shapez 2

Played this for 3 days straight and then uninstalled it permanently because my wife was mad at me for not giving her enough attention. Fair enough. Great game though. Don't recommend if you're married to a non-gamer wife who doesn't enjoy Factorio-esque games.

[h1] I love this game but I am glad that they might be changing the default game mode [/h1] Honestly, I love this game but at the current date, I am glad that they are adding a different game mode. I know that other reviews share this sentiment so, I'll start with the pros first. I had always wanted to play Satisfactory without the resource management needed to make the machines that led to the automation but every time I played it in creative mode it felt like I had (obviously) defeated the whole point of the game itself. Not too long ago, I purchased this game and was very hesitant because I thought it would be much the same experience, where I would play the game for a bit and then rarely play it again. I was happily corrected when I found the game weirdly addicting to play and it provided the things I liked from satisfactory without the parts I didn't like from it. I would heavily recommend this game to anyone who wants a different experience from games like Satisfactory but still wants to manage resources and have a more loose, laid-back, experience of your factory building. The only thing that has restricted a bit of my game-play is, of course, the issue with your factories quickly becoming nullified right after you've hit your needed amount. I'm aware of the operator-level system but when you need to dedicate either more platforms or just more attention to other factories it becomes more of a back-burner type of thing. I also sometimes feel like it's easy to forget the side tasks that give you research points until it's too late and you NEED to get upgrades. While overall none of this takes too much away from the experience I do feel like it does hinder the game-play in the mid to late stages as you tear down hours of progress just to make something else that you won't need later. I am aware they are making a new game mode and I cannot wait to play it when it comes out and see if I can find myself enjoying the late stages just as much as when I started the save. I think that this game is a wonderful factory-building game that feels looser on its restrictions than other more active factory-building games. If you are thinking of buying this game then I would suggest testing it out and if you have enjoyed other factory games then I am 99% sure you will feel fulfilled on your purchase of this game just as I have thus far. I feel hopeful for the 1.0 release of this game

For Shapez 1 owners. Buy this without hesitation. It makes everything you loved about Shapez, even better. Excellent factory and automation game without the stress of defending your base or limited resources. Great difficulty ramp as well. Appropriately introduces new concepts at a good pace and never feels overwhelming. If you've played any other factory games, like factorio, satisfactory, and the sort, do yourself a favor and pick up this game. Highly recommended!

