The Crust was good when it entered Early Access a couple of years ago.
At 1.0, it’s still good. Not quite great.
Three streams spent returning to the Moon showed a game that has grown considerably, especially outside the factory itself. There is more happening in the world and more to manage beyond production, strengthening what I’ve repeatedly described as something like a factory-game version of Surviving Mars.
The factory remains the heart of it, though, and that’s also where The Crust can be frustrating. Years of development somehow haven’t produced some basic quality-of-life features expected from modern factory games. Not having simple copy-and-paste functionality for factory construction at 1.0 is particularly difficult to excuse.
That’s a shame because better QoL could have elevated The Crust from a good game into a great one.
It never stopped us from enjoying it, though. I liked The Crust when it first arrived in Early Access, and after three more streams, I still like it now.
The Crust is therefore recorded as Alive.
The factory keeps running.
The crust and crusty puns stay crispy.
Pronouncement: Still alive.