Oxygen Not Included

Amazing game where you can even learn real life physics!
Highly remomended for everyone who loves tech games. They are even great DLCs and QoL mods that expands gameplay and make it even better :)

Only minus is AI for dupes - they are kinda stupid and you may get frustrated when they don't do something for a long time or they get themself trapped in some deadly environment.

It needs a master in ingeneering to understand all the mechanics of this game, the learning curve is insane, but it's amazingly well done and has so much depth just like most of Klei's games. If you like the genre, just buy it !

misleading title, there is a whole section in the game called oxygen

very great game :)

My favourite colony sim ever and the reason I buy all Klei's games. The art style is amazing and the game's got tons of systems to learn and keep it interesting. LOVE IT FOREVER

this game is so adictive, definitively recomended. One of my favorites games !!

I'm not happy to leave negative review to such promising game. Gameplay, its physics and idea itself is very good, challenging and interesting colony sim with exploring and surprises, that I would really like to recommend and would love to play, but unfortunately I am tired of the game crashes. Its almost impossible and very annoying to play over and over again from last saves if it keeps crashing again every 15-20 minutes. I have high end PC and I have no issues with other games I've played but this is the first time I've considered to ask my money back. I have tried every possible solution, restarted bases several times, reinstalled, verifying files, updated drivers, searching from ONI community, even used chat GPT to decifer save files and find solutions to the bug reports - no success. At first the game runs great but always If the base gets bigger, I recieve crashes all the time with "NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object". Whatever it means, I feel I can't recommend this experience to others. My fellow little creatures are all happy, its me who has 100% stress - it should be other way around.

I always end up messing something up and repeatedly ruining my base, getting frustrated, abandoning the game, and deleting the data from my PC, but for some reason, I keep coming back. And if the online forums are any indication, it's probably my lack of supervision skills and has little to do with the game. Still one of my favourite games!

It's not really for me unfortunately! It gets quite complicated quite quickly, I think it's just not my personal play style. Not recommended for casual or low effort players who aren't fond of automation. If you went all out in games like Minecraft and built full machined tunnels, this is for you! If you just explored and made your home pretty, give this a miss.

After sinking over 200 hours into Oxygen Not Included I can finally say I’ve got a solid grasp on the early game. It feels great to stabilize my colony and watch the basic problems disappear, only to be replaced by bigger ones. The mid-game is where the real gears start spinning, and I’m super excited to dive further into the Spaced Out DLC and explore rocket travel.

I actually picked this game up on sale, and it’s easily one of the best purchases I’ve made in a long time. I just wish I had started my journey sooner! At first glance, the game looks cute and simple, but don’t let that fool you. It's surprisingly deep. Maybe too much for some! It’s like managing an ant colony in a high-tech science lab, where every little detail counts. I love the challenges of temperature regulation and piping management. Everything is interconnected, and even seemingly out-of-place features like puft ranching suddenly play a role in closing bigger loops in certain system setups.

But let me tell you, the journey is full of hardships. I’ve had my fair share of runs that ended in total chaos, and the next day I woke up just itching to start fresh again, armed with better ideas and neater setups. Problems like water shortages, overheating meltdowns, and starvation were run-enders in my first dozen hours. Each failure teaches you something valuable, whether it’s about resource management or planning for the unexpected. The game’s difficulty is part of what makes it so engaging. It keeps you on your toes and makes every victory feel earned. Be specific about your next step and prioritize what your colony needs the most. Think two steps ahead!

One thing to keep in mind is that the game doesn’t hold your hand. You’ll need to do some research yourself, and while the in-game wiki is helpful, I’ve found that the real insights come from guides outside of the game. The learning curve can be steep, but that’s what makes it so addictive. Each new run is a chance to do it better.

I haven’t even touched the Bionic Booster DLC yet, even though I bought it, because I’m still working my way through learning about plastics, steel, and rocketry. I’m hoping Klei will create even more content for this game because there’s just so much potential here.

If you’re looking for a game that combines adorable visuals with complex mechanics, endless exploration, gives replayability, and you’re a bit of a science nerd then Oxygen Not Included is a must-play. It’s a delightful challenge that keeps giving more!

