Oxygen Is Not Included

Oxygen Not Included is a management simulation game with survival elements. The objective of the game is to manage a colony headed by three characters stuck in an asteroid. The game shares similar design elements with games like Factorio and Satisfactory.

Gameplay

You manage three characters trapped in an asteroid with limited resources. You have to manage the oxygen, hunger, and the waste level of the characters. Most environments in the game do not contain oxygen, so you must prepare the characters known as duplicants for breathing and surviving there.

Your characters establish a colony by crafting, researching technology, and farming for food. The characters complete various tasks over time. You take control of electrical wiring, plumbing, and other home utilities. You start with simple tools and gain access to better tools over time. You build ventilation systems, power plants and farms.

You manage gases like carbon dioxide and hydrogen to have adequate amount of oxygen to breathe in. You learn to understand scientific technicalities like oxygen floating up, hydrogen floating right to the topmost level and, carbon dioxide floating down. You learn how to relieve air pressure to pump out more oxygen. You learn not to dig too far so you don’t face toxic gases that your duplicants can’t handle.
You manage the work and sleep schedule of your duplicants. You check their health and you oversee research to make the living conditions of inhabitants better. As you conduct research, you discover new technologies and species. These species are well documented and you’ll find a lot of wiki-style information on them. You might get overwhelmed with the amount of information and database entries.

New Planet

Before starting the game, you select a planet of your choice. At the beginning of the game, you are guided on what to do and how to play, but soon after you are left to your own devices. Things start out easy at first and you think that you have mastered the game. But, every now and then, Oxygen Not Included will surprise you. The game will present you with delicate choices that will have you wracking your brain.

You worry about the decisions you take and how they will affect the life of your duplicants.
Oxygen Not Included requires you to monitor a lot of things. Some players might not enjoy the high level of micromanagement that the game requires.

Klei, the developers of Oxygen Not Included have outdone themselves this time, and they have brought back the thrills present in their earlier games like Shank, Mark of the Ninja, and Don’t Starve.

Pros

• An interesting management simulation game
• Nice game design and soundtrack
• So many hours of gameplay

Cons

• The game could get too difficult
• Too much micromanagement