Shapez 2 has what seems to be all the pieces to be a good factory game, it has room for min-maxing your production and somewhat complicated requirements for progress, but it definitely doesn't have the sauce to be a truly great game. It has a couple glaring problems that stop it from being enjoyable as a sheer factory puzzle system, but these are hard to say distinctively because it's all sorta interconnected in the game's DNA. The tasks/objectives system is flawed. The game requires you to do many series of tasks to get more upgrade points, but the shapes you produce for these lose all usefulness as soon as the task series is complete. These series's of tasks build upon themselves, so when you complete stage one, you then often use the shape from that first stage to make the shapes for the following stages in the series... But once you've finished the Task series, that's it, there's effectively no reason not to simply tear down everything you built for those tasks. Now, the game is fairly generous, you have nigh unlimited building supplies so there's no cost at all to putting up a huge base and tearing it all down when you don't need it anymore, but good factory games thrive off the sense of the factory GROWING, not constantly shifting and contorting, which is what you have to do to complete this game. This is exacerbated by the 2nd core issue of the game, which is that your throughput to submit objective shapes is limited for most of the game. Even with maximum upgrades on the "vortex inputs", you have 12 platforms worth of input lines at a time for basically the entire game. This means the vortex can only chew up THREE full space-belts worth of items at a time. The description on Steam would have you believe that Shapez is all about min-maxing your production but in reality, you will set up a factory to make 2000 shapes per minute of the shape that you need and wait 40 minutes for all of them to pour in. Not to mention that, because of the huge scale of the map, you can reshape/contort a factory to change the output shape, and then it will take 10 whole minutes for that changed output to make its way to the vortex since the space belts and buildings all move so slow. This is a problem when it also takes 10 minutes WORTH of production to fill out the objective/task! And it discourages you from truly thinking at huge scale, since maxing out your production will allow you to maybe double your output from the same "ore" veins, but the difference between 10 minutes worth of shape production and 5 minutes worth of shape production is meaningless. Combine that with the fact that there's very very little sense of friction in the game (everything is free, all the belts behave exactly how you would want/expect them to, whereas in a game like factorio the belts are really weird/quirky which adds a little friction to how you deal with them and makes you feel smarter for being good at it) and there's just not a ton to chew on I think. To some degree, I think some of my problems with the game could simply be solved by giving the player Train Delivery way way earlier... Train Delivery totally removes the production CAP that's on the player for most of the game. But Train Delivery doesn't address my biggest most fundamental issues with Shapez 2: Required quantities for just about anything are pretty small, and shapes rarely get "reused" and there's no cost for putting up and tearing down buildings, so there's no feeling at all that you are GROWING a factory, you only ever just shift bits of it around, and that's substantially less gratifying. TLDR: The balance of objectives are totally wacked out, you build a huge factory to make 1000 shapes per minute, and it takes 15+ minutes for the 8000 required shapes to get swallowed up by the vortex. Then you tweak the factory real quick and wait another 15 minutes for the next shapes to make it to the vortex. Most importantly: There's very little sense of growth because of how often you are redoing stuff or tearing old stuff down. Of course, this is noting that my complaints are seemingly about the flow of the "main game", but for real factory heads the REAL game starts at the Post-game, so I'll update this when I've sunk my teeth into that a little bit...

Thumbs Sideways — Great Tech, Underwhelming Gameplay Loop There’s a lot to like about Shapez 2 on the surface. The factory structures are visually interesting and suggest a promising future. The graphics are clean and modern, the interface is intuitive and slick, and I didn’t encounter a single bug during my playthrough — which is no small feat for an early release. However, the core gameplay loop left me wanting more. The constraints system — which could have added challenge and creativity — barely factored into my experience. I never came close to hitting the structure limits, so it didn’t really influence my designs. Side quests start off engaging but quickly become repetitive and feel disconnected from the rest of the game. Once you’ve completed the factory for a quest, it has no ongoing purpose, making it feel like a one-and-done effort with little payoff. The operator badge path alone provided more than enough science to complete progression, making side quests largely irrelevant past the early game. Unlike Factorio, where your early builds continue to support and evolve into your later infrastructure, Shapez 2 factories feel isolated and disposable. Each one solves a narrow problem, then gets ignored. There’s no sense of a growing, interconnected machine. The shape mechanics, while initially novel, lack depth. I’d love to see a system where advanced shapes are constructed from simpler ones — a hierarchy where you’re constantly building up from base components. Imagine only starting with quarter circles and squares and needing to combine and split them to reach complex forms — similar to the color mixing system, which is far more satisfying in comparison. Lastly, it would be a huge improvement if producing shapes was actually necessary to build new structures. That would tie your creations directly to progression and give a real sense of purpose to what you’re building. Bottom Line: Shapez 2 has excellent production values and real potential, but the current gameplay loop feels shallow. Here’s hoping future updates bring more depth and interconnectedness to match the polish.

This is a game you play when you can't find anything else to play, and then you end up spending way too much time playing it. I love this game, and they are making better every update.

