Time to cut some shapes, and I don't mean on the dance floor. Factory-building sim shapez 2 is out now in Early Access with Linux support. Note: Key provided by GameDriveNL.
The idea here is that there's this big swirly hungry vortex, it's desperately hungry for some shapes, and it's your job to pull them all out and send them into the void. How you go about that is your choice, it mostly leaves you to just chill out and have fun building these massive ridiculous sprawling factories across a gigantic map.
Pictured - Stacking circles on top of squares, and cutting squares into tiny squares.
shapez 2 has done something truly quite exceptional here. Not only has improved on the idea of the first game in pretty much every possible way, it's done so while adding deeper gameplay mechanics and moved it from 2D to full 3D. I'm honestly astonished at every part of it. Not only does it run really well, but it looks quite pretty too. Seeing all sorts of shapes flowing across the map is quite mesmerising.
The way everything just flows is impressive, and how it eases you into it carefully but quite quickly you soon get to grips with the mechanics. That's also thanks to the very clear interface, clearly a lot of attention has gone into all the little things with shapez 2. Plenty of clear and easily explained details from the in-game guide for any time you lost too.
Not only is it now in 3D, but it's multi-layered too, so you'll be building conveyor belts on top of other belts, dropping things on top of each other. But even there, the controls and UI are really super-simple to understand and it just makes it so satisfying to play. I will admit there was a brief bit of confusion there, but again due to how clear the UI and style of the game is, it's not frustrating, and there's no punishments, you just delete a few belts and re-do it quickly and easily.
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Once you really get going, giving you a chance to sit back and what all the moving pieces while you progress through the next shape quest, it feels like watching a fancy Rube Goldberg machine, like being a child again watching marbles just fall through various things to eventually drop into something.
It takes the most basic elements of Factorio, Satisfactory and other similar titles and really distils it into the purest form of factory building. One that's great for the more casual audience, but just as engrossing for those who love the chaos that can come from others, it just has a bit of everything but with no pesky aliens to worry about coming along and wrecking your perfect designs.
Current features:
- Multi-Layer 3D Factories: Design and optimize your factories in a whole new dimension.
- Trains: Connect distant stations with a network of space trains.
- Research System: Unlock buildings, mechanics & upgrades in the all-new tech tree.
- New Shape Mechanics: Discover new shapes types with unique properties and logic.
- Blueprint Library: Save, load, export and share factory design blueprints with anyone.
- All-new Visuals: Build factories and stations in a stunning immersive space environment.
- Fluids: Use different types of liquids to process shapes or boost production.
- Animated Open Buildings: See what's happening inside buildings in your factory.
- Easy editing: Cutting, cloning, rotating and destroying sections of your factory has never been so intuitive.
- Undo/Redo: Gain the ability to undo/redo unwanted operations.
With the Native Linux version tested, I've not encountered any problems. It's silky smooth, looks good, performs well and no graphical issues noted. Probably one of the best launches (especially for Early Access) that I've seen for some time. There's a lot to like about this one that I can truly see myself spending numerous hours in.
From the press release: Tobias Springer, founder of tobspr Games, said “We’re very excited and proud to have finally launched shapez 2 into Early Access. This game has been a labor of love so we couldn’t be happier with what we have managed to deliver to our players at Early Access launch. The game is already in a fantastic state but as we move forward, we are going to continue to develop it by listening to our community and implementing features that will make it even better for both our fans and those new to the factory building genre. We’re hugely thankful for the support we have received so far and look forward to continuing building shapez 2 into an even more satisfying strategy experience”.
No surprise to see before publishing the article, a quick check on Steam shows an Overwhelmingly Positive user rating. One I truly think is 100% deserves here.
You can buy it from:
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
QuoteOut now
QuoteEarly access
:(
Quoting: JarmerDownloaded it this morning! I've been very much looking forward to this since the demo released earlier this year. Can't wait to get in some good play time this weekend! This is the exact kind of "factory builder" I want: no timers, no invasions, no citizens dying, etc.
.. no challenge, no satisfaction...
I'm not fully sure what I would expect from such a game, but this one didn't seem to provide it. I liked Infinifactory, because I wasn't sure I could build what's needed. I didn't get this feeling from playing the demo of Shapez 2. :-/
Quoting: Eike.. no challenge, no satisfaction...
I'm not fully sure what I would expect from such a game, but this one didn't seem to provide it. I liked Infinifactory, because I wasn't sure I could build what's needed. I didn't get this feeling from playing the demo of Shapez 2. :-/
The challenge in the first game was getting to build the MAM (Make Anything Machine). I guess this game will result in a similar thing, but with more options to deal with. It's a design challenge instead of a combat one.
Quoting: EhvisPlayed it for a couple of hours. Exceptionally high quality for an early access game. Nice that provides varies choices for difficulty. Both at the start and mid game. So far it mostly plays like the first game. I'm just getting into fluids, so that's a little bit different. I guess the biggest change is that you need platforms for building space.
Quoting: Eike.. no challenge, no satisfaction...
I'm not fully sure what I would expect from such a game, but this one didn't seem to provide it. I liked Infinifactory, because I wasn't sure I could build what's needed. I didn't get this feeling from playing the demo of Shapez 2. :-/
The challenge in the first game was getting to build the MAM (Make Anything Machine). I guess this game will result in a similar thing, but with more options to deal with. It's a design challenge instead of a combat one.
There are also difficulty levels too and some of the shapes go crazy. I gave up first game because of one of those monstrosities, but Shapez 2 at least in the demo had layout preview tool where you can see the individual layers. Stacking has some complexities that can be hard to figure out without it.
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