Oxygen Not Included

Management are thrilled with Christopher Livingston’s latest costsaving suggestion: workers don’t really need to breathe, do they?

- By Christopher Livingston

Space-colony simulator

Ellie, a researcher, has hit a wall. Literally, we 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 we’re 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 resolved, but a new issue crops up. Otto has gone from stress burping to stress vomiting. That’s probably not a good sign.

It’s the third hour of play, and things have begun to fall apart after mostly smooth sailing during hours one and two. Oxygen Not Included is a management simulation from Klei Entertainment in which you direct a handful of brave clones to build an underground base in an asteroid. You need to manage your colonists as they dig out caverns, gather resources, build machinery, and turn a harsh environment into a livable underground home.