Info about Oxygen Not Included: The Bionic Booster Pack:

Official game description:
Keep your colony current with new recruits who are on a big power trip!
**The Bionic Booster Pack** revolutionizes the workforce with new bionic Duplicants, skill-enhancing bionic booster modules, portable power storage, and remote-work buildings—everything you need to create a colony of cosmic proportions.
Harvest resources in low-breathability environments safely! Bionic Duplicants have internal oxygen stores that allow them to work for several cycles between breaths.
Build-a-Bionic! Mix and match boosters to customize a bionic Duplicant's skillset, and remix as needed to adapt to your colony's ever-evolving needs.
Just make sure to keep these new Duplicants dry, and don't skimp on the bionic service stations. Traditional toilets were _**not**_ designed for this...
Go off the grid! The new portable power banks that keep bionic Duplicants online can also supply power to buildings in isolated parts of your base when connected to one of the new electrical discharge buildings.
Cancel your commute! Rockets can now be outfitted for pilot-less flight, and new remote-work buildings enable your Duplicants to operate machinery anywhere on the asteroid.
Less time lost in transit, more time for what really matters: work.
Personalize your planetoid! New cosmetic skins transform automation components and electrical conduits, among other things.
New bionic recruits, remote-work options, and portable power solutions—supercharge your interplanetary exploration with **The Bionic Booster Pack!**

Release date: Dec 12, 2024

Categories: Colony Simulation, Resource Management, Base Building, Automation Game, Management Simulation, Survival, Power Management

Feature scans:
- MTX: score 10; verdict: Fair / Pure - One-Time Purchase with Traditional DLC, No In-Game MTX; summary: The reviews center on a single-player game's paid DLC expansions. No reviewer describes an in-game cash shop, real-money gacha, loot boxes, battle passes, currency obfuscation, or paid power/convenience items. The main complaints are that certain gameplay features (drones, batteries) are gated behind DLC and that there are DLC-related crash/install bugs, while many players praise the DLC as trustworthy and worth buying. Per the scoring overrides, traditional DLC/expansion content and base-value complaints cannot raise the score above 20, and technical bugs are excluded from the monetization audit.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 100.0h
  - Story completion: N/A
  - Session length: N/A
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The explicit report of 100 hours in the DLC supports the gameCompletion estimate of 100 hours. A second reviewer reports over 20 hours playing the DLC, supporting a substantial DLC playtime and reinforcing that the content lasts well beyond a short session. No review provides a numeric story-completion time, session length, or separate endgame hour figure.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: Reports cluster around a difficult early resource-management phase followed by a more efficient and relaxed mid-to-late game, though some players enjoy the changed early meta immediately and a few abandon bionic-only colonies before progress.
  - Stance: Clicks after
  - Anchor: Mid-to-late game
  - Time to anchor: N/A
  - Friction: Demanding early game; Raw metal consumption; Oxygen tank refilling; Keeping bionics charged; Advanced power setup requirement; Work-like grind in bionic-only colonies
  - Unlock drivers: Mid-to-late game efficiency; Optimized and chill end-game; Dischargers for Spaced Out oxygen tanks; Sustainable power such as ethanol; Eco-Power banks; Mixed normal and bionic dupe starts
  - Conditions: Starting planet with extreme heat or cold; Availability of raw metal; Access to advanced power setups; Using sustainable power such as ethanol; Running a bionic-only colony; Mixing normal duplicants with bionics; Reaching mid-to-late game; Player tolerance for early resource management
- Player Archetypes:
  - ONI Veteran Systems Optimizer (buy)
    - Motivation: Mastering new colony optimization puzzles and adapting the colony meta around bionic duplicants.
    - Playstyle: Plans resource chains, races for sustainable power, and redesigns colony schedules and builds for new constraints.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Micro-Averse Automation Builder (buy)
    - Motivation: Reducing repetitive duplicant maintenance so they can focus on building and work tasks.
    - Playstyle: Uses bionic duplicants to streamline routines, optimize late-game colonies, and accept a harder early game for a calmer end game.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: Spaced Out
  - Content-Hungry Expansion Seeker (no buy)
    - Motivation: Getting a Spaced Out-scale expansion with deep new systems, goals, and long-term progression.
    - Playstyle: Benchmarks DLC against major expansions, builds large modules, and wants extensive robot customization and parameter tuning.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: no buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: Spaced Out; Ironheart
  - Base-Game Loyalist DLC Skeptic (deep sale)
    - Motivation: Protecting the core ONI experience and only accepting DLC that clearly improves the full collection.
    - Playstyle: Plays the base game with other DLCs, avoids standalone bionics content, and is sensitive to added micromanagement.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: deep sale
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: ONI; Spaced Out


