Autonauts

{Autonauts} is an indie simulation game developed by Denki, bringing together creativity and logical design over a colourful and relaxing world. The storyline is simple, as you - an Autonaut - head to an uninhabited world with the goal of colonising and automating it, which is achieved by building robots and structures with the available natural resources.

With the helpful guidance of a friendly robot companion, you will be shown the way through the technological ages, from using crude stone tools to creating complex systems that never require your interference, since your skills grow over time.

Starting an adventure is easy, although it's wise to take a degree of planning into the equation before deciding where you land. When starting a colonisation effort, you will be asked to choose your landing spot in a randomly generated world that can be rerolled on a simple click. During this decision, you will also be provided with information regarding the surroundings of your landing zone, such as the amount of natural materials, as well as a map layout to ponder over. Believe it or not, this part is quite critical, as you don't want to run into a circumstance where you deplete nearby materials whilst still in the early stages of automation.

Once a landing zone has been chosen, the next stage involves setting up a rudimentary base where you can start building your automated empire. To start with, you'll have to craft a crude workbench and some tools to be able to chop down trees, mine stone deposits, and dig soil. It's probably sounding very similar to Minecraft right now, but once this initial stage is rounded out, the automation process begins, and the experience becomes much more unique.

After a few basic resources have been acquired with your shabby tools, you can begin to build a bot. This process involves slamming a few raw materials onto an assembly line, before a fully-fledged basic bot pops out the other end. In Autonauts, bots are not just worker bees that instantly jump into action off the production line, as they have to be taught; that's what makes them so special. At first, the whole system will seem a little complex, as it's essentially fundamental programming, however, the tutorial bot will be there all the way, helping you through the tough parts.

In order to have a bot perform a simple action, the mechanic is as easy as pressing record and having it watch you do the action. The catch comes when each bot only has limited memory, meaning you can't have them engaging in a huge timeline of activities, as they simply won't be able to comprehend it. Therefore, the best course of action is to have a number of bots, performing a series of limited tasks, building up a large network of automated processes.

If you want to be really complex with your bot's programmed design, you can add loops and stages. For example, if a tool they're using runs out of durability and breaks, they will go and grab another one, all provided you don't go over their capped memory bank available during the recording process. The further you progress through the game, this mechanic will become easier, and eventually second nature as you work towards an automated world.

Aside from just constructing bots, the world of Autonauts has a lot to offer. Each map seed is littered with a variety of environmental features to explore, such as beaches and huge rock masses. You will also find nature scattered around the world, which can be interacted with and farmed. The variety ranges from crops like berry bushes and pumpkins, all the way to livestock such as cows and Chooks (chickens), however, there are no enemies to cause havoc on your base, which can make the gameplay feel a little stale at times. The best part about having diverse nature in the world is that you can work with it to produce unique foods and materials, helping you progress further through the technological ages.

One of the more unusual aspects of Autonauts comes when you actually begin to colonise each world. To do this, you have to obtain a colonist seed and throw it into an incubator, before heaping masses of food on top to feed the growing life form. After this a tiny human (not exactly a baby) will pop out, requiring the same degree of attention as an infant. From this point on, your goal is to make sure the colonist's demands are met, which are shown in a triangular diagram that is very similar to Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

This staged system basically shows the different degrees of quality of life. The bottom represents requiring food and as you move up, you'll have to provide shelter, clothing, and even love as each colonist becomes more developed. In return for raising them, you will be rewarded with Wuv (essentially love) that can be used to research new technologies, furthering your advancement of skilled automation.

You might be thinking at this point, how do you decide what to build and develop? Throughout Autonauts, you will be given a series of goals to achieve that essentially provide a guideline on the direction you should take when colonising and automating a world. These objectives are provided by the Autonaut Academy and act as progress markers. After you complete a goal, you will be rewarded with some new gear or technology as well as a celebratory marker that is added to the transmitter where you landed originally, that will keep growing in size as you achieve more goals.

From the time we spent with Autonauts, one thing rang clear in that it seems to be designed for younger audiences. From the difficulty of each objective, the intentional simplicity around bot programming, and even the relentlessly happy and colourful art direction, it really seems aimed at the same younger audience Minecraft resonates with. This isn't a bad thing at all, as having this level of accessibility in a title is absolutely fantastic as it eliminates exclusivity, although it is worth mentioning that Autonauts is probably not a game you'll get the most out of as adults.

All in all, {Autonauts} is a fun and relaxing causal simulation game that provides an enjoyable experience for any fans of blocky, creative worlds. The title has a variety of objectives and buildable systems that can become complex with the right amount of practice, however, it does lack in pressure in most cases, as the most threatening situation is usually running out of nearby resources. With this being said, being able to see the world you create grow makes for a completely stress-free, pleasurable pastime.