The Claws are in Deep

It's now officially the depressing time after the annual Steam summer sale has ended.  There are no more great deals, blasting Saliens, or time spent resignedly navigating the ridiculous "discovery queue" just to get those three free trading cards...*deep sigh.*  Even though the sale is over, now we can all sit back and enjoy the fruits of our impulse buying.  I don't think I spent over $12 on any game that I purchased and, surprisingly, I came away with some games that I'm truly enjoying.  Battle Chef Brigade introduced me to the world of competitive battle cooking; Pyre took me on a journey laden with tough choices and a strangely frustrating (but mostly fun) ball game; and I have yet to delve into the world of 1840's era bird attorneys in Aviary Attorney--they've been great, but there's one game that just unexpectedly sunk its hooks into me--Oxygen Not Included.

Survival games aren't usually my cup of tea, so I don't really know what I was thinking when I purchased ONI.  Most of the decision to buy it was spurred by a cute video of a cartoony character trying to wrangle an equally cute slime.  Fortunately, this decision based off of watching one silly video turned out to be one of the best from the sale.

ONI is a space survival sim that has some similarities to games like Rimworld.  There's not much of a backstory--you control a small group of duplicants (affectionately known as "dupes) who have mysteriously been stranded in the middle of an asteroid (At least, I think it is...there's not much explanation--it's early access, so it's very possible it will be added later).  Your goal is to keep them alive (and maybe escape?  That part has been extremely vague) while exploring your environment, for as long as you can.

My latest colony...The Temporal Hovel.

If that description seems overly simplistic, well...it is.  Keeping your dupes alive is not an easy task--satisfying their basic needs can be extremely challenging--they need food, water, a place to poop, and, most importantly, oxygen...because...SPACE!  Oxygen is a limited resource and one of the biggest challenges is to make sure that you are producing enough.  As your dupes explore the environment, they can dig and find resources that can be used to build machines to produce oxygen.  Of course you'll need to power those machines, so you'll need to create a generator and some batteries to store electricity.  Digging around in the area around your base is vital to find plants and seeds that will produce food and to start looking for a source of water.  Like oxygen, water is also a limited resource and there is much planning involved in trying to make it last.  The one thing you learn very quickly in ONI is that almost everything is a limited resource....thinking ahead to the next shortage is what will keep your base alive.

Simply surviving is a minor feat...keeping your base functioning for cycle after cycle is the true feat.  The longer you stay alive, the more challenges keep getting thrown at you.  Producing oxygen seems straightforward, but there's only so much algae on a map, so you're going to need to invest in some electrolyzers.  Oh, and you should know that electrolyzers produce hydrogen as a by-product.  It's not breathable and it's the lightest gas in the game--that means it's going to float to the highest point and pool.  It's also important to note that electrolyzers produce oxygen at 70°C (which is 158°F) and you're going to build up some serious heat.  Heat can become a serious problem--sure, your dupes will get hot, but the big problem comes when your base gets too hot for plants to grow.  Problems are like rows of dominoes....you think that one is sorted out, but before you know it there's another one starting to tip and threatening to topple the entire fragile row.

There are many, many very complicated science-y mechanics that make up the root of what keeps ONI so engaging--air pressure in your base, heat buildup and how to disperse it, the weights and properties of various gases, disease and how it's spread...those are just a few.  One of the things that new players will discover is that there is very little in the way of tutorial--you just have to figure it out, and that's where much of the challenge lies.  I'm constantly pausing the game to Google a question about something.  I also find myself thinking about solutions at times when I'm not playing...like laying in bed and thinking about how I could solve my ongoing temperature issues.

ONI is in early access, but is surprisingly fun and free of bugs.  If you're the type of person who enjoys learning from your own mistakes and wants the challenge of figuring things out, you will love ONI.  If you're a science or math nerd who wants a game that reflects complicated concepts...you too will probably love ONI.