Shapez 2 is a captivating and brilliantly executed sequel that takes the addictive factory-building and automation gameplay of the original shapez.io to exciting new heights. Building on the minimalist yet elegant design philosophy of its predecessor, Shapez 2 expands the scope and complexity of its puzzle-solving and logistical challenges without ever losing sight of accessibility or player creativity. The core gameplay loop revolves around constructing intricate factories to process and combine various geometric shapes and colors into increasingly complex patterns, demanding careful planning, efficient layout design, and mastery of conveyor belts, splitters, and mergers. What sets Shapez 2 apart is its remarkable balance between depth and clarity—while the puzzles grow significantly more sophisticated, the user interface remains clean and intuitive, ensuring that both newcomers and veteran players can enjoy the gradual ramp-up in complexity. Visually, Shapez 2 retains the clean, vector-style aesthetic of the original but introduces subtle enhancements and more vibrant color palettes that make the sprawling factory layouts visually engaging without overwhelming the player. The animations are smooth and satisfying, turning the act of watching shapes flow through the network into a mesmerizing experience. Complementing the visuals is a soothing, minimalist soundtrack that fosters focus and immersion, making extended play sessions feel both productive and relaxing. The sound design also smartly integrates functional audio cues that assist in managing factory flow and alerting players to bottlenecks or errors. One of the standout features of Shapez 2 is its open-ended sandbox mode alongside a more structured campaign, which introduces new mechanics and shape types progressively, allowing players to build their skills and experiment freely. The campaign mode is thoughtfully designed, with increasingly complex challenges that test not only your technical skills but also your ability to optimize and scale your production lines. The game encourages experimentation and rewards ingenuity, offering multiple ways to solve the same problem, which significantly enhances replayability. Additionally, the inclusion of mod support fosters a vibrant community where players can share custom content, extending the game's lifespan and variety. While Shapez 2 is largely successful in its design, it may occasionally present a steep learning curve for those unfamiliar with factory simulators or puzzle games, and some players might find the repetitive nature of conveyor belt management taxing over time. However, these potential drawbacks are offset by the satisfaction derived from designing elegant, efficient factories and solving complex logistical puzzles. The game's performance is generally smooth, though very large factories can sometimes challenge hardware resources, a testament to the depth and scale of the systems at play. In conclusion, Shapez 2 is a thoughtfully crafted and deeply satisfying evolution of the original game, delivering a rich blend of puzzle-solving, strategy, and creative freedom. Its polished presentation, clever mechanics, and scalable difficulty make it a must-play for fans of automation and factory-building genres, as well as anyone who appreciates clean, minimalist design combined with complex gameplay. Whether you’re a methodical planner or a creative problem-solver, Shapez 2 offers hours of engaging and rewarding gameplay that continually challenges you to think smarter, build better, and refine your factories into works of engineering art. Rating: 9/10

Greatness. 3D building is handled really well, and the tools keep any tedium to a minimum. If I had any constructive criticism - this is minor - it would be the 'sandboxy' feel to to the 'universe.' Increasing the platform limit is trivial, and the landscape doesn't have any real character (just... infinity). It would be nice to see landmarks like 'voids' or 'impassable obstacles' that break up the vastness, maybe even an exploration/scout mechanic. I would also _love_ to see this engine feed a base defense game (maybe even a 4x?) but that's a different story altogether.

Everything Shapez was and then *a lot* more. A lot of games can't handle a transition from 2D to 3D and honestly I didn't have high expectations for Shapez in this regard, but I was still pleasantly surprised, both mechanically and aesthetically. Mechanically, the third dimension most directly sees its use in stacking shapez onto each other, but it also adds another dimension in which to weasel your way through having boxed yourself in. It adds a delightful frisson to the experience. Aesthetically, there is a charming vibe of space combined with something like a plastic construction kit like you might have played with as a child. Little plastic gates in the conveyor belts that click satisfyingly up and down, little gear spinner launchers that fling the shapez around, all in all a treat that adds a certain coherency to the originally abstract formula. And then there's trains. Trains!

This is my first automation game and overall, I love it. Pros: 1. Interesting gameplay. 2. Nice animation 3. Great game mechanics Cons: 1. Can feel overwhelming 2. Can feel directionless, or too many objectives to pursue at the same time 3. Can be tedious, Often you will have to destroy everything just after you built them.

