Oxygen Not Included
Oxygen Not Included is a PC simulation game developed by Klei Entertainment. It centers on state management, system learning, and repeated adjustment and feedback, with controls and information arranged around mouse pointing, keyboard shortcuts, and configurable interfaces.
- AI score · out of 10
- 8.7 / 10
About this game
Oxygen Not Included is a PC simulation game centered on state management, system learning, and repeated adjustment and feedback. Schedules, changing values, or staged goals encourage repeated adjustment, with progress divided into stages, tasks, matches, or growth milestones that make immediate goals understandable. Its value depends on whether these rules continue to create judgment and room for mastery rather than on length, sales, or series recognition. Short campaigns are judged by repeat-challenge value, while longer ones are judged by variety, pacing, and recovery after failure. Interface clarity and state feedback matter more than spectacle, while resolution, graphics settings, frame rate, aspect ratio, audio, text scaling, and hardware performance need to preserve action, state, and text readability together. The genre-specific limitation is that explanations, dense menus, real-time systems, or accessory dependencies can add friction. Platform conditions also include OS and hardware requirements, installation media, patches, drivers, DRM and launchers, key binding and controller support, save locations, mod compatibility, servers, and era-specific OS compatibility affect the current release. This description covers only this platform release and does not import features or conveniences from remasters, emulators, or other console editions.
Recommended games
Related game recommendations on this platform
Windows PCAI review
AI reviews are subjective assessments, not player ratings. See each review for its evidence and limitations.Published date:
An intricate network of survival and engineering rewards understanding, while demanding patience with diagnosis.
Oxygen Not Included asks players to understand a colony rather than simply fill it with machines. Power, plumbing, heat and recycling form a network that can continually improve, with expansion solving one shortage while shifting pressure elsewhere. Goals leave room for ambitious progress or a comfortable, self-sustaining base. Expressive workers and visible job identities keep the machinery personable. Priorities, schedules and environmental overlays provide substantial control, although incomplete explanations and delayed failures can make diagnosis demanding. The appeal lies in observing a problem, rebuilding and checking whether the solution works. This assessment concerns the 2019 PC base release, excluding later expansion content and any claim about current large-colony frame rates.
Strengths
- Engineering depth through resource loops
- Open colony goals
- Expressive workers
Weaknesses
- Delayed failures can be difficult to diagnose
- Incomplete operational explanations
Who it is for: Patient management players who enjoy testing and refining systems.
Play notes: Historical 2019 base release; DLC and current late-game performance excluded.
View scoring basis
| Dimension | Review state | Score | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dimension Open goals sustain play, while delayed failures demand patience. | Reviewed | 8.6 / 10 | Not provided |
| Dimension Resource loops turn construction into continuing engineering decisions. | Reviewed | 9.1 / 10 | Not provided |
| Dimension Expressive workers give complex facilities personality and clarity. | Reviewed | 8.7 / 10 | Not provided |
| Dimension Rich management tools are held back by gaps in explanation. | Reviewed | 8.0 / 10 | Not provided |
Review sources
Not provided
Core information
- Developer
- Klei
- Publisher
- Klei
- Release date
- 2019
- Platforms
- Windows PC
- Content kind
- Game
- Release state
- Released
- Region
- Worldwide
- Official website
- Not provided
- Offline minimum players
- Not provided
- Offline maximum players
- Not provided
- Online minimum players
- Not provided
- Online maximum players
- Not provided
- Categories
- Simulation · Primary genre
- Tags
- ReplayableSlow BurnTop-downLife SimulationResource Management2D GraphicsScience FictionSolo-friendlyLong-term ProgressionConstruction
- Supported game languages
- Not provided
- Requires base game
- Not provided
- Standalone
- Not provided
- Age ratings
- Not provided
- Play modes
- Not provided
- Perspectives
- Not provided
Release editions
- Windows PCWorldwide2019
Game gallery
Sources
Not provided