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Bionic dupes are strong and fun (weight 0.7): Players widely report that bionic duplicants are powerful, fun, and introduce fresh gameplay. They shake up the colony-building cycle and offer new ways to play.
- Bionics have unique breathing and needs (weight 0.42): Bionic duplicants breathe only when needed, have deep oxygen tanks, and do not pollute the environment with CO2. They sleep less frequently than normal duplicants.
- Bionics excel in space and hostile environments (weight 0.4): With internal oxygen tanks, bionics can work in vacuum, unbreathable areas, and asteroids without atmosuits. They also excel in rockets due to no food requirement and longer work cycles.
- DLC adds new buildings and tools (weight 0.4): The Bionic Booster Pack introduces useful new buildings such as Flydos, data banks, remote work stations, and boosters. These additions expand automation and base functionality.
- Bionics work well with regular dupes (weight 0.4): Mixing bionic and normal duplicants provides flexibility and synergy, allowing colonies to leverage the strengths of both types. This combination adds variety and balance.
- DLC adds challenge and new playstyle (weight 0.36): The DLC is likened to a challenge mode with new challenges and a different way to play the game. It offers fascinating new opportunities and forces new builds.
- Bionic dupes don't eat (weight 0.35): Bionic duplicants replace food and farming with batteries and power, simplifying early-game food management and removing the need for ranches or food preservation. Colonists only need oxygen and occasional sleep.
- Flydo drones are useful and cute (weight 0.32): Flydo drones are considered amazing, cute, and excellent for base expansion. They can pass through one-tile corridors and last many cycles on a battery.
- Power and battery management (weight 0.28): Bionics rely on batteries instead of food, making power generation a critical resource. Batteries, dischargers, and mobile power sources change base design and resource economy.
- New buildings enhance automation and rockets (weight 0.22): Buildings like the robot pilot module, data miners, and remote controls are useful and work well with rockets and automation. They add new options for colony management.
- Bionics are good for early and mid game (weight 0.22): Bionic duplicants are strong in the early game, providing high work efficiency and solving digging. They become even more efficient in mid and late game with sustainable power.
- Bionic dupes change resource economy (weight 0.2): A bionic-only colony completely shifts the resource economy, bypassing food production and focusing on power, water, and metal. This changes early-, mid-, and late-game priorities.
- Boosters enable modular skill system (weight 0.16): Boosters allow bionic duplicants to have up to 8 modules and easily swap skills without skill resets if facilities are available. This makes them highly adaptable and suited for mid-to-endgame bases.
- New cosmetics and animations are positive (weight 0.13): The DLC adds new cosmetics and hilarious animations, such as eating boosters and guzzling oxygen, which are appreciated by players.
- Bionics are distinct from robots (weight 0.06): Bionic duplicants are cybernetically enhanced organic duplicants, not robots. This distinction is important for understanding their mechanics and lore.

