Sludgineers

Very fun game, all these negative reviews forget that this is is $7 game.....of course it isn't gonna have a 40+ hour campaign with endless levels. this is the first week, I'm sure the devs will be adding things just give it time. 10/10 Also works GREAT on the steamdeck!!

[b]A very well-designed active incremental with satisfying progression and clever mechanics, but ends a little too soon.[/b] Sludgineers is an active incremental where you essentially vacuum an area for sludge, earning money (and eventually other materials) that you use for upgrades. The progression is logical and satisfying, with new mechanics introduced along the way as you move from collecting sludge to ore and eventually gas. It keeps the progression feeling fresh instead of simply giving you bigger numbers. There are also some clever design choices that add a bit of strategy. Your power acts as a timer, but running low on power can give you a boost. Batteries dropped during a level restore power, so instead of immediately picking them up, you can deliberately leave them on the ground and use them when needed to take advantage of the low-power boost for longer. The game isn't difficult, but mechanics like this give you room to play more efficiently. My only real complaint is that the game is too short. You reach the end before completing the entire upgrade tree, so if you want to max everything out and get the associated achievements, you'll have to replay the final levels several times just to grind out the remaining upgrades. I would much rather have had a little more content that naturally carried the progression through the rest of the tree. Despite that, Sludgineers is a very good incremental with excellent progression and some surprisingly smart mechanics. It's over a little too quickly, but for the price, I think the amount of content is perfectly reasonable.