author: Retromaniak
Factorio. 32 best tycoon and economic video games in 2023
Table of Contents
FACTORIO 3 IN A NUTSHELL
- Year of release: 2012 (early access), 2020 (full version)
- Platform: PC
- Theme and type: factory and industry builder
You want to produce a metal plate? Great, so you have to deliver coal and iron ore to the furnace. But in order to use the transmitter that transports the ore into the furnace, you need to fill it with coal. The automatic extractor also needs fuel, as does the furnace. I'm not carrying this, I'm building a conveyor belt. Okay, why don't we just replace it with electricity? No problem, but in order to generate energy, it is necessary to supply water from the lake and coal to boilers through a pipe. Maybe it could be easier? How about solar panels! OK, printed circuit boards are required to use them, and in order to obtain such stuff, it is advisable to start mining copper...
That's more or less how Factorio looks like - a game I fell in love with from the very first sight. This title has the following plot: a lonely engineer crashes on an alien planet and has to build an industry from scratch, thanks to which he'll build himself a new spaceship. In fact, it is a giant sandbox with randomly generated levels, in which the main premise is not to get lost in the maze of conveyor belts carrying more and more complex elements and equipment to the factories.
Personally, I think the game is somewhat similar to Settlers 2 , as it also comes down to ensuring the smooth flow of resources. But if the Settlers were like a coloring book for children, Factorio is a complex project designed in Adobe's AutoCAD.
To make things a little harder and funnier, the planet on which we crashed is inhabited by aggressive aliens, who once in a while try to destroy everything we've built (unless we definitely don't want it and we turn this option off in the menu). In order to fight them, we have to build walls and turrets, construct tanks, manufacture armor and weapons. Of course, this means that our security devices require constant supply of ammo, so another manufacturing belts have to be constructed... Something incredible.
Anno 1800
ANNO 1800 IN A NUTSHELL
- Year of release: 2019
- Platform: PC
- Theme and type: economic city builder set in the 19th century
Which part of the Anno series is it? Second one, and we're not gonna explain it further. It's just one of the last high-budget franchises in this genre. Let's add that it remained "alive" because the gameplay simply remained good over the years.
In the newest part of the series we move to the 19th century (we know that 1800 is not the 19th century). This means that the very well known formula of the game received a new atmosphere. What you may not know, is that the gameplay idea behind Anno is to meet the next, more and more sophisticated, needs of your citizens . This time we will produce woolen working clothes, soap, sewing machines, bicycles, watches and gramophones.
In order to provide our people with even greater prosperity and prestige, we can send expeditions to the world, which will even bring to our capital city some exotic animals that can be showed later in the zoo. Residents pay attention to the green surroundings and the fact that workers are not protesting in the area.
In terms of gameplay, Anno 1800 can be described as a cautious evolution. At the same time, it is the most beautiful economic strategy available on the market. No wonder, we are talking about a piece developed by Ubisoft and a game of a genre that is dominated by smaller studios. In this video game, you can simply witness the large budget which let the developers to create beautiful models, maps and animations. Such enjoyable visuals will please the eyes of many gamers.