Computer Satisfactory Review

Satisfactory is an instantly engaging factory simulator where you and up to three friends land on an alien world, tasked with establishing a base and producing increasingly complex materials to launch into space for your unseen employer, FICSIT Inc. To succeed, you'll need to gather resources, unlock new tech, and master conveyor belts, pipelines, and eventually train systems as you transform your modest starting point into a vast maze of interconnected components. While light on narrative, the basic premise of "save humanity through factory building" provides enough motivation to keep you focused on production goals – with some humor sprinkled in, like your AI assistant's constant reminders of your expendability. As you advance, demands increase, and what begins as simple leaf gathering and iron mining for basic tools quickly evolves into a complex web of refineries, manufacturing plants, nuclear power stations, and even mind-bending alien tech producing everything from computer chips to interdimensional storage units.


If you're puzzled about how factory optimization could be entertaining, I get it. But much like how games such as No Man's Sky offer creative freedom alongside compelling objectives, Satisfactory continually presents exciting reasons to keep playing. I can't count the times I told myself I'd quit after tweaking just one more thing, only to find myself still at it hours later. Each breakthrough, like mastering oil refineries to start plastic production, naturally leads to the next challenge, such as crafting a rifle and making ammo with refinery byproducts. Before you realize it, you hear birds chirping outside and wonder if you've made a poor choice.

Managing increasingly complex factories can be daunting, but Satisfactory excels at guiding you through small, manageable steps with its project checklist. Soon, you and your friends are running vast operations that seemed impossible at the start. My first factory began as a few scattered buildings in pristine wilderness, quickly devolving into a chaotic web of crisscrossing conveyor belts resembling wet noodles (I dubbed it Spaghettysburg). While this amateur chaos might be inefficient, it works, and I proudly delivered my Spaghettysburg address to my co-op partners as we launched our creation into space amidst the mechanical pasta mess.


As we progressed, our builds became more organized and efficient, like our coastal oil refinery named Gas Town or our elevated railway system for maximum order. The real joy comes from watching your mini-society evolve as you tackle increasingly difficult engineering challenges. This includes optimizing your power grid to fuel newly unlocked facilities for more complex parts, or calculating the ideal ore output of a mining rig for efficient ingot smelting. You don't need to be a spreadsheet enthusiast like me or delve into wikis to feel the urge to fix a backed-up conveyor belt full of unused materials.

As you tackle the many Milestone deliveries that make up Satisfactory's progression, you'll find yourself constantly shifting focus. You'll be making various components and managing multiple demanding processes, solving problems as they arise and using your new tech to streamline operations. For instance, I started out with ridiculously long conveyor belts to move resources across the map to my main factory. But as I unlocked more options and made advanced parts, I could use trucks, trains, and even flying drones for automatic transport. This made everything faster, neater, and less chaotic. The journey from a messy, melee-fighting, conveyor belt-overusing caveman to a jetpack-wearing, gun-wielding futuristic engineer is incredibly rewarding. It makes every hard-won battle with electrical wiring worthwhile.


When you're not busy with your factory tasks, there's a huge open world to explore. You can fight creatures, dodge poison gas and radiation, hunt for hidden loot, and even befriend weird-looking lizard dogs as loyal pets. Unlike many similar games that use randomly generated areas, Satisfactory offers a single, carefully crafted world. The map has different regions, each with its own feel and valuable resources to harvest. These areas are great to explore and even better to fill with your resource-hungry machines. As you get new tools, you'll have better gear for exploration, which then opens up even more areas. For example, making a gas mask lets you enter poisonous zones, getting a jetpack helps you climb tough cliffs, and learning to use explosives lets you blast through rocks to enter caves and other blocked areas. Each of these upgrades completely changes what you can do in the world. This lets you get better materials to bring back to your base, creating a never-ending cycle of building and exploring.

The alien world isn't just a peaceful playground, though. You'll face hostile creatures eager to end your adventure – from charging boar-like beasts to large, glowing plants that spit stinging fireflies. While you'll unlock some basic melee weapons and guns, combat isn't Satisfactory's strong suit. After a few hours, you'll likely have seen all it has to offer in terms of fighting. It's not terrible, just forgettable compared to the excellent building and exploration aspects. The wildlife adds a dash of danger to resource-hunting expeditions, but with only four main creature types (each with slightly tougher variations), combat variety is limited.


Satisfactory shines as a solo experience, but playing with friends elevates it to new heights. Collaborative building speeds up progress and sparks creativity, while the ability to spread out across the map and work towards shared goals by creating transport networks for goods and players adds depth. One standout feature is the early introduction of physics-defying alien tech, allowing remote resource sharing through the Dimensional Depot. This creates interesting dynamics, where distant teammates can request and receive help instantly, fostering a sense of connection even when apart.

However, Satisfactory's ambitious scope sometimes leads to technical hiccups. Crashes were common during multiplayer sessions, and as factories grow more complex, visual glitches and performance dips become more frequent. Testing on three PCs of varying power revealed that only a high-end system (Ryzen 9/RTX 4090) could maintain consistent performance in late-game scenarios. While a powerful rig is recommended for the best experience, it's worth noting that these issues, though annoying, never completely derailed the fun.


The game's progression system keeps you constantly shifting focus, juggling various components and processes while solving problems on the fly. Early conveyor belt spaghetti gives way to more efficient truck, train, and drone networks as you unlock advanced tech. This evolution from a scrappy survivor to a high-tech industrial mastermind is incredibly satisfying, making every hard-fought victory over complex systems feel worthwhile.

When you're not managing your factory, there's a vast, handcrafted world to explore. Unlike games with procedurally generated terrain, Satisfactory offers a single, meticulously designed map with distinct regions, each boasting unique atmospheres and valuable resources. As you upgrade your gear, new areas become accessible – gas masks allow entry to toxic zones, jetpacks help scale imposing cliffs, and explosives reveal hidden caves. Each upgrade dramatically expands your exploration options, fueling a rewarding cycle of discovery and industrial expansion that keeps you coming back for more.



Satisfactory stands as the pinnacle of automation games, deserving unequivocal praise. The 130+ hours spent crafting chaotic conveyor systems and impressively efficient plants were consistently captivating, hilarious, and a joy to share with companions. Venturing through this stunning, custom-built world in pursuit of hidden treasures and materials offers a welcome break from production line design, even if combat merely involves dispatching a few generic extraterrestrial foes. It's unfortunate that Satisfactory's voracious demand for electronics leads to frequent technical hiccups, but these minor issues hardly detract from this exceptional factory-building experience. Every moment spent in this game is thoroughly engrossing and rewarding, making it an absolute must-play for fans of the genre.