2024 is the best year we've ever had for factory games (2024)

2024 is the best year we've ever had for factory games (1)

Factory friends and fellow automation lovers, this is going to be—already is—a hell of a year for the factory-building genre. I know this because not only are we going to get Satisfactory 1.0, we're getting the giant game-doubling expansion that is Factorio: Space Age. I know this because the herald of this golden year of factories has arrived today in the form of early access for Shapez 2. In the bare decade that factory-building has evolved from half-baked ideas and fringe Minecraft mods to full-fledged sims we've seen some great games, but the future is looking ever-brighter.

Shapez 2 is such a good example of how many more ideas are still lurking in this genre. It's so different from the two other big-name factory games releasing this year (it's also different from Foundry, yet another option released four months ago). Where Factorio and Satisfactory embrace the survival genre and the idea of limited resources as a game constraint—something to give you that delicious friction and tension as you play—Shapez focuses instead on the inherent puzzle of arranging and connecting the machines that make up your factory. You can build practically as many machines, platforms, and as much work space as you want because the focus is instead on how your factory's products take shape.

In a game like Factorio you send an iron plate into a machine and get out a perfectly shaped iron gear. Simple as. In Shapez you pull a square out of the ground but the product you need is a half-green square that has a half-square stacked on top. That means you'll need to lay down machines for each step in the process: Cut the squares in half with one machine, paint about a third of them by bringing in liquid paint with another, a third machine to rotate the the sliced-up halves into the correct orientation for a final series of machines to then stack them into a half-green square with a half-square on top.

That's a very simple example of what Shapez 2 has in store. Processing quickly requires more elaborate machine chains, and the raw shapes you get aren't always so simple as a basic square. You'll cut, separate, cut again, recombine, mix colors, stack, raise with supports, stack again, and backfill raised sections with liquid crystal—and some of those results have to be done in order. Crystal sections, for example, shatter if dropped or cut by a later process.

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2024 is the best year we've ever had for factory games (2)
2024 is the best year we've ever had for factory games (3)
2024 is the best year we've ever had for factory games (4)
2024 is the best year we've ever had for factory games (5)
2024 is the best year we've ever had for factory games (6)
2024 is the best year we've ever had for factory games (7)
2024 is the best year we've ever had for factory games (8)
2024 is the best year we've ever had for factory games (9)
2024 is the best year we've ever had for factory games (10)

That's mostly familiar for people who played the first Shapez. Shapes 2 adds a third dimension, meaning you can run conveyors and pipes and place machines across three heights above your factory floor. You get to choose which sides of a factory segment—what Shapez calls a space platform—the raw materials go in and products go out, then chain your platforms into a connected series of machines that do specific jobs.

Other factory games have you place machines that make products: Shapez has you design the internals of the machines yourself.

What makes Shapez so cool beyond that is how once you've figured out a process in a way you really like you'll just copy that platform entire and plop it down in the future when you need the same operation done. It emphasizes the thinking and discovery phase of the automation process and cuts down on the amount of time you have to keep reckoning with a problem you've already solved.

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You'll then start running big inter-factory-segment belts and train cars with finished products or raw materials to either get them to a next step or toss them into the vortex at the center where you deliver finished orders. There's even a very satisfying upgrade to dunk whole trains of finished goods directly into the vortex.

One of the big pursuits for end-game Factorio players is building a megabase, often to get to some arbitrarily high number. It's a really interesting pursuit as you manage the balance of scale and expansion, but it's tedious at times, which means that only a few really dedicated people with plenty of disposable time can get into it. Shapez 2 on its easiest difficulties distills that megabase-building experience down into something that, while less complex, you can digest in 20-30 hours. You get the enjoyment and excitement of large, independent factory segments that combine products into huge output to reach big goals. Is it a lesser version of the same high? Probably, but you didn't spend 1,000 hours to get there.

