Despite being a fan of the genre, I somehow missed Satisfactory on PC. Last year’s Foundry had my attention for several weeks, as I automated production lines and multilevel factories to produce machine parts and essentials. Even as I played it, people kept saying “If you like this, you should really try Satisfactory.” Even my Steam page wouldn’t let up. But I just kind of didn’t.
Thanks to the one release, I have now remedied that, and I can honestly say that Satisfactory may well be the best version of its genre. It’s incredibly accessible, super simple at the start, and looks absolutely lovely. Neither the premise nor the end goal are particularly complex, and it doesn’t bog you down with time constraints or forced disasters to wreck your progress.
Essentially, you work for FICSIT, a future conglomerate that sends pioneers out into deep space to establish bases and systematically strip-mine alien worlds. You’re dropped onto a planet with a FICSIT Hub, which you’re then told to upgrade by feeding it raw materials. As the base is upgraded, the materials required become more difficult, requiring several stages of manufacturing. You’ll also need to range further for different ores and substrates, which means you’ll need to defend yourself against alien fauna.
There is combat, but it’s not intense at the start. While you’ll eventually encounter some pretty horrific beasties, it takes a while to get there, and you’ll be able to craft proper guns by then. Initially you’re up against disgruntled wildlife which you can taze and harvest for parts. Your first few hours will be pretty peaceful, if anything. If you play with others, the experience is mostly pretty chill, especially if you work together properly.
Once you’ve upgraded your base a few times you’ll need to build a Smelter, a Constructor, and a Mining installation. These are all powered by Biomass Generators, which will turn mulched up leaves and wood (and later organics) into fuel. It’s quite generous with how long this lasts, and grass and wood are in abundance early on (in the green biome, that is; other biomes have their own version and the harder ones are much more stingy and dangerous).
Where Satisfactory starts to come alive and earn its title is in the automation of processes. If you spend all day running between your machinery you won’t have much fun. You can build as many machines as you have power to run, and power management is surprisingly straightforward. One generator can feed a pylon, and a pylon can feed up to three machines. The more you have connected, the faster it will burn through resources, so it’s better to spread the load.
Once you unlock conveyor belts, the whole process becomes simultaneously easier and more complex. Yes you can now produce multiple materials without lifting a finger, but keeping track of what’s doing which job can be tricky without some kind of system. When you reach that point that you’re building branching conveyors and making complex multistage items, it can be a little overwhelming. The goal once you construct a space elevator is to make special materials to send back to FICSIT, and once you optimise and automate your first full line, it’s a very satisfying feeling.
Building is simple, but the first person camera makes it harder than it needs to be. Building lookout towers lets you climb them and place objects and machines with a bird’s eye view that makes things easier. You can also use towers to recon and survey, identifying resource nodes, areas of danger, or points of interest. The world is not without its hazards, and you’ll have to brave them all at some point.
Building a MAM lab allows you to research new technologies by bringing specimens back from the field. These could be new rocks, minerals, flora, or animal parts, and the system works in perfect tandem with your continuous upgrading of the Hub, constantly increasing the number of things you can build, store, craft, and use to tackle the tasks at hand.
Satisfactory on PS5 does a great job of compressing its control scheme onto a gamepad, utilising radial menus and other hotkeys to streamline the experience as it did on PC. It runs wonderfully well, with very few glitches or performance issues, and it looks lovely. There’s a day/night cycle that is more aesthetic than anything for the most part, but it’s more atmospheric for it.
With no hunger or exhaustion metres to worry about, and little danger unless you seek it out (which you will often have to), my only real complaint is that you unlock floors and walls at a point where you’ve already built a bunch of machines, making me wonder why they exist at all. But if that’s my biggest complaint, that should tell you what you need to know.
Satisfactory does have the ability to overwhelm, though, which I guess is more a by-product of the genre than this particular experience. Because it’s also incredibly laid back for much of the time, and as long as you have the materials there’s nothing to stop you testing down and rebuilding everything into a more efficient system once you’re established (which is what I did, and it felt incredibly satisfying).
Satisfactory: Console Edition is a superb example of the factory sim, delivering a deep, comprehensive experience where it really feels like the devs have thought of everything. It can be a lot to take in, but if you take your time and use your brain you can make every one of its systems work for you, which is arguably the end goal anyway. If, like me, you missed this gem on other platforms, make sure you don’t skip it now.
