Oxygen Not Included Review
Like I’m sure many of you did, I played a lot of simulation management games when I was younger, games like Roller Coaster Tycoon and Sim City. I can’t explain why, but something about these games grabbed my attention completely. These days, I spend a lot less time with management games, but it’s not because they have become any less alluring. The one that has changed is me, and I’ve learned to limit my exposure to these tempters. However, my resolve failed this week and I took a look at Klei Entertainment’s Oxygen Not Included.
In Oxygen Not Included, players serve as the disembodied and possibly psychic commander of a team of explorers sent to colonize the stars. Unfortunately, not very much money was spent on this venture, so everything is a bit off. To start, there’s no planet to colonize, instead players have to make a life inside an asteroid. The equipment given to the player looks like it came from a discount bin and the workers are replicas of bygone explorers, printed from a poorly explained bio-goo. But, you play the hand you’re dealt, so players will use these tools to build farms, power plants, ventilation systems and more in an attempt to make a derelict space rock feel like home.
Living life on an asteroid is pretty complicated, you have to worry about food, breathable atmosphere, and where the waste goes when you flush the toilet. But don’t worry, Oxygen Not Included has everything covered and then some. At the start of the game, players have 11 different overlays to help manage their colony, from food production to room decor, and more overlays are added as new technologies are developed. On top of that, there are seven informational sub-windows that let players manage colonist sleep and work schedules, track colonist health, and conduct research. But Oxygen Not Included isn’t done yet, there’s also a Wikipedia-style database that collects information on all the new species and technology players find or develop, as well as keeps all survivor journals and research reports. And the cherry on top of this informational sundae is an ever-present on-screen list of all of the materials the player possesses, broken down by category. This level of information and control is a severely two-edged sword. The available information is undoubtedly valuable, as it allows players to achieve a near complete micro-management control of the colony. Unfortunately, the amount of information given to players as soon as the game starts is seriously intimidating and almost impossible to absorb while actively playing the game. If I have to pause the game and read the in-game encyclopedia for half an hour before I feel like I’ve gotten a good grasp of the mechanics, there’s too much information in that game. On top of the flood of information provided by the game’s database, there is the issue that the database is incomplete. As of the time of writing, there are several references to lumber in other entries, but lumber itself has no entry in the database. I get that it’s wood and everyone knows what wood is, but after being in early access two and a half years, it’s astounding to me that there are portions of this game yet to be filled in.
Once the player has read as much or as little as they like, they are unleashed on the poor, unsuspecting asteroid. And when I say “unleashed,” I mean that in the sense that players are set free on the asteroid with essentially no direction. Players are guided in the first half hour with prompts to create sources of food and oxygen as well as at least one outhouse. After that, Oxygen Not Included is content to let players do as they please, regardless of how detrimental it might be. Much like the vast toolbox the game gives players, this freedom is at once a strength and a weakness. Within the first few hours of playing Oxygen Not Included, I had started at least three new colonies because I would discover something I was doing would cause some harm or wind up in a dead end to such a degree that it was better to just start over than try and rearrange what I’d done. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who would thrive in this environment, but I also know I’m not unique and there are plenty of others who will get stuck and frustrated like me.
The last thing worth mentioning about Oxygen Not Included is yet another example of it hurting itself with its own greatness. Because it set out to be the best management game it could be, with the computer-controlled colonists and machines reacting with a huge variety of programmed responses, Oxygen Not Included actually has the player doing very little in comparison to other games. Players are responsible for starting construction on new equipment and rooms, directing research efforts, setting priorities for both colonists and equipment as well as a few other things, but there are long stretches of time where players aren’t asked to do anything. This meant that a lot of times while playing this game, I was also watching something on Netflix or listening to an audiobook. This won’t be a problem, and can in fact be a benefit to some people who like to engage with multiple activities at once, but it’s just as likely to turn someone away someone who enjoys an engaging story or mechanics.
Oxygen Not Included is a game of highs and lows. Almost everything that makes this game great is also something makes it hard to recommend. The extreme specialization employed in the creation of Oxygen Not Included makes sure that the people who are sure they enjoy management games will enjoy their time playing, but everyone else who isn’t part of this hyper-specific audience is left put-off and overwhelmed. I think if you aren’t sure whether you like games like this or not, Oxygen Not Included is worth a try, but it’s better if you wait until it’s available at a lower price than $25.
Buy this game on sale
It’s worth playing, just not at the price they’re asking
