Quick Verdict
If you enjoy games like Factorio, Satisfactory, or Dyson Sphere Program, Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure is a must-play. This cleverly designed title blends Pikmin-like mechanics with factory automation into an addictive gameplay loop that can keep you busy for dozens, if not hundreds, of hours. While there are some tedious sections of the game, Oddsparks gives you the tools you need to succeed—it’s just a matter of figuring out how to get everything set up properly.
What makes Oddsparks unique is its variety of Sparks, which can gather materials, kill enemies, and transport items. Nearly everything in the game involves Sparks, creatures that remind me of Lemmings and Pikmin. They can be frustrating at times, seeming to have a mind of their own, but their whimsical nature is charming in its own way. Don’t be fooled by the game’s art style either. There’s real depth to its factory automation.
Spark Sashay
We first jumped into the world of Oddsparks in May 2024, while the game was still in Early Access, and you can read my first impressions here. At the time, we didn’t know it would hit 1.0 just a year later, adding a surprising amount of content. Since we enjoyed what we initially saw in Early Access, we always intended to return to the game when it hit 1.0. That opportunity came when there was a lull in new releases in August, so we decided it was a great time to start a new playthrough of Oddsparks.
Right from the start, Oddsparks differs from many popular factory automation games because it includes character creation. Customization options are fairly varied at the start, and many more unlock as you progress. At any time, you can customize your character’s look and even add cosmetic hats to your Sparks. The game then drops you into an idyllic village filled with friendly villagers who guide you on your journey. There is a story in the full game, though it isn’t particularly compelling. It doesn’t hurt the game; it’s simply there to give you a reason to proceed to the next quest.
It’s worth noting that while the game aims to be part of the cozy genre, you don’t form relationships with the NPCs in the village. There are no romance options or even ways to spend time with them. You’re simply picking up and fulfilling their quests. The full release also introduces ways to customize the town, and parts of the story expand the town’s area, but these features are mainly side activities rather than a focus. We ultimately didn’t spend much time in town beyond picking up quests, though we can see the appeal of decorating it to make it feel more alive.
Oddly Efficient
Initially, the game feels fairly generic if you’ve played something like Factorio in the past. You’ll learn the basics of gathering materials, which you use to build structures that harvest or convert those materials to higher tiers. But where Oddsparks really changes things is that, instead of using conveyor belts to move materials from one building to another, you use Sparks to carry them. While on a path, most Sparks follow a simple right-hand rule: they keep to the right-hand side when moving. This lets you plan routes, and when combined with filters and other logic tools, Spark routing can become quite complex.
Oddsparks does a really good job of introducing the basics, though much of it will make sense quickly if you’ve played other factory automation games. If you’re new to the genre, however, the core loop is delivering a basic material to a building that refines it into an intermediate material. That output either feeds another building for further processing, serves as a quest turn-in, or becomes a component used to construct a building or unit. Oddsparks eventually takes players to a new biome, and that’s when things grow more complex. The second biome, set in the mountains, introduces verticality to the puzzle. If you want to fully automate these more complex materials, you’ll need to use ziplines and elevators, while creating long paths for the Sparks to deliver the goods.
At this point, the game begins to focus on quickly moving materials from one location to another and on making those routes as short as possible. Like Satisfactory, Oddsparks’ later quests start demanding very high quantities of materials to complete. For us, the optimal way to complete these quests was to carry certain goods ourselves rather than route Sparks. We often found it more efficient to automate some materials into a storage container, then periodically pick them up and drop them off at another assembly line for processing. It felt like our time was better spent getting fuel to waypoints around the map than figuring out how to get Sparks from the middle of the map down to the bottom.
Lanes and Lulls
Since we last played, Oddsparks has added trains, and they’re a massive help to address the issue we just mentioned: moving resources from one biome to another. Even with trains though, waiting for transport remains the main bottleneck, unlike in games like Factorio or Satisfactory where production tends to overflow. As we continued through the tiers, I found myself comparing each biome to how Factorio handles planets in its Space Age DLC, which we loved. Although each biome in Oddsparks doesn’t reach that level of complexity, there are still new puzzles to solve in every area. One example is regulating structure temperature to increase production speed.
Combat plays a sizable role in Oddsparks, too, as you’ll need to send your Sparks into battle and micromanage them if you don’t want them to die. For the most part, it’s a basic system akin to simple RTS mechanics, like ordering units to move out of the way of incoming attacks. The Sparks, however, sometimes have a mind of their own. You may command them to go after a specific target, such as breaking a rock, but they’ll decide to hit a bush a few blocks away. This odd AI can be frustrating toward the end, when there’s a tower defense element and you’re losing expensive Sparks because they want to do their own thing. My biggest complaint is how inconsistent the Sparks are when it comes to picking up materials scattered across the ground. Sometimes they bring me what I ask them to harvest, while other times they hop over, break something else, and return with nothing.
These might sound like nitpicks—and for some players they may well be—but Oddsparks can take 60 to 80 hours to finish, so these frustrations can become annoyances. We spent over 90 hours in our recent playthrough exploring everything the game has to offer. Where Oddsparks really shines is that there’s always something you can be doing. If you’re waiting for materials to pile up for a quest turn-in, there’s probably another assembly line you can optimize. Or you can set off with your Sparks and collect enemy resources. The map is huge, and exploring every corner of it can be pretty time consuming, too.
Cozy Complexity
My biggest criticism of Oddsparks, though, is that while the game gives you the tools to do whatever you want, sometimes the idea of having to do a specific task just doesn’t feel fun. For example, setting up a fully automated line that requires materials from three different biomes isn’t my cup of tea. Having to update an existing train line to incorporate more stops isn’t as straightforward as you’d hope. In fact, there was one assembly line I created toward the end of the game where I decided it was easier to just use ziplines, elevators, and paths, with Sparks transporting materials, than to update the train route. Just know that some of Oddsparks’ more complex puzzles are about figuring out how to get materials to where you need them, rather than how to set up the automation to create those materials.
Oddsparks also has an interestingly designed final task. To avoid spoilers, I won’t go into detail, but I do want to highlight its clever design, which forces players to use everything they’ve learned to achieve the goal while also balancing how they can take advantage of everything they’ve built so far. Like Satisfactory, I feel the game overstays its welcome, and the padded turn-ins toward the end feel like extending playtime for its own sake. As of this writing, according to Steam achievements, only 0.8 percent of players have completed Oddsparks, compared with Factorio: Space Age’s 1.5 percent.
If you’re looking for something different in the factory automation genre, I highly recommend Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure. Having spent nearly 350 hours in Factorio and 200 hours in Satisfactory, I can confidently say Oddsparks has its own fun to offer and deserves to be mentioned among the best. I recommend bringing friends along for the ride, because it’s a big time commitment to tackle on your own. The game officially supports up to four players, though multiplayer is effectively uncapped if your group is larger. If that sounds appealing, this $29.99 title can offer hundreds of hours of entertainment, albeit mixed with a few hours of frustration.
Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure has an official release date of May 27, 2025, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. This review is based on a purchased retail copy of the game on PC. While FullCleared does have affiliate partnerships, they do not influence our editorial content. We may, however, earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.
Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure Review Gallery (possible spoilers!)
