NGU IDLE
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Everyone likes numbers that go up. Play NGU Idle and get the exciting rush of so many numbers going up!
With NGU Idle you’ll get:
- Weekly updates! Maybe even more! Possibly less!
- An RPG and inventory system!
- Loot drops for days!
- A really weird story if you’re into that.
- A mix of Idle and Active play to satisfy everyone except really grumpy people.
- Progress Bars everywhere!
- A snarky, very active dev who is extremely attractive and not biased at all.
- Crappy Puns.
Steam User 81
Finally Freeeeee! Game open for 2.8 yrs. It's been a wild ride and an awesome one at that. Something to always look forward to when life was crazy but I wanted to see my numbers go up in at least one game.
Steam User 39
NGU Idle is the perfect game for people who want to feel like they’re doing something productive while actually doing nothing at all. It’s like a virtual version of staring at a wall, but with more numbers and colors. The game has a lot of depth and complexity, but don’t worry, you don’t need to understand any of it to enjoy it. Just click some buttons, watch some numbers go up, and let the game do the rest.
Steam User 10
This is one of the best incremental games ever made, despite it's web browser origins. I played NGU Idle on Kongregate and getting to watch the game grow from something small, cool, and charming to the incredible and complete experience it is currently was a special experience for me.
Like many idlers, when you start a new game, it is not particularly "idle." NGU paces it's early game extremely well: it is a fast crash course of some of the most basic systems of the game, an introduction to the game's (very stupid and fun) humor and story, and it is played very actively. But before long, you are off to the races: you will quickly begin automating more and more of the basic aspects of the game, and push closer to a true idler... Until you find yourself progressing through the story even further, killing titans, and unlocking even more mechanics and systems of progression to engage with.
Something NGU Idle does extremely well is that there is a balance of idle and active play for pretty much everyone: if you want to sit down and actually "play" the game, there is such an abundance of progression systems for you to be engaging actively with at any time that you will always have something to do. If you want to get up and walk away for a while, NGU's true idle progression is also extremely satisfying, and you can find yourself thinking very actively about how you want to "set up" your next 10 hours away from the computer. The way NGU's huge wealth of mechanics and progression systems interact with each other is surprisingly deep, and if you want to really get into this game, there is plenty there to keep you thinking, strategizing, and optimizing to get that number up as fast as possible. And, hey, if you want to take a break from the game for a week, you will probably come back to find that your inattention has allowed you access to adventure areas and gear you could not before. The number of different directions you can take to push your progression further (and get your NUMBER going up!) at any given time is always really interesting to engage with, and strategizing what my next goal should be and how I should go about reaching it is still a massive source of enjoyment to me even after playing this game on-and-off for years.
This is truly a behemoth of an idle at this point, I suspect I won't be "finished" with it for a very long time. Anyways, game is good, I'll shut up now.
Anyways, I'll shut up. Game is good.
Steam User 12
You want to quit video games, touch grass, get a gf and thought an idle game would help? WRONG! welcome to NGU Idle, the kitty stole all your free time :)
This game mixes the complexity of Realm grinder with the constant upgrade / rush of universal paperclips. it's 100% FREE TO PLAY, you don't need to spend a cent to finish it! there are no micro transactions, no ads, no nothing; there are just numbers ...and they go up!
TL;DR There are 3 stages of the game:
- Normal: fast paced , you unlock a lot of new stuff and you can actively feel your number go up get stronger with each rebirth! it's incredibly fun and rewards more active play.
- Evil: normal speed , you still have a lot of stuff to unlock but it starts to taper off! the game is slowly transitioning into idle, where you can't really min max with active play.
- Sadistic: S L O W ! ! ! the only time you will be zooming is when you complete a Hack day and the next 2 -3 rebirths you are "fast af boi!" Adventure mode is actually interesting now and you can actually fight monsters 2 zones above you with manual play. Each new zone you can idle / titan you can kill feels like a HUGE achievement.
There is a very active discord, a wiki and a few guides that can help you if you are wondering what's the best course of action.
I stated above that the game is 100% free to play, but found myself buying things not because i need it, but because of how good the game is and wanted to show my support it! In my opinion this is truly the best idle game out there, it's complex, yet easy to understand, it's long but you can see real progress, it has an ACTUAL story :O and a nice kitty :) on average i think it takes between 2 to 4 years to finish it depending on how hard you min max. (i'm still half way through sadistic after 3.5k hours lol).
secret bonus tip because you got this far! keep 2 copies Mr. Looty and the necklace in daycare!! max one and the other a lvl prior to maxing, they offer HUGE stats and it helps get through evil :D
Steam User 18
I just beat the game. I watched my 3-year-old grow up alongside this game. Spectacular idle. These were the best years of my life.
Steam User 8
TLDR: One of the better idle games out there. Good mechanics, humor, and some creative aspects make this one worth checking out for some background progression.
PROS:
✅May unique systems
✅Great sense of humor/memes
✅Multiple progression systems
CONS:
➖Slows down a lot as new things become available
➖Falls into the repetitive idle trap of redoing leveling progress over and over
➖Minor P2W elements
Content (Game world/Narrative/Lore) –
NGU Idle (Numbers Go Up) is lighter on the content from a lore perspective, but the content from an idle perspective is there and in spades. It’s very rare for an idle game to even have a story but NGU does have one as you progress through fights you get a small bit of the story during each fight, so kudos for that. The story itself is crazy and hilarious, full of references, jokes, and memes. As of this writing, I’m on boss 90 of 200(?), so I have not finished the full narrative.
