Shapez 2 Review (BobBacon)
All of the yes, this game is pure satisfaction.
Others probably explained the game better, it takes the core of what makes automation games fun to me, wrapped in a very chill and pretty 3D environment. Nothing is ever tedious or stressed, refactoring is easy and a big part of the game.
Where this game really started to shine for me, is the endgame of random operator tasks, stacking a whole layer of depth onto an already great game (pun intended). Now I've reached an operator level of over 300 and been spending hours optimizing my Make Anything Machine with a spaghetti of logic holding it together, and I can spend countless more simply watching the factory reroute shapes to the right places and assemble them, it soothes my mind.
I'd love more updates on the logic part. Some ideas in order of importance IMHO:
- PLEASE let me complete the random operator tasks automatically (perhaps a checkbox for auto-complete?) or give me a logic signal I can trigger to claim it.
- Splitter/merger/balancer (I like the Factorio style with 2 inputs and 2 outputs that can be used as either merger or splitter, but some easier way to balance belts would be nice).
- Math gates (addition, subtraction, modulo, bigger/smaller than, a counter with reset/max number)
- Colored wires (Green spaghetti is hard to follow).
- Some way to trigger alerts/notifications with logic (e.g. if this belt outputs less than X/m, trigger notification, perhaps let us connect it to a label for a custom message?).
- (Un)stacker logic needs better distinction which side is the top layer, it looks identical mirrored, perhaps just tilting the icon so that the top layer ends higher on the block is enough.
- More information about the random operator tasks. Clearly they are not completely random and #2 is about crystals, building up from 1 to 4 stacks over the levels. I'd like more info about what can be expected. Ultimate bonus would be some way to allow simulating all the possible variations in a test setting.
- Overflow gate (only output to side if straight ahead is blocked, I know it can already be made in a bulkier design).
- More wireless signal channels, it would be great to be able to set the channel through a logic wire, eg an input in the wireless receiver/transmitter that sets the channel number dynamically.
- Ability to highlight a shape (or a rotation of) on the map more easily. Like having an input to paste a shape into of which all mining locations are then marked.
- Better train scheduling (wait until full, wait until empty, perhaps an ability to trigger stations with logic).
- Pinning operator tasks and getting a shapes per minute delivered statistic over them.
- Some kind of fluid picker building, the new fluid filter is a great step allowing me to shrink the size of my automatic painter, but needing to combine 7 colors with each their own filter times 4 belts gets bulky quickly. My suggestion would be a building with multiple fluid inputs, that's able to output one based on a single color signal, basically an extra wide version of the current filter.
Despite this list, the game already feels very much complete, and it's been a while since I could sink 200 hours into a new game this easily, even though its only early access.