Common complaints:
- DLC lacks content and feels half-baked (weight 0.96): The DLC is criticized for insufficient useful content, feeling pointless, and being the weakest compared to previous packs like Frosty. It adds few new biomes, plants, critters, or meaningful gameplay changes.
- Bionic duplicants have poor AI and bugs (weight 0.88): Bionic duplicants fail to craft or use available resources, play useless animations, and have pathfinding issues such as getting confused with atmo suit docks. They also refill oxygen tanks inefficiently or in dangerous areas, and repeatedly equip suits causing deaths.
- Bionic duplicants are worse than regular duplicants (weight 0.88): Bionics are considered worse in every way, with no significant advantages, and they fall behind normal duplicants in the late game due to limited skill growth. They are not rewarding and often seen as a burden.
- Bionic duplicants require excessive management and resources (weight 0.84): They consume large amounts of metal for batteries and maintenance, require separate facilities for eating and toileting, and have complex needs like oxygen, power, and morale. Mixing with regular duplicants doubles the hassle.
- Bionic duplicants waste metal early game (weight 0.71): They consume large amounts of metal for batteries and maintenance, making early game resource management difficult. Feeding 10 bionic dupes consumes nearly all metal before cycle 100.
- DLC has many bugs and performance issues (weight 0.58): The DLC is extremely buggy, with issues like white screens, freezes, crashes, and broken mods. Performance stutters worsen over time and may become unresponsive after many cycles.
- Bionic duplicants lack unique benefits (weight 0.46): They do not offer unique abilities or interesting traits, and are essentially normal duplicants with different needs. Their skill tree is limited, and they do not complement regular duplicants.
- Early game with bionics is very difficult (weight 0.4): Bionics are hard to start with due to high metal and power costs, frequent oxygen refills, and vulnerability in extreme biomes. They require rushing advanced power setups and have a demanding early game.
- Bionic duplicants cause base damage and stress (weight 0.31): They short-circuit and stress out when in contact with liquids, damage toilets and water filtration systems, and may throw destructive tantrums. Their stress reactions involve discharging and destroying equipment.
- Bionic duplicants have oxygen management problems (weight 0.26): Their 240kg internal oxygen tank is unrealistic, and they waste cycles gasping for air even in full oxygen environments. They refill tanks in low oxygen areas and have slow refilling facilities.
- Flydo drones are buggy and annoying (weight 0.23): Flydos frequently drown, explode, get stuck, or disappear, making them frustrating to use. They are power-hungry and require plastic, adding to early-game difficulty.
- DLC has installation and localization issues (weight 0.2): The DLC won't install on the non-test channel for some users, and translations are incomplete, such as Korean. Documentation is also missing or incomplete.
- Bionic duplicants have morale and room integration issues (weight 0.2): They cannot use mess halls or normal toilets without causing clogs, and their excretion fixtures are not covered by room bonuses, making morale harder to gain. They need separate bathrooms and barracks.
- Bionic duplicants have annoying animations and visuals (weight 0.19): Their animations are repetitive and unsettling, and their appearance is considered ugly or clashing. The oxygen tank visual is disturbing, and they glow during meditation.
- Bionic duplicants die frequently (weight 0.15): They often die due to poor management, suffocation, or accidents like drowning. Four bionic duplicants died by cycle 85 in one case.
- Bionic duplicants have limited skill variety (weight 0.15): Their skill tree is small, and boosters offer fewer options compared to normal duplicants. Interchangeable skill disks become irrelevant after 300 cycles.
- Developers ignore issues and release DLC (weight 0.14): Players criticize the developers for not fixing bugs and instead releasing DLC. This leads to frustration and negative reviews.

