Just bought the game; What were Your first impressions?

[Zortoch]

I'd like to throw in my two cents here, I watched a let's play and immediately wanted to know more so i kept watching. I bought the game after going on the official site and seeing how many helpful tutorials were there. I must admit there is quite a Learning curve to this game. Definitely one of the most challenging games I've seen in a long time. I really love the constant problem solving one has to do. Way to go guys, two thumbs up for me!

Zortoch and the girls

[TKR101010]

I first heard of Factorio from a Let's Play video for FortressCraft Evolved that I was watching for tips. I've played FCE off and on for a while, but haven't gotten very far into it. The youtuber described FortressCraft Evolved as being "if Minecraft and Factorio had a baby ..."

My first thoughts were "Really? What is this Factorio you speak of!? 'Cause FortressCraft Evolved minus the Minecraft aspects sounds like it'd be a lot of fun."

I immediately stopped the video and went to the Steam store, much to my disappointment. Fortunately Google then showed me where to go. "Ooooooo, free demo ..." Downloaded.

The scenarios available for play in the demo are pretty limited (obviously, the point of a demo) but I could tell right away that this was going to be a game I was going to enjoy. Uninstall demo, buy licensed copy.

Factorio has quickly become one of my favorite games. Everything about this game has been great. Game concept is interesting and well executed, there's multiple tiers of pretty much everything, and there is different mechanics for things like solid/liquid/gas resource types. Gameplay is smooth, and controls/ui easy to learn and use. I have not had any crashes, graphics glitchs, or any bugginess that I've noticed. Well, other than the Biters, of course. Moddable and already has an active modding community? Thank you

Why is this game not on Steam? Even as Alpha it's in a better state than at least 90% of the Early Access games. In the short time I've been playing I've aquired a new friend on my Steam friend's list because of this game. And in the comments on screenshots I've posted I have another friend on my list going "What is this Factorio you speak of!?"

[RODLON]

My first impression after downloading it from torrent without paying was: "This is a mess, there are so many things." But I started to play and it was very intuitive.
My second thought was: "I love it."
I played for a few hours and finally bought the game.

I used to play minecraft with buildcraft+industrialcraft+universalelectricity. This game is the same concept but with a lot more things and more challenging!
I just wish it had better multiplayer. I can't play online because you have to download the entire map when joining and when having desyncs... I hope that changes in v0.13.

[Theace98]

I watched a YouTuber play the game up to about the oil stage, so I had a good idea of what to expect, back I believe in 0.7 or 0.8. So I had a good idea of what to expect. And after playing modded Minecraft after seeing how many sides of a machine in factorio (12) I thought how hard could factorio be after "6 sides to the block" in Minecraft...

2 hours later I'm engrossed in the game tearing up and redesigning my furnace set up muttering "too inefficient". Don't get me started on the pursuit of the most efficient production line of the 3 main research packs. Give me 6 sides any day.

[glek]

Believe it or not, this game came to me via Steam. Another friend of mine added it as a non-Steam game. When he booted it up, I saw the notification and thought it sounded familiar. It's now 4 days later and I haven't really played any other games. Admittedly, the holidays contributed to that a bit, but this game has absorbed my life in the best possible way.

The trailer was what got me. Seeing the factory running like that reminded me of Infinifactory, another game I love dearly. Plus I'm an engineer, so this game is like candy to me.

I think my overall impression is, currently, three things:

• The map generate tends to put things far apart on me, which is annoying because it slows down the early game waiting for iron plates for belts.
• I need to spend more time designing because I've started two or three games now and each time I hit a point where trying to decide where to place my next anything becomes an exercise in futility.
• This game is like a drug, I can't get enough of it.

So far I've made it to oil in free play but no further. The pipe networks turned out to be way more than my last design could handle.

[HammerPiano]

When I bought the game, the moment I started to play, I knew that every penny was worth it
Happy new year!

[racionador]

its a great idea, its feels to me like one of that early 2000 games when developers still care to make hardcore things for guy with patience to discovery get frustrated, and do all over and over again.

i want that on steam and easy to find so multiplayer people.

[Mr.YaR]

Reading fast random indie games descriptions on some random gaming russian forum and some screenshots + a short description stoped my scoutings "wait, this looks like something serious. If i got it right, this could bring some fresh air", went on the forum, checked the mods (tells a lot about game health), launched the demo to see if it works-looked at some animations, graphics details, interactions " this is it" bought 5 minuts later.

Second time i buy a game without spending time on info gathering. Second time no regrets.

First impressions ingame "wait, wait, wait, this is great", first hours discovering game mechanics without any kind of tutorialisation " this is great! Oh! This is even better! Wait, they've done that!?!!"

Heavily modded my factorio from the very beginning - enjoying hard!!!

Dreaming about more RTS elements!!!

