After almost five years in Steam Early Access, Satisfactory 1.0 is finally here – and there’s no shortage of new things to do. With an entirely fresh narrative, achievements, quality-of-life changes, and an in-depth endgame, absolute beginners or returning players have plenty to celebrate. So if, like me, you get that unique buzz from painstakingly designing the ultimate industrial machine, and then sitting back to watch it hum perfectly, you can’t go wrong with Satisfactory.
Satisfactory is the perfect realization of the best part of videogames: creation. At first, it’s just you, an alien planet, and your trusty mining tool. Get out there and explore, and mine resources as you go. Once you’ve got enough resources you can start building factories and automating them, which is when things get really interesting. Between conveyor belts, pipes, trucks, trains, and factory carts you can run your industrial action to perfection. It’s a building game in the best way, and it’s just got much bigger.
To me, Satisfactory 1.0’s coolest addition has to be the narrative. Until now, Coffee Stain has kept all story elements under wraps, but now you have a true purpose. The gameplay loop won’t change, mind you, but a new thread will tie everything together and offer up an actual ending.
“There will not be any campaign mode to access from the main menu, nor a marked ‘main scenario’ route to follow on your map,” Coffee Stain explains. The ending also “won’t halt your building momentum or stop you from further progressing your factories in your session or save file – all gameplay elements will remain undisturbed.”
This sounds an awful lot like how Minecraft handles its story. There’s a narrative to be had, but a lot of it remains subjective and acts as an optional activity instead of superseding the main thrust of the game.
Then there’s the new Satisfactory endgame. The extra phase five focuses on Quantum Technology, and lots of new items accompany it. You need to finish Project Assembly once and for all, finally making the space elevator you’ve been working towards for all these years.
Achievements will also be added in 1.0, and these will be sprinkled throughout the progression. Whether you’re exploring or making your way through milestones, you have the chance to grab these achievements as you play. Coffee Stain admits that unfortunately these achievements can’t be added retroactively, as “1.0 adds or changes something in almost every progression stage in the game.” This means recognizing what players have or haven’t done will get incredibly difficult.
You’re also finally able to use Mercer Spheres in Satisfactory 1.0, which can help you unlock an array of new equipment across the game. The new Power Augmetor will make your network even stronger, but you won’t have unlimited resources to use them, so you’ll want to place them wisely.
1.0 isn’t the end of Satisfactory either – Coffee Stain assures that it “does not mark the definitive end for the game’s development.” That said, it’s been in Steam Early Access for almost five years, and 1.0 marks a huge expansion for the game. Oh, and to top it all off, console ports are on the way.
Coffee Stain has now launched Satisfactory 1.0 on Steam, with a permanent price increase bumping the game up to $39.99 / £33.50 earlier in the year. You can get involved right here.
We’ve got even more akin to Satisfactory for you as well, with the best sandbox games and best building games offering plenty of creative ways to play.
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