Scaling the Heights of Physics-Based Automation
Hydroneer can best be described as a blending of games like Cash Cleaner Simulator and Satisfactory. It’s a physics based mining automation game, where the goal is to scale up your mining operation as much as possible.
And for the most part it works incredibly well. Once you get used to the frustrating controls that is.
And boy does Hydroneer test players with its controls. As mentioned, the game is physics based. All resources and objects can be picked up and dropped, and they interact with the environment. There is also no inventory system. You can hold a single item at a time and must drop it before interacting with anything else.
To move more than one item at a time, they can either be dropped into buckets and then the bucket can be carried. Alternatively, there are hand carts and even vehicles that can be purchased to make transporting items easier. Thankfully a hand cart and some other basic items are provided at the start of the game, but it is an incredibly manual process at first.
At the start of the game, materials must be gathered by using the shovel to put dirt chunks into a bucket. That bucket can then be dropped into the water to fill it with water, before using a brush on the bucket to clean the dirt and uncover any ores hidden away.
The Learning Curve
The early stretch of the game is going to test players on their patience and willingness to engage with the mechanics of Hydroneer. The process to get materials is incredibly manual, the controls are a bit awkward, and will involve picking up and dropping items multiple times before they are finally in the right spot.
This is exacerbated by the fact that items aren’t dropped directly where you are looking. The centre cursor allows you to pick items up, but the items are dropped slightly offset from the middle of the screen. Getting used to this was one of the hardest aspects of the game at first. It just feels awkward. There is a shadow that shows where the object will fall, but depending on the in-game lighting this is hard to see, and even using that as a reference isn’t always perfect.
On top of that, any item that is placed can be accidentally picked up instead, which means it needs to be repositioned before you can return to what you actually wanted to do. Items will thankfully, typically, stay in place if they were sitting on a block, so usually it’s possible to replace it without any issue. But sometimes you need to back up to get the item lined up properly, and on occasion an item may have fallen into collision with the block so you’ll need to clear the area before replacing the block.
The Path to Progress
Now this does not paint a very positive picture of Hydroneer, especially as a new player. But the goal of the game is to ultimately automate as much as possible, to reduce the handling and frustration.
The first upgrade to get is a drill, which will automatically harvest dirt chunks. And the drill can be followed with a harvester that will aid in breaking down dirt chunks that are loaded into it.
These machines must be powered by water. Thankfully, the first dig site provided has a convenient river placed at the far side of it, where pipes can be placed to run water to these machines. Everything needs to be placed on an invisible grid, which means however the water pipes are placed, it’s possible to run them in a clean and organized way. By connecting everything and positioning the drill to drop its resources directly into the harvester, the amount of handling is significantly cut down.
Conveyors, Smelters, and Gem Compressors
From here, it’s possible to continue expanding to add conveyor systems, automatic sorting, more robust smelters, and streamlined crafting setups to greatly scale your production.
Eventually, everything that comes out of the harvester will be sorted as it runs along conveyors before getting dropped into smelters that can quickly and easily pour the metals out into molds for large, valuable ingots. There are also gems that come up on occasion while digging and these can be automatically polished and then compressed together to make giant gemstones worth a small fortune.
These can then be sold to continue expanding your operation and once things are sufficiently automated, unds can also be used to buy housing materials to build your very own manor.
While mining is the main focus of the game, it’s not the only activity to engage with. Fishing is also alive and well in the world of Hydroneer, and you can even expand into farming.
Heavy vehicles make terraforming and transporting equipment and resources more efficient, and there are NPCs scattered around the map that will ask for specific items in exchange for tokens that can be used to buy unique items.
The Irony of Frustration
The humble plot that the game gives you to start with is just a taste of what else the island has to offer. There are sites with hidden aquifers, underground ancient structures, and vast fields that can be bought and transformed into their own production hubs.
The first town that you start by is likewise just a taste of the items that are available for building and collecting resources. The island has several settlements placed around it that offer different shops and items to use. On top of that, there is a hammer that can be purchased that locks items in place so they won’t be accidentally picked up.
Ironically this was the exact kind of item I was wishing was in place during my first couple of hours playing. Which goes to show that the clunky, frustration elements that plague the early bits of Hydroneer are intended to be part of the experience. Overcoming that awkwardness and managing to create a satisfying production and supply network are what make Hydroneer so rewarding.
The caveat is that you need to get past that first part of the game.
An Addictive Reward for the Patient Prospector
It’s not going to be for everyone; the startup will be a polarizing experience, and even someone who loves the concept of what Hydroneer is going for will probably struggle at first. But getting past those hurdles will open up the surprisingly deep mechanics of the rest of Hydroneer. The physics systems remain part of the game, and whether or not you can get used to how things handle will be the deciding factor on if Hydroneer is a game you will like.
Personally, it works for me. Instead of fighting with a shovel and bucket for the first portion of the game, I decided to grab a fishing pole and stand behind a bucket so each fish I caught automatically fell into the bucket. Then once I had a good haul, I threw the bucket onto my cart and went to the market to sell. This allowed me to amass enough money for my drill and harvester, at which point the game became about building an automated collection system. Ultimately, everything I wanted to be present in the game – and then some – was present. The trick was getting to a point where I was able to access it.
While it won’t be for everyone, for the right player, I can’t recommend Hydroneer enough. It’s an addicting game that can provide countless hours of fun.
Important Links
Hydroneer Finally Strikes Gold On Xbox And PlayStation – https://www.thexboxhub.com/hydroneer-finally-strikes-gold-on-xbox-and-playstation/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/Hydroneer/9N54HKBCWF9L