If you like conveyor belts in games such as Factorio or Satisfactory, then you will likely also like this game. This game is well polished has many quality of life (QoL) features. However, it does have a few issues, such as the shape previews not working reliably or conveyor belts not being fully saturated despite the ratio of production buildings per conveyor belt being correct. But such issues are to be expected in an early access title.

Can’t wait for this game to leave Early Access. I’ve played a bit and really enjoy the pure problem-solving focus. Unlike most automation games, there’s no fighting, research trees, or resource grinding — just building a factory with no resource limits. I was unsure at first, but the depth of the puzzles makes it worth it. Around the 8–10 hour mark I started to burn out a bit, so I’m putting it down and waiting for the full release.

Excelent game, running great without any kind of issues on a 5700G + 3060Ti. Game runs smooth, very nice interface and gameplay. Recommend it to everyone. Its a very relaxing game

Great zen garden, feels like someone made a relaxed puzzler out of Factorio. I was worried the difficulty/problem solving would be too basic, but I have not felt that way since playing it. For context I've beat Factorio/Satisfactory multiple times each.

Probably the best user experience/user interface in the genre of factory automation games. They pushed the genre into a minimalist extreme and did quite well. Also the OST has quite a good vibe.

Wow, just wow! I've never been into or played much factory-style games, but this is incredibly fun, challenging, and addictive. I'm running it on an 8 gig RAM MacBook Air M2 in windowed mode on minimum, but I can also run it via maximum in GFN. Honestly, the graphical settings don't matter; it's just as fun with any settings. The fun part is simply setting things up and letting them run to meet tasks, level up, and grow, all while I work, write, study, or do whatever else on my MacBook, because the game doesn't interfere with my other productivity. Of all the summer games on Steam, this one has me hooked the most. I bought the Supporter Edition and don't regret it; the soundtrack is fantastic. I also bought the original to support the developer. Thanks for the Mac and GFN support, dev!

Relaxing, great graphics / style. Intersting puzzle game. Moving, copy pasting things around is super easy. This makes exprimenting really fun. Ressources are infinite but space is not. Thats the puzzle part you need to fit as much as possible in as little space as possible. I like games like factorio satisfactory, dyson sphere. To my surprise Shapez 2 is really really good. Still in early access but it feels almost complete.

This game is pure logistics and puzzles. You should play it.

I have an addiction to factory games and the way the shapes flow into the vortex is SO SATISFYING. 10\10 best game.

Very intuitive and fun for someone like myself who enjoys making things just to make things.

It's like shapez took steroids. For those familiar with shapez, shapez 2 will offer a significant degree of more challenges. Towards the end of the game, you'll basically have to start using logic circuits on higher difficulties to make building shapes manageable, with eventually a Make Any Machine being an ultimate goal. I definitely recommend for any shape, color, and puzzle solving enthusiasts.

The "tutorial" of the player getting a license is excellent in slowly adding the Shapez 2 features to the players access and use. As stated other places the early access version of Shapez 2 has a very polished feel to it. While I am sure other players can "break" Shapez 2, my experience with it so far has not presented any obvious bugs. I look forward to the completed version.

Oh no. Not again. This game is nothing if not a pure hybrid between a factory game and a puzzle game. So basically pure, distilled Factorio. I fear for my sleep schedule.

I've enjoyed the simple complexity that grows with the game continuing to challenge but easy to work with. I found it relaxing and just to play without thinking too much.

Distilled factory goodness in a beautiful and polished package. Building in small and large scale is really fun when you embrace modular designs. Looking forward to the full release, but already having dozens of hours of fun with a steady stream of satisfying challenges.

Just a great, chill factory game. Immense satisfaction once you get the hang of throughput, load balancing, doing some crazy 1x1 builds that you feel proud to blueprint for future use. I can literally turn this game on and lose far too many hours building new production lines or going back through old & min/maxing after better things are unlocked.