Which isn't inherently a bad thing! The reason I say this is such a good year for factory games is because we're getting three wildly different experiences. One, Shapez 2, about the pure logic of building and scaling automated systems. Another, Satisfactory, about being grounded in and wandering a single place that you can twist and change and mold through building larger, better things. The third, Factorio: Space Age, about complex interactions between the pressure of limited resources and the limitations of physics.

shapez 2 - Early Access Launch Trailer - YouTube2024 is the best year we've ever had for factory games (11)

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Plus, I can draw that clear distinction with Shapez 2 not even in full release. The 30-some hours of fun you can have with it in early access feels like its own entire game, and the developers are clear that they intend multiple major updates adding more features and more stuff to it during the six months, minimum, they want it to stay in early access.

This genre has exploded into life over the past decade, but it's clear to me that 2024 will be remembered as a banner year for factory and automation games because we're finally, properly meeting their true potential.

Jonathan Bolding

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.

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2024 is the best year we've ever had for factory games (2024)

FAQs

What is the most popular game in 2024? ›

Top 10 Selling Video Games (Retail and Digital), Year-to-Date 2024
RankRank Last MonthTitle
1NEWEA Sports College Football 25
21Helldivers II
32Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023)
43Dragon's Dogma II
6 more rows

Was 2004 the best year for video games? ›

The year has been retrospectively considered one of the best and most important in video game history due to the release of numerous critically acclaimed, commercially successful and influential titles across all platforms and genres at the time. The year's best-selling video game was Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

What is the #1 game of the year? ›

The Game Award for Game of the Year
Larian Studios won Game of the Year for Baldur's Gate 3 in 2023
Awarded forBest video game of the year
CountryUnited States
Presented byThe Game Awards
5 more rows

What is the #1 game in the world? ›

Looking purely at the number of active players worldwide, PUBG is comfortably at the top of the most popular games pile right now, with over 100 million gamers enjoying this Battle Royale classic.

What is the #1 video game in history? ›

List of best-selling video games
TitleSalesSeries
Minecraft300,000,000Minecraft
Grand Theft Auto V200,000,000Grand Theft Auto
Tetris (EA)100,000,000Tetris
Wii Sports82,900,000Wii
46 more rows

What is the best year in gaming history? ›

1998 is our one-seed, widely regarded as the best year in video games. It's hard to compete with the combined might of Half-Life, Resident Evil 2, Ocarina of Time, StarCraft, Fallout 2, Banjo Kazooie, Metal Gear Solid, and Baldur's Gate.

What was the oldest video game? ›

When was the first video game made? October 18, 1958. William Higinbotham's "Tennis for Two" was introduced at Brookhaven National Laboratory's annual visitors days.

What game will come out in 2024? ›

Critically acclaimed titles
TitleDeveloper(s)Release
Elden Ring: Shadow of the ErdtreeFromSoftwareJune 21, 2024
Final Fantasy VII RebirthSquare EnixFebruary 29, 2024
Like a Dragon: Infinite WealthRyu Ga Gotoku StudioJanuary 26, 2024
Destiny 2: The Final ShapeBungieJune 4, 2024
5 more rows

What is the highest selling game on Steam 2024? ›

Steam: top selling video games weekly 2024

In the week ending August 6, 2024, Black Myth: Wukong - Pre-orders entered the charts as the top-selling gaming product based on dollar sales on Steam in second place. Valve's Steam Deck console was ranked first and RPG hit Elden Ring placed third in terms of weekly revenue.

What is the most popular game in Roblox in 2024? ›

Most-played Roblox games worldwide as of July 2024, by all-time visits (in billions)
CharacteristicVists in billions
Piggy12.8
Royale High9.86
BedWars9.26
Pet Simulator X!8.76
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Jul 10, 2024

What is the best-selling game on ps5 May 2024? ›

PS5 Games
US/CanadaEU
Grand Theft Auto VHELLDIVERS 2
NBA 2K24Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
MLB The Show 24TopSpin 2K25
Stellar BladeFallout 4
16 more rows
Jun 13, 2024

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