Autonauts
Travel the universe colonising uninhabited planets with the sole goal of setting worlds in motion through the power of automation. Fresh from your spaceship you must harvest stick and stone and begin your colonisation efforts. Create rudimentary crafting items from blueprints and slowly build a number of workerbots to aid in your efforts. Teach and shape their artificial intelligence with a visual programming language, then instruct them to begin the formation of your colony. Marvel as a planet you’ve shaped becomes home to a civilisation of workerbots, happy to do your bidding! Expand further with the creation of colonists; beings that require your assistance to survive. Push your workerbots further by introducing fishing, cooking, housing, and tailoring and help the colonists into a state of transcendence.
Game Discussion
Steam User 7
amazing game, optimizing your bots can be tricky at times if you want to limit their numbers but otherwise pretty straightforward, the tech tree is relly fresh and strange and the whole game feels goofy in a good way, *will* recommend
Steam User 5
Such a strange game for this genre.
It's a both a programming game and a factory game in one, yet in both aspects, it is somewhat shallow - but that's kinda the point.
The game knows what it's doing; It doesn't overwhelm you, problems are simple and straightforward to solve, and there's no time limits. All of that meshes well with the overarching theme of relaxation and positive vibes this game is going for.
... which also means that this game gets pretty boring after a while.
Some perspective: I'd say I 100%'d this game rather efficiently, requiring 2 separate playthroughs.
In both playthroughs, I ended up having to deal with mandatory wait times of multiple hours. Approximately 10% of my time spent on this game was just AFK.
Granted, I already came in with *plenty* of experience in factory/programming games, so that *definitely* skewed my experience. Though especially with the final challenge of the "Enlightenment" mode, it felt weird to have little left to do but wait for 3 hours straight, until the game went "Okay, you can win now".
But hey, that's one of the many things the "Settlement" mode fixed, so this is really just a thing for completionists to worry about. (By the way, definitely play that mode first, it solves a lot of flow issues.)
Unfortunately, there are also the occasional bugs to deal with here.
Bots really don't like you messing with structures they're trying to interact with, so they might end up in infinite loops that the game can't warn you about.
Similarly, structures and objects sometimes become perpetually "locked" from *ALL* interaction, including their removal from the world. (Thankfully, quickly reloading the map fixes this issue.)
Finally, near the end of Enlightenment mode, the game crashed semi-frequently for me. My guess is that I had a few too many bots going; Once I went past 800 bots, the game noticeably struggled to load the bot list whenever I opened it. (Note: PC specs attached.)
The game was still playable and beatable just fine, but I did find myself doing a lot more safety-saves at that point.
The programming features also leave some things to be desired, with a lot of world interactions not being "programmable" per se. Even if you know all the tricks to streamline bot programming, the game just flat out lacks the tools to program e.g. tile or item pickup interactions remotely. Meaning: You will never fully move on from using your player character to physically "demonstrate" to a bot what it is supposed to do. It works, but it's a bit frustrating. (Maybe the sequel improves the situation here?)
Despite all of that though, this game's still worth a "Recommended".
Because honestly, if you're just looking for a cozy automation game to sink some hours into, there's nothing wrong with picking this one up.
Just have a comfy, relaxed time, click some buttons, plot out some buildings, and watch your cute little robot army go. It doesn't need to be much more than that.
Steam User 3
This is the game I spent years wishing for. "why can't I just set a villager to do this task on repeat", "I wish I could automate this process" and then bam! I stumbled into this game by complete chance.
Every time I'm playing a game and those thoughts sneak back in, I end up closing it and coming back to play this some more. My systems are by no means perfect (I'm currently doing the jankiest, least streamlined profile I've ever done) but the fact that I have never figured out the best way to streamline things means I always have more to play and even if I did crack that code, the randomly generated maps could force me to do completely different. With different game modes, relatively difficult achievements and even DLC this game really does have enough to keep you coming back and entertained for HOURS.
Steam User 5
I'm not the biggest fan of the cutesy, but no other game runs a village builder like this.
Visual programming allows many good solutions to emerge without hand holding. Love it.
Steam User 3
It's ok. Not necessarily for kids, despite the presentation.
Progress is SLOW. Most research is mandatory.
I couldn't complete it without getting a bit bored though. I need to try other autmoation type games to get a clearer pictures. I tried DeSynced, for example, but this is more untuitive than that.
7/10
Steam User 2
I recently dove into the charming world of Autonauts, and I have to say it's been quite a delightful experience. From the moment I started, I was hooked on the simplicity and warmth of the graphics. The colors are vibrant, giving off a friendly vibe that makes you feel right at home.
What really stands out for me is the core gameplay. You’re tasked with building a colony from scratch, which is both fun and challenging. I loved how you can automate tasks by teaching little robots to do various jobs. It’s like being a coach for your own tiny workforce, and it feels satisfying to see them work together!
The learning curve is gentle, making it easy for anyone to pick up and play. I appreciated how the game encourages creativity. There are so many ways to approach building your colony, and it feels rewarding to experiment with different strategies. You can gather resources, craft items, and even interact with a cute assortment of critters along the way.
Another plus is the lack of pressure or time limits. You can take your time and enjoy building your little world at your own pace, which is refreshing in contrast to many other games that rush you through. It’s a great way to unwind after a long day.
Overall, I found Autonauts to be a perfect blend of creativity and strategy. It sparked my imagination while keeping me engaged, and I think it has something fun to offer for everyone, whether you're a seasoned gamer or just looking for something to relax with. If you enjoy games that let you build and explore, I highly recommend giving Autonauts a try!
Steam User 2
Would honestly be better as a normal automation game where you control things from above instead of as a character. But otherwise it is really well done.