The content from an idling perspective consists of many systems that build upon each other to give the player a sense of progression. You have the normal fights similar to other idle games like Tap Titans. Soon after starting you’ll unlock adventure which is really quick fights that use a different set of stats, including a full set of equipment. These 2 of the fundamental pillars of the game with all systems afterwards supporting these – energy and magic are a continuously increasing resource used to fuel numerous choices in deciding how to progress.
I should probably also mention that there is a shop that contains a lot of very good items and quality of life upgrades that you can purchase using in-game currency. While you can also choose to spend real money to get the in-game currency faster, I felt this is not needed, especially since this is a single player game.
Gameplay (Controls/Mechanics/Loop/Difficulty) –
There isn’t much gameplay in NGU Idle as it’s obviously an idle game, but the gameplay here consists of what you choose to do with your energy and magic buildup. There is a great potential for min/maxing choices to gain the largest numbers the fastest before you rebirth and do it all over again. This is something I didn’t like too much about the game that too many idle games fall into – redoing content through repetitive rebirthing cycles. Only Melvor Idle comes to mind that has enough content to warrant a player not having to start at level 1 over and over.
Graphics (Quality/Art style/Animations/UI/Performance) –
The Art is very basic, but often humorous.
The UI is well done and sufficient enough to teach the player the basic concepts of each mechanic.
Overall, there’s not much to rate here since aside from the MS Paint-esque art, 90% of the game is menus and UI.
Audio (Sound Effects/Music/Voice Acting/Ambient) –
0 audio, there is no audio.
Replay Factor (Side quests/NG+/Player Choice) –
The game takes so long to beat because it’s artificially inflated by rebirthing, that I’m not sure if you would ever want to even attempt a full replay. Instead, a player is forced to replay through rebirth.
There is some “Side quests” called Challenges, where you literally have to rebirth under specific criteria. You do unlock some nice abilities and currency this way, but again….rebirthing.
Final Verdict –
NGU is a good game. I wish there was more of a focus on the game without repetitive rebirthing, but still it’s fairly unique versus the load of other idle games I’ve played.
Recommend?
Yes
If you like idle, you should definitely check it out.
You can find my curator page here:
Steam User 6
It's an idle game, so obviously you'll require a lot of time and investment in order to make progress. But the hilarious writing, combined with a near-constant barrage of references makes the grind much more bearable. If nothing else, you'll want to keep playing just to see what the game'll throw at you next.
One major problem I have with other idle games (or at least the ones I've played) is that they often tack on dozens of different mechanics, gimmicks, and what-have-you, and advancement slows to a crawl unless you are playing optimally. Usually, this requires you to spend time looking up builds, and configuring different settings and values to the point that the game doesn't really feel like and idle game anymore.
NGU does still have that problem, but I... don't feel that it's as bad here as it is in other games? New mechanics are generally lightweight, and are gradually introduced in such a way that you have plenty of time to get used to them before something else rears its ugly head. There is an occasional puzzle (some of which are actually pretty clever) that requires your full attention, but usually you can resolve them within a single afternoon, and then carry on with your business. What's more, there are plenty of items and upgrades you can purchase from 4G's Sellout Shop (aka the game's premium storefront) to make automation easier, and the game can be surprisingly generous with premium currency rewards (though I might just be saying that because I have 2000+ hours of "playtime" and I bought out almost a third of the store).
EDIT: To be clear, at the time of this writing, I have spent ABSOLUTELY NO REAL-WORLD MONEY on this game. Everything that I have purchased was through challenges and rewards earned in-game.
There's a Discord server (directly linked to in-game, which is nice) where you can go to ask other players for advice if you're stuck, as well as a wiki stuffed with spoilers, but the game and the community generally encourages you to go at your own pace, and do whatever you think is the most fun. That's what I've been doing up until now, and I'm quite satisfied with the game thus far. However, at the time of writing, I'm only nearing the end of the tutorial normal difficulty, so that may change in the coming months.
I do have TWO issues with this game, though they're rather specific and kind of petty (Minor Spoilers ahead).
1) When you unlock Perks, one of the earliest perks you can purchase is Boosted Boosts, which boosts the power of Boost items by 2.5% per level. For the longest time, I thought that this was referring to the items you could purchase from the Sellout Shop under the "Boosts" tab, which provided you with temporary buffs. Since I was saving my precious Arbitrary Points for permanent upgrades, I deemed the Boosted Boosts perk useless, and completely ignored it. Only recently did I learn that the term "Boosts" was actually referring to the Boost items that you collected in Adventure Mode, which you used to increase the stats of your equipment. That may explain why it was taking so long for me to max out my higher-level equipment...
2) After you defeat Boss 150/300, the story ends on a cliffhanger, and you need to advance to the next difficulty in order to progress. However, in order to unlock the next difficulty, you still need to fight all the way up to Boss 300. To not spoil anything, all of the bosses from 151 onward are replaced with a blank portrait and no description. It's at this point that the non-stop comedy that made this game so enticing to me hit the brakes, and the game starts to become a monotonous grind. This does serve as a good excuse to go back and finish those challenges that you haven't completed yet (which I'm doing now), but it is a huge drag.
Overall, if you like silly things, and don't mind having another idle game to consume your off-time, I highly recommend giving NGU Idle a try. If nothing else, you'll get a few laughs out of it.