Gameplay feedback:
- Bionic Dupes Eat Batteries (weight 0.65): Bionic dupes consume batteries or electricity instead of food, fundamentally changing the resource economy. They require power to function and can consume raw metals as an early-game power source.
- Bionic Dupes Have Unique Needs (weight 0.61): Bionic dupes have a different need structure than regular dupes, including morale and stress mechanics. They can still become stressed and suffer environmental debuffs like cold and burns, though they handle stress well unless wet.
- Water Electrocutes Bionic Dupes (weight 0.46): Bionic dupes receive electric shocks and become stressed when in water or passing through puddles. They react destructively to water-based liquids and hate liquid contact.
- Bionic Dupes Need Oxygen (weight 0.46): Bionic dupes store oxygen internally and must refill their tanks rather than breathing directly. They can breathe contaminated oxygen and can operate in unbreathable areas until their internal supply runs out.
- Bionic Dupes Sleep Infrequently (weight 0.45): Bionic dupes last roughly three cycles before needing to sleep, much longer than normal dupes. They require less downtime for sleep and fun, and some models produce microchips while sleeping.
- Bionic Dupes Are Jacks-of-All-Trades (weight 0.4): Bionic dupes are specialized as jacks of all trades compared to regular dupes, functioning as a sidegrade with different skills and limited abilities. They can perform dirty tough jobs if kept powered.
- Bionic Dupes Have Internal Storage (weight 0.39): Bionic dupes store oxygen internally in tanks rather than breathing directly. They also have internal batteries and can store power for later use.
- Bionic Dupes Need Power Banks (weight 0.39): Bionic dupes require power banks to function and refill their oxygen tanks. They consume battery charge constantly and need to recharge regularly.
- New Buildings and Beds (weight 0.28): The DLC includes new buildings, such as a bed-toilet for bionic duplicants. These additions expand base-building options and support the new dupe type.
- Bionic Dupes Have Upgrades (weight 0.26): Bionic dupes can be upgraded through a skill tree and booster slots that can be expanded for better abilities. Boosters can be inserted to fill abilities and assigned to tasks like excavation to greatly increase digging speed.
- DLC Includes Flydo Drones (weight 0.25): Flydo drones are a flagship feature of the DLC, serving as flying logistics drones for transport. They move items to and fro and are part of a new transport system.
- Bionic Dupes Are Variant Dupes (weight 0.23): Bionic dupes are a variant of regular dupes and a new addition to the game. They include different variants with unique functions.
- Bionic Dupes Consume Metal (weight 0.18): Bionic dupes consume metal as a resource and use cybernetic parts. They can eat raw metals as power early game, providing an alternative to batteries.
- Bionic Dupes Meditate for Microchips (weight 0.14): When sleeping, bionic dupes meditate to produce microchips, taking about six hours each. This effectively means they work instead of sleeping via microchip production.
- Bionic Dupes Reduce Food Needs (weight 0.11): Android duplicants do not require food and are good for rockets because no food is required. This simplifies resource management and makes them ideal for space missions.

Performance notes:
- Save-corrupting white screen crash (weight 0.07): One player experienced a white screen crash at a specific point that forced them to reload a save from two days earlier. This is a severe progression-blocking issue.
- DLC causes long-run freezes (weight 0.07): With the DLC loaded, the game freezes and becomes unresponsive after surpassing 1500 cycles. This suggests a resource leak or performance degradation tied to extended play sessions.
- Vanilla crash consistently reproducible (weight 0.07): A player tested the game without mods and was able to reproduce a crash reliably. This confirms the issue is not caused by third-party modifications.
- Crash from missing animation (weight 0.06): A crash occurs when the game tries to load a missing animation during a resting action. This appears to be a specific asset-loading bug.
- Performance issues introduced (weight 0.06): Feedback indicates that recent updates or changes have brought performance issues. The lack of detail makes it difficult to pinpoint the exact cause.

