Played about 10 hours and I think I am done for now (suggestions for more replayability)

[dokibatt]

I'll start by saying I do like ONI, but it is pretty feature poor right now, and for me, there's just no replayability in the game yet. Worse, many of the things that are in the gameplay loop just are not fun. I've found myself caught in a loop of repairing all the manual generators 3 times per cycle because those are the only things that get lashed out against, and not being able to do anything else because everything requires power.

Don't Starve, Rimworld, and Terraria are three of my favorite games and at first glance ONI appeared to be a mashup of the three, thus my purchase. In practice however, ONI lacks all of the character of Don't Starve. The duplicants and world are bland with touches of Klei humor, but too little to fill the down time. Finding a way to bring more of that character in would really help the final product.

A major difference from Rimworld is the random events which alter the game play loop on a week to week basis. For me, ONI desparately needs these. Have me get overrun by tribbles, or lice, or get flooded, or deal with fire, or containment breaches. Theres lots of options but it needs something, along with the tools to deal with it. Another difference is the dependence on power. Not being able to survive low tech for a while to get the fundamentals right just feels like something is missing. I would love to have to find an algae pool to settle next to and farm in order to have a natural oxygen source until the point that I can start doing it myself.

Compared to Terraria, theres just nothing in terms of customization. I am sure more will come in this area, for the purely cosmetic aspects if nothing else. However, it would be great to see some of the weirder elements of terraria customization, better running water and water falls, maybe some kind of mine cart or pneumatic tube transport system to move dupes and maybe allow automated resource gathering. Basically, anything to make my base feel personalized and less like that one store thats still open in an empty mall. It doesn't feel like there is a real difference between my base and the rest of the asteroid, and thats just kind of weird.

Anyway, I think there's a solid foundation, but I am excited to see whats different when I come back in summer.

[MarkusReese]

First bit is to keep in mind this is still alpha.  An alpha that expoded, but early work in progress all the same.  I expect much in the direction of features and balance.

As for replayability, I have been playing it alpha style.  Dont go for big base, but push mechanics, find bugs, etc.  Try not to just copypaste how to designs.

The fact of the issue with lashing out means your peeps are stressing and that means plenty of room to improve base and play!

[Iinweed]

Never pick a dupe that lashes out when stressed.. Messy, but you don't have to keep fixing things.

[MarkusReese]

4 hours ago, Iinweed said:

Never pick a dupe that lashes out when stressed.. Messy, but you don't have to keep fixing things.

It is an interesting debate on which stress is worse.  Repairs do tie up time and can shut down operations, but the vomiting can cause stress in others and if chain reacted, take considerable cleaning time

[Wormerine]

It is an early alpha. The fact that this is not an official Early Access release suggests to me that they are not entirely happy with it. It is certainly in a raw state. If you want a fun expererience I would suggest waiting till official EA release or full release. I am glad to have access to it, but more for curiosity than pure fun.  

[Kruleworld]

On 02/03/2017 at 5:50 AM, dokibatt said:

I would love to have to find an algae pool to settle next to and farm in order to have a natural oxygen source until the point that I can start doing it myself.

Oxylite does that, and will normally be found in your starting caves that provide oxygen until you can set up a algae deoxygizer