Mindustry

Mindustry by AnukenDev is a tower defense automation game that I bought not realizing it has a tower defense component oops.

The campaign walks the player through the various machine and belt types, presenting a new mission scenario as various pieces are unlocked. I like the minimalist graphics and putting together belts is satisfying. I don’t like the defense part, but I’ve started to accept each time I start a new mission I need to set up turrets and tanks so enemy waves don’t come along and blow crap up while I’m in the middle of building.

The game has two campaign modes, Erekir and Serpulo (classic mode), plus a host of sandbox mode maps, and there are also a ton of mods out there. The campaigns walk you through the game mechanics, allowing you to research and unlock various factor parts and defenses as you complete objectives, and the sandbox mode just tosses you out there and says have fun bb.

I kinda settled into Serpulo because I like not having to worry about setting up a power grid, and it focuses a bit more on resource collection which is what makes these games fun for me. The campaign modes feature isolated sectors that are gradually unlocked. I like this, becuase I’m the sort of person that if I get halfway through a campaign and don’t like how my base is laid out, I’ll just auto-destruct it and start over.

I can see myself playing this off and on for a while, because I like how it scratches the automation part of my brain, but ultimately I found the tower defense aspect a little frustrating. Having a thing come along and wreck part of my factory every 5 minutes or whatever is not the vibe I’m looking for.