Recommendations:
- Worth buying for fans (weight 0.36): Long-time fans and those who own other DLCs consider it worth buying, a must-have, or a total recommendation.
- DLC requires Spaced Out (weight 0.24): Multiple reviewers state that the Bionic DLC should only be purchased after owning Spaced Out, and some cannot recommend it as a standalone addition to the base game.
- Good for challenge seekers (weight 0.23): Players who enjoy challenges, base optimization, and dealing with troublesome elements find the DLC suitable and enjoyable.
- Not a must-have addition (weight 0.22): Some reviewers find it hard to recommend, not a must-have, and not compelling enough to justify replaying the game.
- Mods needed for playability (weight 0.18): One reviewer states the DLC is not playable without player-created mods, and others plan to disable bionics.
- Recommended with gameplay adaptation (weight 0.16): The DLC is recommended for players willing to learn new mechanics, manage bionic duplicants, and adapt to a changed meta.
- Fun for variation after hours (weight 0.11): It provides fun variation after many hours in the main game, especially for players who enjoy repeating the same game with new content.
- Simpler experience for tired players (weight 0.1): Enjoyable for those tired of complex systems who want a simpler, easier experience, and it allows use of interesting new facilities.
- Wait until experienced (weight 0.06): New players are advised not to buy the DLC until they have played the main game for over 100 hours to understand its mechanics.
- Bionic base strategy suggestion (weight 0.06): One reviewer suggests trying a 100% bionic base with 8 duplicants maximum to start.
- Buy in bundle (weight 0.06): One reviewer recommends buying the DLC in a bundle.
- Prefer more skin packs (weight 0.05): One reviewer suggests continuing to release skin packs instead of this DLC.

Other player notes:
- Little content relative to price (weight 0.44): Players repeatedly feel the DLC adds very little compared to the base game, Spaced Out, or the Frosty pack, and that the content is scarce for the price. It is seen as optional rather than a true expansion.
- Compared unfavorably to prior DLCs (weight 0.37): The DLC is seen as providing less new content and less clear goals than Spaced Out and Frosty Planet Pack, which interacted more with existing content. It is considered the least dramatic and worst received major DLC.
- Bionic pack contents detailed (weight 0.2): The pack adds 6 Bionic Dupe Skins, 8 Bionic-exclusive skills, 18 Bionic Skill boosters, 2 Elements, 11 Buildings, 4 Power Banks as Food, 2 new items, 4 building skins, new clothes, and 2 achievements.
- Fixes and improvements since release (weight 0.19): Early imbalances, missing features, and installation issues have been fixed since release, and the Korean translation is now complete. However, some bugs remain and more polish is desired.
- Lack of dedicated biomes or planets (weight 0.19): Players suggest that dedicated biomes or planets for bionic dupes, similar to Frosty Planet, would have been more fun. They hope for future updates and quality-of-life changes.
- Some quality-of-life changes desired (weight 0.14): Players wish some quality-of-life changes were included in the base game or as free updates. The in-game library documentation is incomplete or missing.
- Mixed reviews and scores (weight 0.13): Scores range from 7/10 to 3/5 stars, with some willing to change to 5 stars once bugs are sorted. It is considered controversial.
- Playtime and cycle experience (weight 0.12): One reviewer played for over 20 hours and got their base to about 1000 cycles. Another played on the beta channel.
- Adds resource management and tedium (weight 0.11): The pack adds breadth to colony management but also increases resource management and tedium. Some players find the challenges not for everyone.
- Drones and batteries behind paywall (weight 0.1): Drones and transportable batteries are kept behind a paywall, which some players dislike. The reviewer bought the DLC because of the flydo.
- Vanilla crash requiring DLC (weight 0.1): The DLC is required to avoid a crash in the vanilla game, and a bug is present in both vanilla and Spaced Out. This has caused frustration.
- Incomplete translation addressed (weight 0.1): The DLC translation was incomplete, though the Korean translation is now fully translated. Other translations may still need work.
- Klei keeps releasing DLC (weight 0.09): Players note that the developers keep releasing DLC, and some express concerns about monetization. Klei is still majority owned by Tencent.
- Not just cosmetic expansion (weight 0.09): Despite mixed feelings, the DLC is not just cosmetic but a significant expansion of functionality. It adds new buildings and mechanics.
- Wiki and YouTube resources (weight 0.09): Reviewers direct readers to the ONI Wiki and share YouTube series with tips and tricks. These community resources help explain the DLC.

