guides, don't watch someone else play. Just go in with the intention to be stupid, then learn how to be clever. It's immensely satisfying. 10/10 factory game.

Плюсы: 1. Прекрасная залипательная игра. Затягивает надолго. Управление простое, каждый шаг объясняется. Казуал рад. 2. СПАСИБО, что существуют муравьи-часовые, мои бессмертные ангелочки, с которыми в любой момент можно начать с нуля, просто стерев всё огромным ластиком, не боясь, что популяция вымрет. 3. Разноцветные дорожки очень помогают. А сетка - вообще счастье перфекциониста. Минусы: Моя единственная большая претензия - щебень. Прикол вот какой: когда вы находите второй остров, на него могут летать дроны, но у них малый функционал. А чтоб туда могли ползать нелетающие муравьи, нужен мост. Чтоб построить мост, нужно добыть щебень и преобразовать его в бетон. Чтоб добыть щебень, нужны копатели (нелетающие). И если у вас нет щебня на вашем базовом первом острове, то мост вам будет только сниться. На моём первом пробном сохранении щебень заспавнился, хвала богам. Но это сохранение я бросила и начала следующее, когда поднабралась опыта, потому что обожаю начинать с чистого листа с имеющимися знаниями. И в новой игре щебня на первом острове не было. Когда я это осознала, я полчаса тыкалась во все уголки игры, чтоб найти альтернативу мосту, но увы, ничего не нашла. Я очень хвалю себя за то, что не удалила первое сохранение и смогла к нему вернуться. Потому что я ради эксперимента создала с десяток новых игр - и ни в одной из них мне не дали щебень на базовом острове. То есть, я сделала вывод, что здесь имеется некая вероятность спавна щебня. И шанс этого спавна на первом острове крайне мал. Конечно, десяток новых генераций - это маловато для объективной статистики, но блин, разработчик предлагает мне сутками, что ли, сидеть и генерировать новые сохранения ради проклятого щебня? В общем, новички, будьте бдительны, если у вас нет щебня на первом острове, вы потратите время на развитие впустую. В остальном - игра отличная, я люблю её. Потраченных денег не жалею, однажды изучу всё древо развития, в своём темпе, без спешки и суеты. Спасибо разработчикам за труды!

Somewhere between automation (Factorio, satisfactory, foundry etc.) and a virtual ant colony. I say it´s easily worth a shot if you either like bugs, factory-building games, or both (like me!).

Not really a fan of this game, but I know others are... I tried it out, but the fact ants die just is offsetting to me.

An excellent game with unusual mechanics. It’s a shame it hasn't received more attention. Definitely worth checking out for fans of factory-building games.

It is just not satisfying. The whole time some supply chains are not working because resources are used. Skill tree is a mess. You think you can progress different routs but then you require some specifics and need to wait again. Later stage are just so boring because you need to wait again for skill points. At the start the game makes you think you can have mulitple queens when they fly up, but that is not the case.