Perfected conveyor belt factory gameplay. Easy to understand and learn the mechanics with great tutorials, throughput is easy to calculate and actually fun, and the different layers system is brilliant. I feel like I'm designing microchips that I can copy and paste to process the shapes in a giant computer. All the things other games add for realism or pointless complexity aren't here, just pure, simple fun.

If you like the automation of Factorio, but want to focus on the puzzle aspect of the automation over defense, then this might be what you are looking for. Pretty close to Satisfactory, but without the exploration aspect.

I've never really had any interest in factory games like factorio or satisfactory, but i saw a bunch of youtubers playing this and it genuinely peaked my interest, so far im loving it, although the fact its still in early access and doesnt have achievements yet is sad, i want to see my achievements go up XD

S-Tier factory sim, pretty much the perfect chill optimization game with a fantastic soundtrack.

It's incredible. I love the heart of games like this, but often they get messy and frustrating in practice. This is so beautiful because it makes it easy to re-vamp, fix mistakes, or completely re-do if you see that there was a better way to do what you're trying to do. It's not 20 minutes of heartache and headache... you can re-create in seconds or minutes. Great controls and interface. More-ish mission design. I can't stop :D

Solid entry in the genre, good instructions, easy to learn

Amazing for people like me that like the puzzle aspect of automation games but aren't a fan of the resource management. Games like Factorio only really open up for me once I unlocked drones so I didn't have to deal with the tedium of manually placing every little thing. Being able to copy and paste right out of the gate is awesome.

Awesome automation game, I've definitely gotten my money's worth. End game is more about optimization and consolidation, so replayability might not be super high, but you can get a solid 100 hours out of it before you get to that point. Also, don't look up blueprints online, it will significantly speed up your play through and defeat the entire purpose of figuring things out/making your own designs!

A pure, distilled factory automation game. And a massive upgrade from the first game. It nails many core mechanics and is surprisingly polished with its many QoL features. For an EA title, it's a great bang for the buck. The gameplay loop could feel a bit more rewarding, but the devs are already addressing that with the new game mode. Looking forward to trying it out. I definitely recommend it.

It's overwhelmingly positive for a reason. An incredibly relaxing and stress free factory/automation game with a splendid soundtrack. I highly recommend this game if you like automation games. I just finished the main milestones, and I'll definitely be back to do it again. And again... and again and again and again. Can't wait for V1.0 This has entered my top 3 favourites. ADHD trap lol

Super awesome chill game. My all time favorite in the automation games is Satisfactory, and this is when I want to be more chill. I am excited for the full release to start from the beginning again.

Very good if you like strategy games. It gets complicated but I can still play this game fr hours. Would recomend.

if you really like squares, circles and triangles this game is for you. However if you specifically like letters like me, I'd try something else. Overall 10/10, can't wait for AI to replace more jobs.

Great automation game. Worth it if you like Factorio or Satisfactory. There is a lot of depth to this game, and it does a great job of easing you into it, and then continuing to expand more and more.

love this game and that it removes the barrier of in-game currency, makes the optimisation demon in me happy >:))

I am a programmer by day. I grow the factory by night. I haven't slept in 10 days. The factory. It must grow. 11/10

