The popular factory-building game Factorio is set to receive a major overhaul on October 21, 2024, with the launch of its Space Age expansion and the 2.0 update. This DLC brings new planets, terrifying enemies, and gameplay refinements.
New Worlds to Explore
The Space Age expansion allows players to expand beyond Factorio’s familiar planet Nauvis, launching them into space to explore five new planets:
Vulcanus is a harsh volcanic world with sulfuric fog and blazing mountains where players can mine tungsten and extract metals from molten lava.
Fulgora features nightly lightning storms that can be harnessed for power, and its desolate surface hides remnants of an ancient civilization ripe for technological scavenging.
Gleba is a swampy, vibrant world, ideal for agricultural automation, where players can harvest exotic plants but must manage spoilage. The planet is also home to terrifying five-legged creatures known as Pentapods, which evolve and grow more dangerous with each encounter.
5th Planet (Unnamed), the furthest from the sun, remains shrouded in mystery but promises new gameplay challenges as players venture into its dark, cold environment.
Each planet brings unique resources, environmental hazards, and new strategies that push players to their creative limits in automation.
Gameplay Enhancements with 2.0
Factorio’s 2.0 update brings a host of quality-of-life improvements. Smarter worker robots, improved fluid mechanics, better blueprint management, and an overhauled terrain generation system on the home planet Nauvis streamline automation and enhance gameplay. These updates aim to make factory-building more efficient and intuitive, even as players manage increasingly complex operations.
“The factory must grow.”
A popular mantra among fans.
Gameplay Loop
The core gameplay loop revolves around optimizing automation systems. Players begin by manually mining resources and crafting items, but as technologies unlock, they gradually automate every aspect of production. The challenge is in scaling these systems—building efficient factories, managing logistics, and balancing power consumption—while continuously refining layouts to handle the increasing complexity. As factories grow, so does pollution, which leads to escalating enemy attacks, forcing players to implement defense strategies. The loop of expanding, optimizing, and defending creates an addictive cycle that keeps players engaged for hundreds of hours.
The Most Addicting Game Ever Made?
Well, we can’t prove that, but there’s a reason people call it “Cracktorio”. With over 2.5 million copies sold, Factorio has clocked in more than 38,000 years of collective player time on Steam. And the average playtime exceeds 133 hours. Every line of code equates to days of playtime, with 0.34 lines of code per buyer, an indication of its highly efficient programming and gameplay loop. On steam it has an extremely impressive positive rating of 97%.
Modding
Its thriving modding community, with over 3,000 mods, further extends gameplay. Popular mods like Space Exploration bring more depth and customization, which makes the game a long-term investment for many. And of course the infamous Bob’s Mods series that add much more complexity to manufacturing. For example a basic circuit that would normally be two pieces of metal in an assembler, you need to mount the components one by one (wiring, solder, and resistors) adding more complexity and realism to the production chain.
Speedruns
While Factorio is known for long playthroughs, it also boasts a thriving speedrunning community. Speedrunners aim to launch a rocket as quickly as possible by optimising factory layouts to the extreme. Some world records now complete the game in under two hours, showcasing the level of efficiency and planning that is possible in Factorio’s systems.
Bugs Are Extremely Rare
While the players are hard at work protecting their base from invading hordes of insects, the developers are working even harder at removing as many bugs as possible – and it shows. Factorio is renowned for being almost bug-free in its code as the developers at Wube Software have resolved over 8,600 bugs during its development.
Unique Pricing History
Factorio holds the distinction of being one of the only games on Steam to increase in price. In January 2021, the base price went up from $30 to $35 (USD), a rare move in an industry where games often go on sale or drop in price over time. Wube Software cited this as a decision to reflect the game’s value and ongoing support. The Space Age DLC will be priced as the same price as the game at $35 USD or around $50 AUD.
