FOUNDRY Review Summary

Positive overall game experience: Players consistently describe the game as great, awesome, and phenomenal. They enjoy the gameplay, progression, and find it highly recommendable, especially in co-op mode.

Accessible and engaging gameplay: The game offers accessible and engaging gameplay mechanics that are familiar to fans of similar games. It includes impactful and deconflicted gameplay elements.

Intuitive and smooth building: Building and deconstructing in the game are smooth and intuitive. The building tools are complex yet easy to use, offering full freedom in building.

Complex automation and logistics: The game features complex automation and logistics systems, which are solid and fluid, providing depth and complexity to the gameplay.

High potential and content: Reviewers note that the game has a lot of potential and offers quite a lot of content, indicating a promising future and substantial gameplay.

Third-party launcher issues: The game uses and installs a third-party launcher without permission, requiring an additional launcher that users find unnecessary.

Cluttered and clunky UI: The user interface is described as cluttered, clunky, and non-intuitive, with performance issues and poor design.

Poor graphics and design: The game's graphics are criticized as visually ugly, unappealing, and disturbing, with low texture quality and poor interface design.

Research time issues: Research in the game takes too long and is described as a time sink, with no queue for research and increasingly longer wait times.

Lack of copy/paste and blueprint features: The game lacks copy/paste or blueprinting features, which are considered essential for building and design.

Factory building mechanics: The core gameplay revolves around building and automating factories, including complex production chains and logistics.

Voxel-based game world: The game features a voxel-based world that is completely destructible, allowing for extensive terrain manipulation and industrialization within a voxel grid system.

Comparisons to other games: The game is frequently compared to Satisfactory, Factorio, and Minecraft, often described as a blend of these games.

First-person perspective: The game is played from a first-person perspective, allowing for immersive building and navigation.

Grid-based placement: The game design includes a grid snapping system for precise placement of components and buildings.

Mixed performance feedback: Players have varying opinions on the game's performance. Some report optimized and responsive performance, while others experience poor optimization and bad performance.

Stability and smooth gameplay: Many players report that the game runs smoothly and is stable, even in Early Access. Some mention that the game works generally well without too many bugs or crashes.

Proton compatibility issues on Linux: Linux users report that Proton 8 works better than Proton 9, which causes crashes in multiplayer. Some users specifically mention using Proton 8 for better compatibility.

GPU usage and graphics issues: There are mentions of GPU usage and graphics quality issues, including crashes when changing graphics settings and texture quality problems even at 4K resolution.

Steam Deck and native launch issues: Building takes longer on Steam Deck, and the game does not launch natively through Steam without a workaround, which can be frustrating for some players.

Recommended for factory-building fans: This game is highly recommended for players who enjoy crafting and building large factories. It is often compared favorably to similar games like Factorio, Satisfactory, and Dyson Sphere Program.

Mixed reviews on value: Opinions on the game's value for money are mixed. Some players feel it is worth the price, especially on sale, while others believe it is not worth the full price and suggest waiting for more content.

Suggestions for Minecraft fans: The game is recommended for players who enjoy building and automation similar to Minecraft, especially with mods like Create and IndustrialCraft 2.

Suggestions for terrain improvement: Players have suggested adding options for flat mode and improving terrain removal on a grid for better building experiences.

Positive recommendations: Several players highly recommend the game, giving it high praise and suggesting it is a must-buy for fans of the genre.

Community fair range: $15.00 - $20.00.

Game completion: 150.0h.

Story completion: 50.0h.

Session length: 2.0h.

Endgame: 75.0h.

The game has a slow and frustrating start due to a tedious tutorial and clunky mechanics, but it becomes enjoyable once players overcome the initial learning curve and early game friction.

Reported time to anchor: 1h.

Veteran Factory Builder: Strategic and methodical, focusing on building and optimizing factories. Motivation: Seeking a unique blend of familiar factory-building mechanics with new elements. Stance: sale.

Automation Enthusiast: Focused on building and improving automated production lines. Motivation: Enjoys creating and optimizing automated systems. Stance: buy.

Creative Builder: Creative and relaxed, focusing on building and customizing structures. Motivation: Enjoys the creative and relaxing aspects of building and terraforming. Stance: buy.

Steam Deck: The analysis of user feedback reveals significant issues with the Paradox Launcher, which is seen as intrusive and unnecessary. Linux users face compatibility issues with Proton, particularly with multiplayer functionality. Controller support on the Steam Deck is reported as poor, and there are complaints about small text and UI elements being difficult to read. Additionally, building mechanics and performance on the Steam Deck are noted to be cumbersome and slow.

Monetization: The game exhibits patterns of potentially frustrating mechanics and a history of extensive DLC releases, which can significantly increase the overall cost. While some players are positively inclined towards purchasing additional content, there are concerns about the game's monetization strategies resembling mobile game tactics and locking functionalities behind expensive DLCs.

External guides: The game suffers from a lack of clear explanations and an unintuitive UI, making it difficult for users to understand complex mechanics. Users often need to rely on external resources or built-in wikis to figure out how things work. However, there are positive notes on the minimal need for wiki usage and the efforts made to assist newcomers.

Paradox Launcher Issues: Criticism of the Paradox launcher, including it being installed without user consent. This indicates potential user dissatisfaction with the launcher's implementation.

Early Access Status: The game is currently in Early Access, which means it is still under development and may have unfinished features or bugs.

Active Linux Community: There is active community support for Linux users, highlighting the game's accessibility and community engagement on different platforms.

Plans to Revisit Later: Some players plan to revisit the game in a couple of years, suggesting that they believe the game has potential but needs more development time.

Free Weekend Mention: The game was mentioned in the context of a free weekend, which could indicate a promotional event to attract more players.