izigame.me

I might be being a little harsh, but I thought FOUNDRY was lackluster and boring. Sure, I'm an avid automation/factory gamer, but I'm not on the league where I can actually "do the maths" or "make a main bus." I'm literally the kind of player you avoid: spaghetti city, and 'if there isn't enough of something, just double it!' which is my idea of "math." Then, mash it all together in a "holy crap I can't believe that's working, but give it twenty minutes and it'll stop working" kind of way.
The thing is, FOUNDRY does absolutely nothing that you haven't already seen done elsewhere. And what it does put on offer, it does it rather poorly. For a game that's been in Early Access already for 3 years (on itch), I'm rather flabbergasted that it's arrived on Steam in such a bland state.
Let's start with your mission. In other automation games, you're given an overarching task or mission. You have something to drive toward, a literal purpose. So you research new technologies, build basic infrastructure, collect resources and items, mash them together to research newer technologies, improve on your basic infrastructure to intermediate, rinse and repeat, until you reach your final destination. In FOUNDRY, that's simply lost and non-existent. I guess the space station above your head exploded or something, and there's a *hint* that you'll be helping to rebuild it when you unlock the prerequisites to Construction Drones, but at no point in time did I feel while I was playing FOUNDRY that I felt like I was "doing something worth while."
I set up miners, smelters, assemblers... everything you do in this genre, but for what purpose? Because I want to, not because I have to. I started researching things just to research them, because I have no idea what I should be aiming for (because no grand objective is presented to you, other than these tiny quests that ask you to 'build a boiler and turbine' or 'place a pumpjack'). Genuinely, I set up the requirements to make Concrete but I had no reason to yet - the game at no point in time suggested I should, I just did because I had the buildings unlocked. This isn't how I want to play my games. Sure, I'm grateful on one hand for the "freedom," but what good is the freedom if it isn't paired with a healthy dose of 'Instruction?' The Concrete, turns out, is required for Research III! Well, I'll be, can't wait to unlock more tech I have no idea why I want it or how to use it?
Part of the issue that progression seems so empty may also be because there's no rewarding progress. Dyson Sphere Program screams to me "there's more to do!" because you knew what you were tasked to do: you were working towards building a Dyson Sphere. You unlocked technologies that made older techs obsolete, you rebuilt areas of your factory to realize the improvements, and you kept moving forward. The technology unlocks made sense: you know what you didn't unlock? DOOR. STAIRS. LIGHT (okay that's a lie, you do unlock lights). Useless techs that litter FOUNDRY's tech tree to make it seem bigger than it actually is. Moving on: Satisfactory's objective is to dump resources into a massive pit known as a 'Space Elevator,' and as simple as that is, it's still an objective; the requirements get increasingly harder as the game goes on, which makes you revisit your factory and desire to research improvements. Then you've got Factorio, you want to launch a rocket because you crash landed, and there is pressure here from enemies/pollution, but also your deposits running out of ore, so you always have a side project, there's always something to do, and you have a reason to explore and expand which gives the feeling of progression. Captain of Industry, also you want to launch a rocket (is that what FOUNDRY is missing? The desire to launch a rocket?!), and the reward is your population - you need to expand to work factories but as you expand you have more mouths to feed, and more vehicles to maintain.
...But FOUNDRY? Again, I *think* the goal is "help the space station" but it's only ever mentioned in passing. It might be because they want to tell you a story, as you advance the tech tree, but I hate it honestly. Give me the story, sure, I do want to learn why I'm on the moon, but in the mean time, give me an actual purpose. I don't want to build because my core objective is "build." I want to build because, example, "The Space Station requires 10,000 Concrete to repair a habitation wing" and during that process, I unlock NEW WAYS to make Concrete, IMPROVED WAYS to use less Mineral/Gravel/Cement in Concrete, etc. Instead, the research tree is DOOR, STAIR, LIGHT, WALKWAY, "Here's a faster drill speed," "Here's more inventory!" The only tech 'improvement' I've come across is being able to grind Ore Scrap or whatever the base product is, into Ore, which makes me more plates. Oh, and your standard "Assemblers level I, II and III" or "Drones level I and II," etc, but not the type of improvements that actually matter, like better/different ways to make XYZ.
Speaking of building, holy crap, building belts. You can click and drag and it goes in a straight line, always, and if you need to curve it, you have to stop building, do R or Shift+R and then click and drag again, and repeat. Made a mess? Press F to delete some stuff, then try again. Want to elevate your belt? Stop for a second, build a ramp, then continue. Trying to move it over some inserters? Well you can't because they're oddly two tiles tall. This is pretty frustrating.
So when I sum this all up, what I say is... FOUNDRY is an extremely linear (bad for this genre) one-trick pony that does nothing innovative compared to the other games in this style that already are out. FOUNDRY is, in its current state, an introductory level automation game that might scratch an itch temporarily but leaves much to be desired. With no global objective to work toward, you're better using your time wisely playing anything else. It shouldn't take 11 hours to find that out. More like, 11 minutes.
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EDIT: So listen, I put in an additional 6 hours into FOUNDRY. I unlocked the ability to make Modular buildings, such as a Radio Tower and a Long Distance Scanner. I've placed the foundations of both, and started neither, because I haven't begun the process of producing either Construction Drones or the Construction Modules that go into these Modular buildings. But you know what? I'm editing my review, because this is important (and my review remains negative). This kind of stuff is what is needed for the early game.
My biggest gripe with FOUNDRY is you have no overarching objective. This IS the over arching objective. Add in some very simple Modular buildings in the early game, I don't know or care what it is (but obviously something helpful and meaningful), and then some lower-tier Construction Bots and maybe some lower-tier Construction Materials (so that these entry-level Modular buildings make sense), and, VOILA, the player now has something to accomplish - something to do and aim for. It's as simple as that.
Feature creep here, but like, maybe after BB drops down he recommends setting up a Satellite in orbit to provide him a connection to the station (because let's be honest: The fact Carl cannot reach the station but BB can is some very loose storytelling here and really doesn't add up). So your first order of business is a Satellite Launch Pad or something, followed by a Satellite. Once you build it and push the big red button, and it's in orbit, THEN BB is connected to the station and then the story continues. And for sure, we need another stage in-between before you get to Radio Tower (for full connection to the station and subsequent trading). What is that? I don't know, you decide.
But this is what's needed: a purpose and something to work toward at all times!