Free Oxygen Not Included
Ernest Babin
Oxygen Not Included is a space-colony simulation video game being developed by Klei Entertainment.Oxygen Not Included allows players to manage their Duplicants and help them dig, build andmaintain a subterranean asteroid base. Your Duplicants will need water, warmth, food, and oxygen to keepthem alive, and even more than that to keep them happy. Good luck and don't forget your multi-tool!
Oxygen Not Included is a survival simulation video game developed and published by Klei Entertainment. After being released on Steam's early access since February 2017, the game was officially released on July 30, 2019.
Oxygen Not Included is a simulation survival game.[1] At the start of a new game, three colonists (referred to as duplicants) find themselves in an asteroid with isolated pockets of breathable atmosphere, with no memory of how they got there. The player is tasked with managing and taking care of these duplicants as they try to survive and create a sustainable makeshift space colony. The player must monitor the duplicants' hunger, waste, and oxygen levels to keep them alive.[1] Each game's world is procedurally generated.[1] The world is then subdivided into various regions or "biomes" that contain different and often biome specific materials and critters. While initial areas have a breathable atmosphere, subsequent areas are in a vacuum or lack oxygen, requiring proper preparation by the duplicants before they explore these areas. The world also contains several hazards such as diseases and extreme temperatures. The game simulates the diffusion of gases and equalization of atmospheres when a new natural chamber is opened, which can cause oxygen levels to drop in existing chambers, as well as the draining of liquids by gravity.
To help establish the colony, the player directs the duplicants to perform certain tasks, such as mining for resources, growing food, crafting equipment, researching new technologies, and maintaining their own health through nourishment, rest, and hygiene.[1] The player does not control the duplicants directly, and instead provides prioritized instructions, from which the duplicants will then follow to the best of their abilities. For example, the player can order a conduit of wire to be built; which will have the duplicants collect the materials to make the wire, clear away any materials around the conduit's path, and then construct the wire. If the duplicants cannot access a source of copper for the wire, the task will remain uncompleted as the duplicants go to complete other tasks they can do. Duplicants have stats that determine how effective they are at certain tasks, and will prioritize tasks that they are best at. These duplicants' skills can be improved over time and practice.[1]
Oxygen Not Included is developed by Vancouver-based indie studio Klei Entertainment.[2] The game was announced for Windows during the PC Gaming Show at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016.[2] It was also revealed that the game would come to macOS and Linux.[3] An in-development version of the game was made available via early access on February 15, 2017.[1] The game was originally stated to leave early access on May 28, 2019,[4] but was pushed back to July 2019.[5] Klei also announced plans to make downloadable content for the game.[4] DLC has since been added, such as the free Automation Innovation update (extending the current automation system, adding equipment such as ribbon cables) and the paid Spaced Out update (adding a radiation system, uranium refinement, and bee ranching).[6] Klei has stated that there will be no more DLCs for Oxygen Not Included going forward, opting for free updates instead.[7]
Nate Crowley, writing for Rock Paper Shotgun praised the game's design and progression, but questioned the ever-growing complexity as a deterrent to more casual gamers, especially those without backgrounds in science and engineering.[11] GameCentral also gave the game positive reviews, with a total 8/10, praising the scientific accuracy as well as the design, but raising concerns about the difficulty, especially with the lack of in-game learning tools.[10]
Ellie, my researcher, has hit a wall. Literally, I mean. Completely stressed out, she's left her work station and is running around the colony, punching random blocks with her fists, slamming her head against them in frustration, and pausing periodically to try to compose herself (and failing) before continuing her rampage. As she dashes around in a blind rage she even delivers a few vicious blows to the colony's manual power generator (it's like a huge hamster wheel) before another, more level-headed colonist hurriedly steps in to make repairs. Eventually Ellie runs over to the massage table, where I'm happy to see that rather than punching it to pieces, she climbs aboard for a stress-relieving mechanical back-rub. The Ellie problem has been temporarily resolved but a new issue crops up: Otto, another colonist, has gone from stress burping to stress vomiting. That's probably not a good sign.
