Oxygen Not Included Review: A Refreshing Take on Colony Survival

But what sets ONI apart is its approach to success. Unlike other developers, Klei Entertainment's trick for success is one that many would be keen to study. After all, their previous survival game, Don't Starve, was far from engaging. However, I'm astonished at how thoroughly ONI has wormed itself into my thought process.

The game's attention to detail is remarkable. Realizing that the vent in my bedroom wasn't enough (vent management being a thing in ONI), I set up two air movers and – voila – my bedroom finally started to cool off, making me less miserable. This level of immersion is rare in survival games, where players are often bogged down by complicated systems.

In ONI, almost all the information you need for success is presented in the game's panels, but it can also lead to your downfall. However, players can choose to focus on creating an aesthetically pleasing and self-sustainable base. The game offers a sense of freedom, allowing players to make their experience as simple or complicated as they like.

Starting with building the basics for survival, including oxygen generation (Klei Entertainment isn't lying – 'oxygen not included' indeed!) and food preparation, players can introduce more complicated systems to ensure their colony's survival. Get ready to macro and micro manage, as the duplicants of ONI are only able to carry out orders if you deliver them.

Through careful management of the colony, players might guide the duplicants into the stars or an early grave. With ONI's point-and-click interface, Klei adds reams of information about environment, temperature, liquid exchange, and more in the hopes that players will learn about each system. It's a refreshing take on the colony survival genre, one that Developer and publisher Klei Entertainment hope will take the genre into an engaging direction with Oxygen Not Included (ONI).

Oxygen not included review