Autonauts Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)

by Jim Smale · July 4, 2022

For our Autonauts Review, we build, create, and automate. Start by establishing a colony, crafting bots, and teaching them via Scratch-style programming to build an ever-evolving autonomous paradise of agriculture, industry, and enlightenment.

Autonauts Review Pros:

Cartoon-style graphics.
1GB download size.
Game settings – flashes, weather, and day/night toggle on/off.
Three ways to play – settlement, free, and creative. This affects limitations etc.
Tutorials can be turned on or off.
Seed number that you can share, and randomize.
World creation settings – small planets and random objects.
When choosing game type and planet, you can randomize it and the initial scan will show stats on the availability of materials and resources before you even select it.
Automation management gameplay.
Your goal is to learn programming and automation techniques to grow your Metropolis.
Settlement mode is set up as 8 stages with each one introducing new technologies and techniques.
Earn and unlock new blueprints.
Clear easy-to-use crafting as you select the blueprint then place the item then it will say what resources it needs, drop them on it, and once fulfilled, the structure will be built.
Full 3D camera control.
Really detailed menu system, setting up automation displays as a coding screen and is clearly marked.
Access robot brains and record your actions for them to follow, set up parameters, and repeat.
Highlight anything with the cursor for a full breakdown, and hover over crafting tables for an ingredients list pop up.
Rewarding to play especially as you step back and watch the world and gameplay itself.
It makes you feel like a coder! Albeit a low entry one but still.
Beautiful locations.
The map needs to be uncovered and is done so as you move around.
Play how you want.
Auto saves every 10 minutes.
In-game cutscenes.
Save/load when you want.
The possibilities are endless.

Autonauts Review Cons:

No touchscreen.
So much to take in.
Can feel overwhelming.
Cannot rebind controls.
Steep learning curve.
It’s a game that is not for everyone.

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Autonauts.

Official website.

Developer: Denki

Publisher: Curve Games

Store Links –

Nintendo

8/10
Graphics - 8/10
7/10
Sound - 7/10
7/10
Accessibility - 7/10
8/10
Length - 8/10
9/10
Fun Factor - 9/10

7.8/10

Summary

Making games is hard, and thinking of everything that needs to be done in a game is hard. Autonauts introduces us to the idea of building robots and getting them to do the heavy lifting. Autonauts puts that power in our hands, it’s a long steep climb to get to a level where you feel like you know what you are doing. Menus are clearly marked but it is full of so much information and text that it can be very overwhelming. You build the robot then go into its brain and record your actions into it and the robot will then run that action however you see fit. It’s a really clever game and one that makes you feel like you know a bit more about what goes into making a game or running a successful automation system. For me it feels like a coder’s game in that a coder made the game and concentrated on all the whizz bangs of the coding and making menus look clean and easy to read rather than the gameplay, it plays fine don’t get me wrong but it does play second fiddle. Autonauts is probably best described as a puzzle resource management game as you work out what can and should be automated, how best to streamline it, and of course hot your various goals. It helps having a game like this handheld as you can sit back get comfortable and let it sink in, no touchscreen support is crazy tho but honestly Autonauts dares to be different and it’s well worth checking out. A prime example of the more you put in, The more you get out of it.