Artillery Miner Review Summary

The full release improves on the demo with great music and relaxing chill gameplay, but frequent save losses and a repetitive mid-game, plus ineffective automation, hold it back.

Full release improves demo: The full release is seen as a significant improvement over the demo, with more content, features, and expansions, making the game even better. The tech tree and weapons are also expanded.

Good music and sound: Several reviews praised the music and sound design, describing them as good, nice, and appropriate for the genre. The audio contributes positively to the overall experience.

Relaxing and chill gameplay: The game is described as relaxing, chill, and fun, making it suitable for light play or as a background activity. It provides a calm yet engaging experience.

Game is engaging and addictive: Multiple reviewers found the game highly engaging, satisfying, and addictive, with a strong pull to keep playing. This sentiment was consistent across several clusters.

Block-breaking is satisfying: The core mechanics of breaking blocks and hitting cubes are repeatedly highlighted as satisfying, with one reviewer noting the fun in blowing stuff up. This is a key part of the game's appeal.

Save progress frequently lost: Multiple reviewers report losing all progress due to missing or broken continue options, unresponsive auto-save, and save files being overwritten or wiped when starting new games or exiting to menus. This includes cases where auto-save appeared active but did not persist, and patches failing to resolve the issue.

Mid-game becomes repetitive: Many players describe the mid-game as tedious, boring, and extremely repetitive, with identical resource types, weapon mechanics, and gameplay loops offering little variety. This repetition causes fatigue and leads some to abandon the game entirely.

Automation options lack effectiveness: Players criticize the lack of meaningful automation, with auto-functions unavailable for extended periods and unlocking too late to be useful. The inability to automate core tasks makes early and mid-game progression feel unnecessarily grindy and slow, with limited quality-of-life improvements.

Menus and UI confusing: Reviewers find the user interface puzzling, including unresponsive escape buttons, hidden quit options, awkward weapon selection via mouse position, and difficulty targeting specific columns. Such design choices hinder navigation and core gameplay interaction.

Gameplay suffers from grind: Numerous reviewers mention the game as excessively grindy, especially early on, and that individual upgrades feel too weak to make meaningful progress. The slow start combined with repetitive actions leads to dissatisfaction and a perception that the process is unnecessarily long.

Incremental mining game core: Players consistently describe the game as an incremental game centered on mining, with a large scale of iteration and progression. It is specifically identified as a mining incremental game rather than a typical long idle game.

Worlds and prestige system: The game includes multiple worlds that can be destroyed, and there is a prestige system tied to these worlds. This adds a layer of reset and replayability beyond the core mining loop.

Ore mining and weapons progression: Ore mining and the use of weapons are central progression elements. Players note that ores and weapons serve as key resources and tools for advancing through the game.

Missing continue option: When autosave is absent, the menu lacks a continue or load option, which can confuse players who expect to resume their game. Autosave is present but its absence is notable.

Weapon maxing and levels: Weapons have a maximum level that players can max out, providing a clear upgrade goal. This progression path is separate from the ore mining but complementary to it.

Late game performance issues: Multiple reviews report significant lag in the final levels of the game. This appears to be a common problem that worsens as the game progresses.

Crash resets progress: A crash caused a reviewer's progress to reset, highlighting a severe bug that can discourage players and lead to frustration.

Performance issues with multiple weapons: Lag occurs when using multiple weapons in the mid to late game, suggesting that complex combat scenarios strain the game engine.

Damage over time lag: Lag from damage over time effects was reported, indicating that certain game mechanics cause performance strain, possibly due to excessive calculations.

No graphical options: A reviewer notes the absence of graphical settings, limiting players' ability to adjust performance. This lack of customization can exacerbate performance issues for users.

Highly recommend purchase: Several reviews strongly recommend buying the game, with clusters consistently praising it. The positive feedback suggests high overall satisfaction.

Not worth full price: Some reviewers feel the game is not worth the current price, recommending waiting for a discount or suggesting a lower fair price. Others find it worth the price for short sessions.

Unreliable save feature: The basic save feature is reported as unreliable, and there is no auto-save, which can lead to lost progress. This is a significant drawback for players.

Short playtime content: The game is described as playable for only about two days or a couple of afternoons, indicating limited content or longevity.

Performance issues make unplayable: One reviewer states the game is unplayable due to performance problems, indicating severe technical issues that hinder gameplay.

Community fair range: $5.00 - $8.00.

Game completion: 9.0h.

Session length: 5.0h.

The game starts slowly and grindy, drags through a boring mid-game, but becomes genuinely enjoyable later once powerful weapons and rapid world-clearing come into play, provided players can endure the tedium and hardware can handle late-game lag.

Friction: grindy slow start; boring mid-game; auto-mining node unlocked too late; late-game performance lag.

Unlock drivers: reaching late-game stages; unlocking later weapons; good progression pacing that makes unlocks feel earned.

Chill Progression Lover: Casual and exploratory, focusing on upgrading skills and enjoying the soundtrack while playing in short bursts. Motivation: Relaxation and gradual progression through upgrade systems in a chill, atmospheric setting. Stance: buy.

Bug-Cautious Player: Attempts to play early on but stops or hesitates due to bugs, likely giving up quickly or avoiding recommendation. Motivation: Seeking a polished experience without technical barriers; they are easily discouraged by basic feature issues. Stance: no buy.

Content length around 5 hours: Cluster 1 reports that the game provides about 5-10 hours of content, and Cluster 2 notes that achieving 100% achievements takes roughly 5.5 hours, contradicting the advertised over 10 hours. Players may have a shorter experience than expected.

Completion times vary by player: Cluster 17 reports about 7 hours to fully beat, Cluster 18 mentions 10 hours to clear all trees and areas, and Cluster 22 says the reviewer is halfway through. Completion times vary, suggesting content depth is inconsistent.

Insane amount of content: Cluster 12 states the game has an insane amount of content, while Cluster 13 mentions about a dozen hours of playtime without Cheat Engine. This indicates a hefty game length for some players.

Positive developer interaction: Cluster 4 and Cluster 24 highlight that the developer responds to feedback and personally contacted a player to resolve an issue. This reflects a supportive and engaged development team.

Potential future DLC content: Cluster 10 and Cluster 19 suggest the game may receive DLC or additional worlds, and there is potential for growth in a 1.1 update. Players are optimistic about future expansions.