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Comment by Lev1a | Hacker News Reader

About the only game in Steams Early Access program I would recommend to buy is Factorio[0]. It is essentially a factory building/automation game that's constantly getting updated, with one big patch about a week ago and several bugfix versions since. They are also open about their development process, i.e. some devs playing the game live with streamers and answering questions from the streamers and the chat to the best of their ability. In one such instant IIRC they even said they're planning for the 1.0 release towards the end of this year.

All in all, this game is definitely worth your time and money if you're into this game genre. There's even a demo version if you're not sure.

[0]: http://store.steampowered.com/app/427520/Factorio/

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NO. Do not buy factorio. You will lose sleep. You will lose your job. You will sell your children just for a few more speed modules.

The first time I played factorio I played for 24 hours straight, and I am not normally someone who finds games any fun at all.

But seriously, Factorio is a great game. A game I imagine myself still playing 10 years from now.

I have purchased/followed a number of Steam Early Access titles and very rarely have I been disappointed. I think the trick is, to wait a bit to see how often the devs update. There are some outliers such as RimWorld or Subnautica where updates happen only a couple times per year, but each update is game-changing and adds tons new content, features and bug-fixes.

Other titles which are still in EA but are releasing constant stream of information plus software updates:

  - Space Engineers/Medieval Engineers (weekly YT blog)
  - Rust (weekly blog)
  - Rogalia (daily to weekly Steam blog)
  - Project Zomboid (weekly blog)
  - Kenshi (between weekly and monthly changelist)
  - Factorio (weekly blog)
  - Don't Starve Together (multiplayer addition to Don't Starve)
  - DayZ (I only play maybe once per year but the blog updates seem quite frequent)

Titles which had a long EA period but ended up releasing IMHO amazingly polished products:

  - Terraria 
  - Kerbal Space Program
  - Prison Architect

Subnautica is a fairly unique project in a number of ways. One of my favorites is their public task boards and bug tracker: http://subnautica.unknownworlds.com/

Factorio has been an absolutely amazing EA. Rich and enjoyable for like the past year or more, and evolving fairly rapidly which makes it more interesting in many cases.

Also their blog is excellent: https://www.factorio.com/blog/

I think early access is a different situation from preordering, since the former gives you something right away, and that something is one which you can influence as a tester.

I've generally been pretty gung-ho with early access games if they have a Linux/SteamOS version available. Kerbal Space Program and Planet Explorers have taken weeks' worth of my time (and that time was enjoyable, even amid the bugs; in fact, the bugs were part of the reason why I enjoyed them). With both of those games, I had a chance to experience their evolution from alpha-quality-at-best to finished product. That's not an experience normally possible in the release cycle of a non-early-access game.

I'd add Software Inc. It's essentially a software building simulator, but it's very polished compared to your regular early access stuff.

Not quite Factorio level (yet) though.

Just adding that factorio is great and you should play it now!

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