Oxygen Not Included (2019)

Played: 93 mins

Evaluation: Haha, what chaos is this? I love how this game hardly explains anything. "Here's three dudes and a shovel, good luck!". It tells me "You need an oxygen machine", so I built one and then it goes "Oh yeah, it's not working, you need to feed it electricity" and I'm like "ELECTRICITY IS A THING???!". I already restarted twice with much glee and I feel so smart for understanding a bit more every time.

Is it a keeper? YES

I'm not usually very interested in base-building games, but after watching my partner play it obsessively for a few weeks I decided to give it a try. What makes this game so enjoyable is that everything actually makes sense. Everything I built, everything I researched, it all actually felt like it did something and had meaning in the game. So many base-building games I've played in the past just seem to have exaggerated tech trees and buildings just to give you something to do. They often didn't' make sense or feel that realistic. That is not the case here. By the end I felt like I had actually built something real. A functioning little habitat for the people I was watching over.

The cartoony graphics and animations also added charm to the game without getting in the way later on.

Also, don't let the cartoony graphics fool you. This is a pretty hard-core base building game. In the beginning you will build several bases that just crumble away due to unforeseen problems. Even with a guide this happened to me a bunch of times, so don't beat yourself up over it. And I would suggest following a guide for new players as there are not really any tutorials in the game and there are many systems you will need to learn and master. The one I found and used the most was this one: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/oxygen-not-included-guide-how-to-ace-your-first-30-cycles-in-oni-2