If it weren't so expensive... I was looking at Factorial and Cyberpunk 2077 for months now, but the price is so much higher than the games I normally play.
I have read Factorio's reasoning for the price, but after playing the demo, I don't see how they are in a different position compared to e.g. Terraria or Don't Starve.
My suggestion? Pirate it. Play the full game and see if it's worth your 30 bucks. If it is (and I believe it will be), then buy it on your platform of choice. If not, nothing lost.
Not that your suggestion is necessarily bad in general, but I don't really think it's necessary when it comes to Factorio. I think it should be clear from playing the demo whether 100+ more hours of that seems worth the asking price for someone. It's probably the most representative demo I've ever played; the full game is just the demo but more. There are no surprises down the line. There are no random pivots to other genres, or the game trying to stick its fingers in too many pies. There's no narrative to screw up. There's no "oh, they clearly just spent all their time polishing the first hour of the game and the rest of it is a technical mess". It's the same gameplay loop from the demo for another 50 hours until you "win".
... and then another 50 hours after that when you decide to optimise things. And then another 100 hours when you decide to make a train-themed base. And then another 700 hours when you discover some of the mods that exist...
I was in your camp for a while and just kept it on my watchlist for forever. Eventually I figured I would probably sink 100+ hours into the game, so the cost per hour of entertainment was quite low. After getting it and playing for more than 100 hours, I can say I'm happy with the purchase and it's worth it.
Neither Terraria nor Don’t Starve are in the automation genre, though! I found Factorio way more enjoyable than those two. Worth what I paid for it many times over. 
Factorio is way different from terraria and don't starve. They're not even the same genere.
Also if you think it's expensive, (not flaming, genuinely asking) is your computer good enough to run cyberpunk at a reasonable graphic settings and fps? Because that games requires alot
Ah didn't know you played on the steam deck. Don't have one myself so wouldn't know. But all in all, Factorio is worth it at this price point. I already played 1000 hours, and there is many more to come! I think it's my best price/hours game I own
That's what people tell me, and why I played the demo. What irks me a bit is since it is level-based, my cool automation complexes get reset/lost everytime. That's obviously the point of the game I guess, but... I guess I expected more of a Minecraft modpack kind of gameplay.
I guess I'll just wait a few more months to see if I have an epiphany. It's just so expensive in comparison..
OH, ITS NOT LEVEL BASED! only the demo is, where it teaches you the different aspects of the game. Normally you play "sandbox" mode. And there you can build the biggest factory you want with no restrictions at all.
Everything makes sense now, what you said before. If you thought it was level based
But honestly if the non-level based version is also fun and has 100h+ of content, then I am actually considering getting it xD
I really like the base game, but deleting it all the time just is so cruel. I assumed the sandbox mode is like Minecraft Creative mode.
Yeah I don't think the sandbox version works in the demo. But sandbox isn't Minecraft creative, more like survival Minecraft. Also I think I misremembered, it might be called Freeplay and not sandbox, my bad.
But yeah, there is easily +100 hours, in the vanilla game. Not sure if mods works on the steam deck, but mods adds 1000 hours of ekstra gameplay!
One of my favorite memories, is playing a death world with a friend. Its normal Freeplay, with biters turned up , so they're more aggressive. That's something you should try when you get comfortable with the base game, and if you like playing with biters!
Pretentiousness? Or developers charging a fair price for over a decade of development work, the quality of which makes Bethesda and Ubisoft seethe with rage?
I have no problem with them standing by that it doesn't need any sales and is already a reasonable price. But saying it's out of respect for those that already bought it is just a bs excuse.
Terraria and don’t starve can’t even match 1% of the playtime I’ve devoted to cracktorio
If you’re looking for a better value comparison, you’re not going to find any better without adding in free to play games.
Your perception of the game is horrendously skewed. If you go by $/minute of playtime, terraria and don’t starve are orders of magnitude more expensive.
I bought Factorio a couple years ago and played for about 4 hours. I thought it was pretty fun but I didn't really get hooked or anything so it sat in my Steam library for a while.
Early last summer I gave it another go and something finally clicked. I probably spent a whole month doing nothing but play Factorio when I wasn't eating sleeping or working. My wife was concerned. It was by far my most played game last year and it's now probably one of my favorite games ever.
If you're into programming or dev ops it definitely aligns with that mindset once you get deep enough in the game you start seeing the patterns and trying to optimize your factory design. But that sort of game isn't for everyone.