Emotions:
- Disappointment (weight 0.24): Players expected meaningful colony modifications or cyberpunk-style augmentations but found bionic duplicants to be a shallow gimmick that barely changes gameplay. The demanding early game offers no late-game reward, and the DLC lacks content compared to previous packs like Frosty Planet, with underwhelming buildings and missing documentation. Many report failed colonies and feel the pack adds tedium rather than enjoyable challenge.
- Frustration (weight 0.21): Bionic duplicants introduce excessive micromanagement, frequent bugs, and poor resource logic, leading to shutdowns, suffocation, and wasted power. Persistent issues such as disappearing batteries, white-screen crashes, and buggy flydos compound the annoyance, while mixing bionic and normal duplicants doubles the hassle. The DLC's instability and unfinished mechanics make the game feel unpolished and hard to enjoy.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.09): The Bionic Booster Pack adds a new duplicant type with unique mechanics that change how the game is played, offering fresh and fun optimization opportunities. Bionics synergize well with regular dupes, and features like the flydo and exclusive buildings provide pleasant variation. Many find the DLC more enjoyable than Frosty Planet and appreciate the creative options it introduces.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.08): Players find the DLC worth buying due to its deep strategic gameplay and the unique challenge of managing both normal and bionic duplicants early on. Boosters and internal oxygen tanks make gameplay more adaptable, and the microchip/digging mechanics solve early excavation challenges. Forgoing normal dupes or using all-excavation boosters offers powerful, refreshing colony builds.
- Hope (weight 0.04): Some players remain optimistic that future updates will fix bugs and add more useful content, which would improve their opinion of the DLC. They express a willingness to give it another chance and hope for endgame-focused expansions.
- Annoyance (weight 0.02): Players are annoyed by the developers releasing DLC instead of addressing ongoing issues with bionic duplicants, and by the flydo's tendency to drown and explode. Bionic dupes also become irritating when mismanaged.
- Displeasure (weight 0.02): Late-game management of bionics requires constant vigilance to prevent them from stepping in puddles, getting electrocuted, and becoming stressed. Additionally, bionic duplicants often malfunction and demand excessive power banks.
- Appreciation (weight 0.02): The DLC is genuinely great and previous issues have been fixed, greatly expanding how the game is played. New buildings are excellent additions to base automation.
- Surprise (weight 0.02): The pack pleasantly surprised some players by shaking up normal gameplay despite initial disinterest. Conversely, others were shocked that Klei released a DLC of such low quality with many bugs.
- Amusement (weight 0.02): Players find humor in the animations of bionic dupes eating boosters and guzzling oxygen, as well as the irony that a bionic dupe can mine obsidian but not granite. Their childlike behavior adds to the amusement.
- Excitement (weight 0.02): Bionic duplicants are exciting to play, especially when attempting a bionic-only colony and figuring out survival priorities. The new options and game-altering additions bring more fun and change how the game is played.
- Love (weight 0.02): Reviewers express love for the game despite its struggles and enjoy the new meta and strategy required for a boop-only colony.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.02): Boops are immensely enjoyable and significantly change the game, and the DLC is another banger that improves the overall experience. The fun is so engaging that it keeps players up at night.
- Liking (weight 0.01): Players like that android duplicants reduce food concerns and work well in rockets.
- Regret (weight 0.01): One reviewer regrets buying the DLC specifically for the flydo, which constantly explodes and cannot be kept alive.
- Dissatisfaction (weight 0.01): The content feels very scarce for the price.
- Wonder (weight 0.01): The new dupes system is considered a wonderful feature.
- Intrigue (weight 0.01): Bionic colonies present unique challenges that spark curiosity.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Some players eventually got bored with the DLC, finding the cyborg playstyle uninteresting.
- Joy (weight 0.01): Playing with just the bionic dupes shifts the resource economy and is super fun.}