I loved factorio so I wanted to try this game. Short review is: I think the game is great, worth the purchase, and has some noticeable differences from factorio that can be seen as either good or bad changes, depending on what you like. I like to uh.. provide detail, so read on if you want more. If you've never played factorio you can likely skip to the last paragraph. That's what got me into the genre, and possibly what brought you here so it's worth comparing. In this game there is no character, no survival element, no resources, no enemies, just- ahh, *design*. That obviously brings some drawbacks for some factorio players. There isn't much external urgency to do anything. There's no power to maintain, the shapes you mine are infinite, no enemy will ever attack you. However, if you like the designing aspect of factorio I think this game does it even better. Instead of this kind of pyramid of resources in factorio (iron makes sheets, gears, bars, etc. gears make belts etc. belts make green science etc...) you're frequently working on new products. You might continue adding to that design for a while, then have to make new factory designs for new shapes. Instead of managing resources, this is about trying to design as clean and effective a layout as you can for maximum production. No character and no resources means you are completely free to build with ease. Instantly build and move around the world, redesign with no fear of losing resources, and copy/cut/paste. Any and all tedium gone. In factorio I would often find myself wanting to redising things, but always dread it too. In Shapez I'm constantly destroying huge sections to rebuild things better. I love that kinda thing. CONSIDER: Building and redesigning is, physically, a breeze; what you build and how you think about it is quite different than factorio; there is no survival aspect, the only thing really compelling you to keep playing is your own joy for building more and more complex layouts. If you've never played factorio or satisfactory (you should look into them), to enjoy this game: you will want to enjoy designing layouts that allow things to flow well, noticing that eventually things aren't flowing as well as you'd like, figuring out why, planning AGAIN on how to fix the issue, implementing the fix, monitoring it's success or not, and learning from the process so you can design more effectively, eventually being able to make increasingly more complex designs work. There is zero action, stakes, or excitement, only really, really rewarding design process.

An incredibly stupid fun factory builder that has REALLY cool puzzle elements. Not a huge amount of people really like the puzzle elements but i really do believe that that is what MAKES the game as fun as it is. Devs are super supportive and vocal so that helps a ton aswell. Just an awesome factory game!!!!

Shapez 2 is truly amazing. I am a true fan of the factory genre with hours in Factorio, Satisfactory, Dyson Sphere Program, etc. Shapez just feels different though, in the best way possible. I generally consider the three I listed as the true "three titans" of the factory game genre, but Shapez may definitely have a spot up there. Do not be afraid of the early access listing, as it is similar to Satisfactory / Factorio early access, it still feels like a full game with loads of content. The building is extremely satisfying, and I look forward to seeing what else the developers intend to add for the full release. Amazing. Worth every penny at full price, and more.

Very good indeed. Still in Early access, but it runs smooth and stable on my three year old Win 10 system with no Alt/tab or save/load problems. It's more of a puzzler than a factory management game but the Devs say full release should alter that with a new game mode.

One of the best games I have played all year. Great tutorials, slick graphics, appealing audio, and casual yet complex. Looking forward to diving deeper into this. Highly Recommend!

Really nice game! First time I played Shapez was on the IO site, the first version is kinda better at performance, I dont remember the Site version to lag even with big builds, the Shapez 2 is kinda demanding if You have tons of structures, it definetly chokes sooner than Shapez 1, and kinda chokes a lot faster than Factorio or Capitan of Industry, but It's made on Unity and well... Unity is engine You pick if You want to make game easy and low performance xDD But in general Shapez is great, visually it's incredible good, interface is nice, controls are sometimes annoying but You can get used to it. Simply don't pick that game if You planning to build something big, on RTX 4090 and it kinda starts to drop FPS when You have 3x3 foundation tile ( big platforms on which You build - You can have many of these ) ofc. once You zoom out the FPS goes back to the usual but working on big structures is kinda nah. I was trying to reduce graphics to low but I didn't noticed much difference, tho it's worth to mention that game was running on ~45 FPS every time I visited some heavly developed 3x3 platform. So ofc. if Your hardware is lower tier You may have issues in some areas, also if Your base is big with many many trains and platforms, game can easily swallow 6/8 GB of RAM and more. I really like this game ^_^ !!

Simple, beautiful, addictive Starting to find it repetitive, after 18h ... Amazing for the price

All of the fun parts of the classic factory builders without any of the unnecessary random struggles that come with them. Focus entirely on the automation and efficiency without worrying about staying alive, providing non-renewable resources or annoying control limitations.