I like all the particulars of this game - the quirky designs, core mechanics and weird hidden story. What I don't like are the systems the game is organized into. Under the cute exterior, Oxygen Not Included is built on a spiderweb of intersecting systems, all of which are defined by resource scarcity and none of which are fully explained in the game itself.

If your learning curve was like mine, you will lose your first 5 games to resource mismanagement (i.e., forgot to make food), the next 5 games to second-order resource mismanagement (i.e., starvation brought on by water shortages because crops weren't watered), and the next 10 games to third-order resource mismanagement (i.e., starvation brought on by water shortages brought on by electricity shortages, because the water pumps didn't have power).

Once you have finished building your mental serial killer wall of ONI wiki articles and string, you will start losing games to heat. Almost 700 hours in this game and I never fully figured out how to beat the fact that the asteroid gets steadily hotter and the heat has nowhere to go. There are heat-deletion buildings hidden around the map, but they are buried deep and you can't build more. There's a late-game thing called super coolant that I never got to use because my colonies always crumbled before I could unlock it.

You're punished for going slow; the tightrope gets thinner as time goes on. You're punished for going fast; bringing on too many Duplicants at the beginning is the surest way to run out of resources. You're punished for using resources; some are non-renewable and the game doesn't tell you which. You're punished for not using resources; the margins for survival are always super tight.

I'm sick of this. I don't want to play anymore.

You will like the game if you are into sandbox games with complex mechanics. However, expect to spend many hours reading the wiki or watching youtube videos. Theoretically you could go by trial and error alone but I think that most players would not enjoy this. The game is too complex to figure it out with reasonable effort. You cam rely on your knowledge of the real world only so much. For instance, you can produce oxygen by water electrolysis. Great! However,: 1) the ratio of produced H and O is not 2:1; 2) you can use the generated H to produce much more electricity than you spent on splitting the water molecules; 3) and this "burning" of H does not require oxygen and does not produce water. Magic! To be clear, I am OK with this - it is a game not a simulation - I am just trying to illustrate why the game has steep learning curve.

There is one aspect of the game which I do not like at all. You colonists (duplicants aka dupes) are simpletons, which are seemingly programmed to do stupid things on purpose, e.g. walling themselves in, picking materials from boiling water etc. This may sound fun on paper. In practice it means that you have to babysit them when performing time sensitive or otherwise critical tasks because it would be a major pain in the ass to deal with the consequences, like contamination of your main water supply. This micromanagement is out of place for a game that focuses on complex base building.

This game is extremely complex but at the same time extremely fun. it does have a sandbox mode and lower difficulty levels for you if you dont want to deal with some of the built in challenges. I absolutely recommend this game!!

Very good game, would recommend, easy to sink a lot of hours into and lose track of time.

An incredibly fun open base building game. Some interesting challenges and always more to do to expand and build the base.

Super fun game, I always wanna come back to it. Some of the stuff in it like the way buildings work is super confusing, but I'll figure it out eventually.

Well you keep trying I guess. I have spent 300+ hours and lost 7 Colonies, bevore I could get to the endgame.

AMAZING. EVERY SECOND. Never was there a game that made me wana try again from scratch like this.
All the detailed implications of real live physics, thermo dynamics and science made me learn so much. Truely it is not 100% accurate but how could a game be and still be interesing at the same time.

Colony management and "Micro" Managing until perfect automation is your thing?
PLAY IT.

At this point i have not even touched any mods. So I guess there will be another couple hundres hours to keep me entertained.

Amazing game, only negative is that I got too addicted lol

1800 hours and I'm still into it. The game has exceptional replay value because there are a lot of different challenges and there isn't always one best answer to all problems. Different circumstances require different ways to tackle them.

Had a great time with it for about 15h, then I guess I got a little bit overwhelmed by all the different systems and possibilities.

Need mods to get the best of the game, can lag if to much things to process (slow time if it helps ^^).
But apart from that, an exceptionally good game ('cute' design, good real survival approximation mechanics and good leaning curve) not on par with factorio but good enough with a decent modding community. Definitly recommend the base game ... have got spaced out (that split out part of the map between asteroids that 'need' to be colonized by rockets), the other two can extend the game life a bit (bionics seems to be fine to have to me, in the future)...

