it's aight

This is not a review. This is my love-letter to Factorio.

It's been nearly four years since I first played Factorio. Sometime in 2016, I heard incredible things about it. As a result, I pirated it to see if it was something I would be interested in. After having had played it for about an hour, I didn't like it, it looked awful, and the premise was unappealing. I threw it to the side. I told myself this was a niche title with a dedicated community. The type of game that appeals to some well, but it's not something anyone could enjoy

And so, two years pass. I keep hearing things about it on various platforms and from certain people. I look at some reviews on YouTube, and every-single review treat the game as if it is the Holy Grail. I see reviews praising it as one of the best games they've ever played and these are people who have put their entire lives into games. Tons of them are people saying this isn't their typical type of game. They say it's different from their usual type of game. I continue to tell myself that this "wouldn't be my cup of tea" in spite of this.

Then, in April of 2018, I found Steamdb ratings section. I looked at the top-rated games by percentile, and most things there weren't that surprising. You see games like Portal 2, Witcher 3, etc. But one stood out: Factorio. The second-highest rated game on Steam in 2018.

So, I cleared an evening. I was enrolled in high school at the time, and I had no homework then. So I bought the game on Steam and I told myself, "Four hours. If you're not hooked in four hours, forget about it."

Before we continue, you have to understand that I am an addict without a doubt. I'm usually really good at completing any work, studying, etc. I have pretty good self control. But I am an addict. It's hard to calculate a good number, but I have well over twenty thousand hours spent playing video games. As a result, finding a game I truly enjoy is hard. At the time that I first truly started playing Factorio, I had spent nearly a full year trying to find a game I enjoy. A game that I love. And I couldn't. I tried to restart modded Terraria. I tried to get back into PayDay, Minecraft and other games I've had fun with in the past and for that whole year, I just played those games to get the days by. I wasn't having the time of my life or anything, I was just... having some fun. I remember that around January 2018, I was considering stopping playing video games. I just wasn't having the fun I had before. I grew tiresome of playing games.

But Factorio broke that cycle for me. It was a game that I loved. It's hard to put into words just how much I love this game, but it wasn't just a game that broke that cycle. It's a game that became my favorite game and then some.

So if you're reading this and you haven't played Factorio, please do. I'm not going to try to explain what makes the game so good, because that is an entirely different thing entirely. I'm simply saying that this isn't just "a cup of tea". I've introduced people who don't play games to this and they love it. You will love it, and that I can promise. Please, do yourself this service.

P.S.: Plenty of hours spent offline so people could play my library. 500 isn't accurate whatsoever.