I've decided not to consult any wikis during my first session: I've grown a bit weary of the endless alt-tabbing and hours of reading that typically accompany these Early Access survival games. Oxygen Not Included, thankfully, does a good job of explaining most of its basic features in menus, mouse-over tips, and unobtrusive tutorial notifications, and the information you need to get started is easy to come by right there in the game.
I'm also learning a lot through simple observation. I can see that gases like oxygen and hydrogen float upwards, while others, such as carbon dioxide, settle downwards. As these gases concentrate, float, and swirl, you can easily tell what is breathable and what is dangerous without the colored mists completely obscuring everything else, and there are helpful overlays you can toggle to get an idea of trouble spots. There are certainly challenges in solving the issues of toxic gases mingling with breathable oxygen, but at least it's easy to see those issues in the first place. Water, meanwhile, flows and pools thanks to gravity, but not entirely smoothly: due to surface tension it may cling to rocks or narrow tunnels. Water, naturally, is prone to pollution as well, and can be a hazard like tainted air is. I learned this the hard way when one of my clones couldn't make it to the bathroom in time, and spread piss all over the research area. Way to go, Leon.
There are various mechanical items you can unlock through research, like liquid and gas pumps and pipes to direct helpful elements like water and O2 where they need to be, and pump away chlorine gas and other pollutants. Electricity for these machines begins with a manually operated generator (the human hamster wheel), with batteries to store surplus power power and wires you can string around the base to link the machinery. Once you've begun to research new technology you can also build generators powered by coal, natural gas, and hydrogen. Building something is as simple as selecting what you want and plopping it somewhere, while icons and text clearly identify any missing requirements.
It's tricky, though, dealing with those gases. After building my hydrogen generator in a pocket of gas in a nearby cavern, I noticed a colonist was constantly running over to repair it. My pump was also pulling in chlorine, which was plentiful in the same cave and was damaging the generator. As more hydrogen got used for the generator, chlorine filled the space to take its place, causing my generator to break down even more often. I added a filter that would separate the two gases (though I'm not entirely sure I hooked it up properly) and walled most off the chlorine with solid tile.
Then the small space ran out of hydrogen altogether and became a vacuum, shutting the generator down again. I had a colonist destroy an airlock so the pump could use the remaining amount of hydrogen that was present in the generator room, which kept the genny running a bit longer until that space was empty, too (though there was some leftover chlorine swirling around, causing more damage). Then it shut down for good. Time to look elsewhere for my hydrogen.
I had a similar problem with water, which can be used for farming and plumbing. The pump I'd submerged in one cave eventually pumped all the water out, so I dug a tunnel and laid down some pipe in another water-filled cavern, hoping to send the water into the now-empty one. A portion of my tunnel collapsed, however, sending the water flooding into my base before I'd finished connecting my pipe. Some of the water made it to the empty cave, but it also covered the floors in several areas, submerged some other machinery (which stopped working) and of course gave my colonists 'soggy feet' which tends to make them cold and unhappy.
It was a bit of a mess. In fact my colony in general is a mess, not just due to my plumbing and piping miscues but from poor planning. I hadn't provided enough venting in certain areas for the oxygen to flow properly, and I probably should have placed the lavatories (which can get plenty toxic themselves) a bit further away from the colonists' beds. Stress levels continued to rise among my little colonists as things slowly but steadily grew worse.
I'm up to seven or eight colonists (you receive new ones, called Duplicants because they're constructed by a giant 3D printer, every few days) before I decide that rather than trying to salvage my stinky, soggy base, that I should just try to start over from scratch. Time to kill everybody!
In this regard, I have to say, Duplicants are surprisingly durable. They can live a long, long time in deadly environments and keep on working even when things are really not going their way. While Ellie is losing her mind, her health remains high, as does that of all my other little workers. I have to make a concerted effort to kill them in the end (well, I don't have to, I want to, since I'm starting over anyway).
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