Oxygen Not Included - Spaced Out! Review Summary

A near-essential expansion with huge content and asteroid colonization that surpasses the base game, though large colonies lag and rocket and colony micro-management grows tedious and overwhelming.

Essential DLC Expansion: Reviewers widely consider the DLC a must-have addition that greatly diversifies gameplay and enriches the base game. It feels like a substantial expansion that is worth buying for fans.

Massive New Content: The DLC introduces many new mechanisms, creatures, and gameplay elements that significantly alter the experience. It adds a huge amount of content and is described as a game changer.

Multi-Asteroid Colonization: Players can now build multiple colonies on different asteroids and planetoids, greatly expanding base building and exploration. This feature is a core addition of the DLC.

Superior to Base Game: Many reviewers find the DLC more enjoyable and interesting than the base game, with some calling it a rework that improves an already amazing game.

Extended Playtime: The DLC provides hours of additional enjoyment and makes playthroughs last much longer than the base game alone. This extended playability is a major draw.

Performance lag with large colonies: Many players report significant lag when their colonies grow large, especially in the late game or with multiple colonies. This makes the game slow and unpleasant, with FPS drops even on high-end hardware.

Tedious rocket and multi-colony management: Managing rockets and multiple colonies is frequently described as tedious, requiring excessive micromanagement and constant switching between asteroids. Many find this aspect unenjoyable and time-consuming.

Micro-management overwhelming: The DLC requires excessive micromanagement of dupes and colonies, which many find frustrating and not fun. Constant attention is needed to prevent disasters.

DLC changes core game too much: Many feel the DLC is a complete overhaul rather than an expansion, altering the base game significantly and removing beloved features. It splits the original map and changes fundamental mechanics.

Radiation and research tedium: The radiation system and related research are seen as tedious, with slow progression and excessive resource requirements. Players find it a pain to manage radbolts and limited uranium.

New asteroid colonization DLC: The DLC introduces exploration and colonization of multiple asteroids, allowing players to start on a new asteroid and build colonies across different planetoids. It expands the base game with interplanetary travel and multiplanetary gameplay.

New rockets and space travel: Rockets are central to the DLC, enabling travel between asteroids and transport of resources. Players must build rocket interiors and use rockets to colonize harsher environments.

Resource management across asteroids: Resources are distributed across different asteroids, requiring players to manage multiple colonies and transport resources between them. Some asteroids have fewer resources, and resources regenerate over time.

New biomes and creatures: The DLC adds new biomes, creatures, plants, and resources, enriching the game world. It also introduces new research and ways of exploring.

Increased difficulty and complexity: The DLC increases difficulty compared to the base game, requiring players to manage multiple colonies and resources. The starting asteroid is smaller and has limited resources, adding to the challenge.

Late-game lag and slowdown: Many players report that the game becomes laggy and slows down significantly in the late game or after a certain number of cycles. Performance drops as colonies grow larger and more complex.

Performance worse with DLC: The Spaced Out DLC causes more performance issues than the base game, including lag, crashes, and higher system resource usage. The base game already had some performance problems, but the DLC exacerbates them.

Crashes and technical issues: Players experience crashes on launch or during gameplay, especially with the DLC. Some also report game becoming unresponsive or taking long to load.

Low FPS and stuttering: Frame rates drop significantly, sometimes to 10-20 FPS, even on high-end systems. Dupes stutter due to performance problems.

Poor optimization and glitches: Many players feel the game is poorly optimized, leading to glitches and logic errors due to dropped or delayed computations. Performance issues persist even on high-end rigs.

DLC Highly Recommended for Fans: Many reviewers strongly recommend the DLC, especially for those who enjoyed the base game. They consider it a must-have that enhances the overall experience.

Play Base Game First: Numerous reviewers advise new players to start with the base game to understand its mechanics before tackling the DLC, which is more complex and challenging. They suggest playing the base game for many hours first.

Worth the Price: Reviewers frequently mention that the DLC offers good value for money, particularly when purchased on sale or as part of a bundle. The price is seen as reasonable for the content provided.

Some Do Not Recommend DLC: A minority of reviewers do not recommend the DLC, citing reasons such as bugs, lack of balance, or personal preference. Some suggest avoiding it until issues are resolved.

Increased Difficulty and Complexity: The DLC is noted for adding significant difficulty and complexity, which may overwhelm players who struggled with the base game. It is recommended for experienced players seeking a greater challenge.

Community fair range: $15.00 - $25.00.

Session length: 12.0h.

Enjoyment tends to click after the mid-game/post-oil hump and in the late-game rocket/space system, especially once grind is reduced; multi-colony rocket logistics and rocket travel remain tedious for some.

Friction: Rockets are time and resource intensive and require constant manual attention; Interplanetary logistics are tedious and costly; Asteroid colonization is clunky, time-consuming, and boring; Multi-colony progression is gated behind settling several asteroids and feels glacially slow; Steep learning curve and few good DLC tutorials; Late-game performance lag can make the game borderline unplayable.

Unlock drivers: Reduced grind lets players build the rocket and focus on fun instead of boring tasks; Space content becomes a mid/late-game bonus rather than early-game pressure; Late-game rocket and space system gains variety and new interest; Classic mode avoids the slow multi-colony asteroid gating; Plug slugs and metal volcanoes provide useful mid-game power; Getting past the mid-game hump (post oil) is linked to loving the expansion.

Hardcore Base-Game Veteran: Plays on max difficulty, optimizes resource systems, and seeks meta shifts and added complexity. Motivation: Mastery and fresh strategic depth in a colony sim they already know deeply. Stance: buy.

Vanilla+ Comfort Optimizer: Uses Classic mode as Vanilla+, focuses on one main asteroid, and avoids multi-colony logistics. Motivation: Extending the familiar base-game loop with new content without adopting a demanding multi-colony routine. Stance: buy.

Colony-Sim Curious Newcomer: Starts with base game or base-plus-DLC, expects a steep learning curve, and experiments through failure. Motivation: Discovering a deep resource-management and colony-simulation experience with all available content. Stance: buy.

Monetization: The provided reviews discuss a paid DLC expansion for Oxygen Not Included, its content value, fair pricing, release-state concerns, and gameplay micromanagement. No review provides direct evidence of post-purchase microtransactions, real-money gacha, loot boxes, paid power, paid convenience, battle passes, or a cash shop. Complaints about DLC quality and gameplay friction are not monetization issues.

Ongoing updates and support: Both the base game and DLC receive constant updates, bug fixes, and support. The developers plan to add new content and improve the game over time.

Mod support and localization issues: Mods are not compatible with Spaced Out! as of December 2020, and localization support is incomplete with English words remaining. However, improved mod support gives hope, and community translations exist.

DLC feels like a sequel: Many reviewers say the DLC feels more like a sequel than an expansion, replacing half the game or making it feel complete. It adds a whole new experience rather than just content.

DLC content and features: The DLC adds new asteroids, planetoids, and reworks existing systems. It emphasizes exploration and resource distribution for space travel settings.

DLC still in early access: Many reviews note that the Spaced Out! DLC remains in early access, with ongoing updates and balancing. One reviewer bought it during early access and received multiple updates.