[NathGamer]

Great game. The learning curve is a little much but if you do some campaign or scenarios you get the gist fast enough. The bitters get a little annoying after a while but are required to finish the game at the point in the games release. I have had lots of fun with the game and will continue to do so. I believe that in the future the game will get better and better until it is amazing even though it is really awesome already, and for the people who like to compare things this is not minecraft and you should not expect an experience like minecraft because it is not the same thing. It is a different game and in being so has different mechanics and a different feel all together. This is an amazing game and I hope that it will continue to develop.

[Zynyster]

Bought the game about a week ago.

I saw Factorio on youtube awhile back, and thought it looked really boring. I love simulation games but I don't usually enjoy crafting type games, Minecraft, ect..

After watching some Arumba let's plays on youtube I decided to just go for it. I downloaded the demo and purchased the game as soon as I completed it.

First impression was ..holy crap I have no idea what I'm doing, it honestly was frustrating and amazing at the same time. I immediately ran into the "I want to plan everything out perfectly but I don't know how anything works" wall, but after I forced myself to play messy for awhile and memorize the recipes its become an absolute blast. So the last week straight has been, come home from work and play factorio for like 8-12 hours straight only breaking for food and beer.

I've been waiting for a game almost exactly like this for years. Its awesome for being in alpha/early access. There's definitely room for the game to grow and there are some things that need to be fixed and added but overall, for me, its already a 10/10 and one of my top favorite games.

[Mikrotherion]

A friend recommended this game - actually got it for me as a birthday present. We played some hours and I'm so impressed by the game that I decided to upgrade my gift to Mining Drill Operator.
I like how you can build these complex machines, automate everything and then look at it, churning out stuff, transporting it, researching. The ability to set the biters to peaceful is also great, since I don't want to fight while I'm trying to build my factory.
Two problems remain, though:
I also like playing Path of Exile.
My time is limited.
So sometimes it's really tough deciding.

[The_Destroyer]

Hmm this is taking too long...

Oh hey, I can upgrade that... but what about now, all that science

Oh hey I can automate that....

*50 hours later* WHAT YEAR IS IT *continues automation*

[gibbsman]

Honest first impression from the demo in Oct 2014 was meh, I don't get it and don't care for it.
For some reason I kept feeling compelled to check it out though, so in Feb 2015, after playing a lot of Rimworld I decided for $15 I'd support the devs and give it a shot.
So glad I did. Hundreds of hours later I still am enjoying it and couldn't be happier about the time I've spent in it.

[tetryon]

New players that bought yesterday on Steam - how was your experience? And welcome!

[forscher]

I bought it yesterday after hearing about it from a guy I work with and watching the gameplay trailer. I played for about 3 hours last night. This game basically turned me into a little kid playing with my legos again. I kept playing for maybe 30-45 minutes and then restarting as I gradually figured out the basic things - how the burners/furnaces interact, how to manage inventory and transfer stuff to/from machines, how you need to balance the production of basic materials at the start, etc. Before I shut it down I had just gotten to the point where I have steam power with belts feeding the boilers, and electric miners feeding me ores, but I was trying to figure out a good arrangement for furnaces to make plates and wire and I realized it was going to take me hours, so I saved it for today.

It seems like there is a HUGE amount of things to learn to make things work just right. This game is probably not for everyone, but it seems to be right up my alley. I imagine I'll be sinking a lot of hours into this game.

[Nova]

Firs impression... I did see the game on the indiegogo campaign and had to download it. The basic principle is exactly what I like and after a few hours of gameplay I had to get the full version, so I did give the devs some of my money and in return got a game which I played hundreds of hours...

[Kalissar]

Hello !

I tried the game last weekend after the Steam release. Saturday at 7PM I was like "Well, let's give this a try"
After a few hours I can predict I'm gonna pour a lot of time into this game ! You guys must have so much fun developing it

One tiny drawback, though.
My very, very first reaction was "What, they didn't even bother to handle AZERTY keyboards ?"

Do you think the default keyboard shortcuts can depend on the locale used ? I don't mind remapping the keyboard once, I just think about all these new players who won't have the reflex to go to the options menu.

[ratchetfreak]

Hello !

I tried the game last weekend after the Steam release. Saturday at 7PM I was like "Well, let's give this a try"
After a few hours I can predict I'm gonna pour a lot of time into this game ! You guys must have so much fun developing it

One tiny drawback, though.
My very, very first reaction was "What, they didn't even bother to handle AZERTY keyboards ?"

Do you think the default keyboard shortcuts can depend on the locale used ? I don't mind remapping the keyboard once, I just think about all these new players who won't have the reflex to go to the options menu.

frankly if you are on azerty (or dvorak) then your first reflex should be to look into the options menu for a controls setting.

[Koub]

Both statements are valid : I'm used to going in the controls section of the option upon first run of any game (Frenchie here), but I love when a game knows I'm French, and uses by default a standard french keyboard compatible layout.
It's so much more user friendly.

[Mindblower]

Great that you bought one! Talking about "Minecraft" . Its one of my favorite games actually.