Oxygen Not Included Review (ダニエル)
As an engineer and physics teacher, I find it a pleasure to write a review for "Oxygen Not Included." This game has captivated me for over 600 hours, and for good reason. It’s one of those rare titles that can make you lose track of time, often at the expense of a good night’s sleep, thanks to its deep and engaging base-building and management mechanics.
The gameplay and art are top-notch, as expected from the creators of "Don’t Starve." The game’s incorporation of real-world physics, chemistry, and even a hint of biology sets it apart from typical base-building titles. Concepts like denser gases sinking, thermal conductivity of materials, and gas flow mechanics aren’t just visual flourishes—they’re crucial to mastering the game’s systems. I’ve even recommended it to some of my students as a fun way to engage with these scientific ideas in a practical context.
One area that feels like a missed opportunity, however, is the game’s approach to electricity. While it introduces the concept of transformers to manage potential differences, it falls short of incorporating more sophisticated concepts like series and parallel circuits. Given the game’s 2D aesthetic, I believe the addition of more realistic electrical systems could have been a natural and engaging fit for players to experiment with.
Make no mistake, this is a challenging game. Your duplicants (the characters you manage) will suffer and perish in various ways—hunger, heat, and oxygen shortages, to name a few—until you master the balancing act required for survival. Problems often reveal themselves too late, forcing you to start over from scratch. But therein lies the charm of "Oxygen Not Included": every failure is a lesson learned. The experience of rebuilding from scratch, armed with newfound knowledge, makes for an incredibly rewarding gameplay loop.
For those who enjoy base-building games, I wholeheartedly recommend "Oxygen Not Included." It’s not always a smooth ride, and losing a base after dozens of hours can be disheartening, but the lessons learned with each restart make every new base a little smarter and more efficient than the last.
The expansions are promising, though I’ve only scratched the surface of the newer ones. Mods, on the other hand, are a mixed bag. There’s a rich modding community offering everything from quality-of-life improvements to full gameplay overhauls. Personally, I’m a bit of a purist, preferring cosmetic mods over those that make the game easier. The only caveat is that mods often break after updates and require patching to work again.
All in all, "Oxygen Not Included" is a meticulously crafted, mentally stimulating, and sometimes brutally unforgiving game. If you’re up for the challenge, it’s well worth your time—just don’t be surprised if it ends up taking more of it than you expected.