This is a delightfully complex game that takes a while to figure out.

Even after 47-hours of play, I'm a long way from having it all mastered.

I'm glad I bought it.

Game is genuinely frustrating. Less about the individual colonists and more about automating them out of the equation. Machines are reliable and do the task they are designed for, the dupes tend to do things in the least effective way possible and tend to trap themselves or wander into areas too hot to survive and die if it hasn't been sectioned off.

It's honestly a lot of fun, but even the easiest survival mode is really challenging for me, so be aware of that

I really like this game. been playing it on and off since early acess, and its gotten more content and such over time, but not so much as to be overwhelming. its a lot of fun, and i think youll like it if it looks at all interesting to you.

Factorio + Colony Simulator. With the factorio part being optional. (Or the colony part)

Everyone pee'd themselves until they died because I forgot to empty the toilet

10/10 Would choke and die again

Gameplay-wise, it's honestly great. The challenges aren’t repetitive and the deeper you go, the more strategy it takes—even something as simple as research needs careful planning. But sometimes the dupes act like they have a sixth sense for getting themselves stuck 😅. Not really a bug, but definitely part of the challenge too.

I've played for a few hours and can no confidently say, this game is a must-have for any colony sim enjoyers!

An impressive simulation game with all the realistic physics you'd expect, truly a real challenge for your brain

Fantastic game, just a little hard and complex and i end up starting over a LOT because I am big stupid xD
But totally worth it, the replayability is insane on this and I always have fun starting something new, only to screw up and try again. 10/10

I've only played for 83 hours and it took me years of stopping and starting. After 3 years of not touching it, "oh yeah lets try this game again" and suddenly BAZINGO! I'm hooked. I can tell I'm going to put much more hours into this as the years tick on.

What a well-made, silly-yet-serious, kick-ass game this is.

Quite simply: Its the kind of game that makes you wish there were more hours in the day.

I can't say the game is bad, but I personally didn't like it much despite recommending it here. It's like terraria (there is no fighting though) but with rimworld management of NPCs. I had a few runs and initially it causes panic because resources are finite and you need search to find infinite resources or you die (you have a lot of time to search). I made a good colony until a major issue kicked in. I had a colony made up upper sector and down sector. Because in this game gasses can't mix or occupy same tile, even when I had around 3 ducts that were 3 tiles wide to connect the two sections, the O2 could not move up even when I let space to make almost vacuum. I kinda had to totally stop O2 generation in down sector and pump everything up but in the process I reached stress 100%. Then I decided to go sandbox and reveal everything and lost interest in the game similar to when you reveal everything in terraria. It doesn't have the replayability of rimworld. Generally, could be rage inducing at times when gases and liquids mix up or when they don't mix up even when one side is almost vacuum. With the discount, it's worth it.

Discover problems,
create solutions,
improve your solutions,
occasionally create a problem,
solve those too,
and repeat.

Discover a world and make it yours.

It is not for beginners who don't wanna learn something new. It is a BIG learning curve but once you understand the basics, in-game principles and factors, it can be a very rewarding game. It's okay to make mistakes on your first few runs, when in doubt, ask Youtube, Reddit or Discord. The community is very friendly and helpful! :D

Great Game just be prepared for a learning curve. The game is gonna guide u through it while giving you full control so you all should be fine.

Combination of management and survival style games. Somehow reminds me to Terraria style city builder where, instead of one character you have entire colony that slowly grows. With less than 10 hours in i am already hooked. From sound, graphics to general game design everything works so well together.

While learning the basics in my first hour i had to restart several times after realizing the mistakes i made. Instead of throwing everything at once, game slowly introduces new mechanics while your colony grows. Starting with basic needs like food, hygiene, power and oxygen you will have to research new technologies to continue evolving. Your duplicants (population), each having it's own traits and interests, will also develop new skills and become specialized for certain tasks which combined with other game mechanics gives a real feeling of progression.

While you manage resources and solve problems game will slowly introduce new problems in a never ending cycle of recycling and producing resources. Resources are scarce and you will have to optimize and think through everything you do which keeps you engaged in a meaningful way. I really hope i will keep the same positive feedback after i put more hours in.

