As employees of FICSIT Inc. enterprising space Pioneers are tasked with charting and exploiting a vast and diverse alien planet to construct and automate intricate multi-story factories for a mysterious unknown purpose. Players must also defend themselves against hostile alien lifeforms, automate vehicles and research new technologies to keep improving their constructs.

Satisfactory lands today with three different biomes on a vast handcrafted world (30km2) full of varyingly hostile alien creatures and six tiers of milestones that unlock machines, resources and equipment. The Early Access launch also offers multiplayer and vehicles with automation capabilities. The live development roadmap already outlines two new updates scheduled for the end of April and May that will bring new milestone tiers, research chains for sulfur and quarts, and a train to transfer your resources between outposts.

Coffee Stain Studios revealed the details and April 13th launch date of the long-awaited Update 4 to Satisfactory.

Alongside the rollout of UI updates, general rebalancing, and new parts there is a huge amount of content additions for late game players, with plenty of tier 7 and 8 additions to explore. 

FICSIT Inc. is set to roll out brand new tech for its employees, enabling Nuclear Refinement and waste recycling, alongside the exciting additions of hoverpacks, ziplines, lights, drones, and the highly anticipated particle accelerator. 

Let there be light

Employees are no longer condemned to work in the dark, as the highly requested addition of lighting is coming in this update. With full control over colour and brightness, there are three different lighting options to choose from. Ceiling Lights can be placed on the bottom of foundations to illuminate indoor areas, Flood Lights are taller than any production building and great for outdoor factory lighting, and Street Lights are designed to light up walkways, or smaller factory spaces. 

Let there be flight

Specifically designed for the long-range, low-capacity resource transport, drones are now available to unlock in late tier 7. They are fully automated, traveling between two fixed ports and navigating themselves around any obstacles they encounter along the way. FICSIT Inc. has reminded employees that the drones are not designed for employee transit. To prevent drone-related accidents, hoverpacks are now available instead. These allow players to fly through their factory and hover in mid-air, significantly improving building efficiency, factory assessment, and traversal. 

Let there be… nuclear stuff

A huge part of Update 4 is the all new tier 7/8 Nuclear Refinement and waste recycling capabilities, which includes the addition of the flashy new particle accelerator and blender. The nuclear power milestone has now moved from late tier 7 to early tier 8, and with this Uranium Refinement now uses the new Blender to produce Encased Uranium Cells straight from Uranium, and use the waste product of this process to produce Plutonium Fuel Rods. 

Finally, the particle accelerator is a new production building unlocked at the end of Tier 8, used for matter conversion and generation. This behemoth is currently used to make the new Plutonium Pellets and Nuclear Pasta, forming the last part of the new nuclear production chain.

These are just the headline acts, there are plenty more updates and additions for players to experiment with. Ziplines are available for players bored of using their legs like a neanderthal, gas is now ready for extraction at the newly discovered resource wells, and power mechanics have undergone a few changes and additions. And to top it all off, there has been a big UI facelift across the game to improve general player experience.

“We’re SUPER EXCITED to get our biggest content update yet out there to our community,” said Jace Varlet, Community Manager at Coffee Stain Studios. “We have one of the coolest communities in video games and I just can’t wait to give back to them and see everyone’s reactions to all the amazing stuff we added.”

However Snutt Treptow, the other Community Manager, feels the need to include: “It’s alright, but not as good as what Jace is making it out to be.”

Satisfactory is currently available in Early Access through the Epic Games Store and Steam Early Access for $29.95/€29.99.