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I spent dozens of hours perfecting my logistical systems in the gem that is Factorio and I’d gladly spend dozens more doing it again. For a title that I’d originally thought sounded like one that I’d never have much of an interest in, it made a liar out of me within only moments of starting it up for the first time. I was converted and every logistics-based game that comes out immediately has my curiosity. Judging from the general opinion surrounding it, I was far from alone.
So imagine my surprise when I started building up my world in Dyson Sphere Program and realized that it had managed to surpass the framework laid out by its spiritual predecessor. Old flaws were shored up, new innovations were implemented, and the less fun but still important systems were streamlined without losing their depth. Factorio may be a gem, but Dyson Sphere Project has nearly perfected the concept by flushing away its impurities.
To Infinity and Beyond!
Dyson Sphere Program puts you into the role of an engineer that’s responsible for harvesting the power of the stars to meet the ever-increasing energy needs of humanity. As you may expect considering the genre, there isn’t much more of a narrative outside of that and you’ll be spending most of your time in your own head hammering out ways to improve and expand your industrial network. Even more exciting, this time around you’re not working with a single planet but an entire procedurally generated system with more planets and stars than you could reasonably conquer.
Starting with mining raw resources and processing them along simply conveyor belts, you’ll eventually look on with pride on an interplanetary network that include logistical drones flying around and delivering your products and towering structures that effectively serve as landmarks as you fly around your worlds. You’d best clear your calendar now.
Gears, Magnets, and Gas For Days
Extracting resources and processing them into increasingly more advanced projects via a forever expanding assembly line is the name of the game in Dyson Sphere Program. It doesn’t sound glamorous but you’d be amazed at how satisfying it really is. I attempted to dip my toe in on the first night just to check it out and ended up not wanting to put it down over two hours later.
Resource harvesters, like mines, water pumps, and oil extractors, provide the raw materials that everything else is made from. There are few real surprises for fans of the genre when it comes to your methods of processing, though the conveyor belts that are your industrial complex’s lifeblood have had a handful of absolutely incredible quality of life improvements.
From the start, you’re able to adjust their height so that they can transport your products over or under belts that you’d previously constructed, a feat that has previously required an investment in the tech tree and even then was heavily restricted. You can get some serious height, it’s not just a unit or two. Splitters play an important role and are especially convenient as well as they have four ports that are easily managed to be entrances or exits with filters to separate items down differing paths if need be.
Outside of conveyor belts, the rest of the logistical system is a pleasure to use. Any grabber can be assigned a filter to sort and separate items as you see fit and can reach up to three spaces away. When it comes to other structures, building stacking is a huge benefit to take advantage of. With it, storage buildings and matrix labs can be stacked vertically, making it so that they can effectively multiply the proficiency of what they do without taking up and land area. Throw in the added effects of not having to deal with any hostile creatures that are gunning to burn it all down and your automation of the system ends up being complex but leisurely, and you can expand at your own pace.
Charge Up Your Mech and Get To Work
For those of us who don’t like to get our hands dirty with manual labor, Dyson Sphere Program kindly provides us with a mech packed full of drones. You’ll be planning each and every construction project of your assembly line, but this pleasant batch of drones will fly out and perform the menial labor themselves. As you progress and unlock higher levels of technology, your mech and its mechanical servants will be improved as well. Beginning as a lumbering machine that has just enough capability to get your starting infrastructure up, within a few hours you’ll have a flying super mech capable of traveling between planets with incredible speed. You’ll have to keep it fueled up though or else its functionality will plummet.
The Shining Stars and the Sounds of Progress
I noticed almost immediately that the atmosphere of Dyson Sphere Program was crafted in a way that far exceeds my expectations for the genre. I was excited before I’d even landed on the first planet thanks to the opening sequence where you’re flying through space in its direction with adrenaline-inducing music that fits the overall theme and the detail that’s gone into making the galaxy and its worlds beautiful. While it lacks any truly unique landmarks that would make one planet immediately stand out from another of the same type, it never gets old to fly around a beautiful green planet or to sail over one that’s composed almost entirely of magma.
The Bottom Line
I don’t say this often but Dyson Sphere Program blew me away with the level of polish that it’s brought to the genre. I lost six hours to it two days in a row which is beyond rare for me. One of the most thrilling parts of DSP was how much easier it was to build a complex automated belt network without the headache that previous entries had baked into some of their systems. The best parts of its peers have been touched up to a point of near perfection. The sights and sounds drive that even further home as you’ll likely enjoy kicking back and just taking a peek at the world around you once in a while.
If the concept of the game interests you, I highly recommend giving it a shot; the general concept may not sound like one that will rivet you to your seat but I can say first-hand that once you’re in there industrializing the system, it’s highly addictive. I’m very much looking forward to its future as it’s one of the better titles I’ve played recently and it isn’t even out of Early Access yet.
Check out the original review: https://explorminate.co/dyson-sphere-program-early-access-review/