Fun problem solving colony sim. Focused on building, tech, supply lines rather than combat or RPG elements. The way solving one problem often quickly leads to another makes it quite addictive. The only major annoyance is that sometimes the bad AI of the dupes (your colonist) means they die for reasons that are nothing to do with colony management, doesn't spoil the game but stands out as a really sloppy bit of the game compared to everything else which seems so good so far.

I don't understand why this so called game has positive reviews. Have people lost their minds? This is way to complex to be a game. It is literally easier to wake up in the morning, go to work, and pay the bills than to spend time running this thing. It is probably easier to go through chemo while writing a PhD thesis and living out of your car. When you buy a sim, you expect to spend time relaxing instead of playing shooters. ONI simply does not live up to this expectation. You will find yourself spending too much time watching guides and tutorials to try and figure out how to run this nightmare.

good game for a casual play, the instructions for a new player are really bad but you can find information in youtube or reddit about how to do the most of the things

TL;DR Fun but very frustrating

I have a love/hate relationship with this game. The graphics are charming, the main gameplay loop is good, there's plenty to do... but... at a certain point, relatively early in a game, it gets INSANELY complicated.

This is not a game you can sit and learn by yourself. You will absolutely have to spend hours on forums looking up how to get most things done. Once you get to the point of needing glass and plastics, there's no easy way to produce them.

Keeping your people (dupes) alive is relatively easy. The first few hours of a new colony are super fun. The problem is that once you get to the point that basic needs are covered and it's time to expand and explore, the difficulty goes through the roof and it's easy to lose all motivation to continue.

I get that this level of challenge and micromanagement appeals to many, I'm just not that person. Once you get to the point that you need to consider what material to use when constructing heat extraction pipes and you're required to balance the right amount of hydrogen on the ceiling of a room while keeping adequate oxygen on the floor, it's just too much.

As a new player, it's too difficult to even know what the next step is, even with hours spent pouring over forums.

Some kind of difficulty setting or mod that helps simplify the massive complexities would make this game an easy 9 out of 10, at least for new players.

Absolutely amazing. It's too complicated for my little brain but I don't need to know what's happening to have fun.

Wait, I haven't reviewed this?
Um. *looks at play time*
I guess I've been busy.
Alright. So. This game is kind of insane. It's a tile based physics simulator dressed up as a colony sim. You'll start with questions like "how do I keep my colonists from peeing in my water reservoir" and end up with questions like "how do I exploit the game-physics to build a powerless water-pump that ignores 'normal' pressure limits to move oil uphill in my petroleum boiler". Along the way, have fun learning about thermodynamics.

It's basically porn for extra-autistic engineers. Ie, me.

Make no mistake: the game looks very cute and fun but it is a butal resource-management game where you'll have to deal with multiple problems at once, on top of being painfully aware that air will run out in 30 cycles, crops will be overheated in 74 cycles and 3 of your colonists will have a mental breakdown in 2 cycles if you don't get moving

I build bathrooms for the dupes, they, still, pee everywhere except the beautiful bathrooms I made them. I tried putting my water reservoir closed and away, but they always found a way to go pee in it contaminating all of the fresh water.

Other than this, it was a great experience, and i really enjoyed playing it.

P.S.: Before when I mentioned "dupes" I meant, Max, it was always Max who peed everywhere. I hate you Max.

This game is slightly addicting, though can be tough to get into. It's all about figuring out and jury rigging your own solutions for survival. I love it and continuously come back to play it again and again.

666 hours, Guess I better get around to a review.

It's a fun and engaging game with a dev team that never took a day off or half-assed a thing out the door. They have always listened to the community and I would recommend any game they produce in the past or in the future.

Moderate recommendation, it has some cool mechanics.

Things to note before you buy:
- The electricity system is not fun
- You can't build a self sustaining colony, resources are limited so there's always a death clock running in the background.
- a lot of resources you'd assume would be renewable are in fact not
- you have limited ability to control gas and temperature despite that being very important

.

I take a break for a few months, but keep coming back. the DLC's are fun, the random updates are fun, the workshop always has fun new items. It is such a great game, get it, you will not regret it!

Great game for builders who want to find a sandbox game and control a mini-civilisation in SPACE!