Dyson Sphere Program Spiel
As Dyson Sphere Program is a simulation game still in Early Access without a story mode, I wasn’t sure when I could safely say I finished it. I prefer not to talk about sims that go on forever, as they tend to be more “simulation” than a “simulation game”. Fortunately, the game does have an ending, or something akin to an ending in the tech tree, where the narrator congratulates the player on finishing the monolithic task.
As the name of the game implies, the main contents of Dyson Sphere Program is to build a Dyson sphere. I won’t go into details of what is a Dyson sphere — suffice it to say it is a hypothetical structure in sci-fi. The principle idea of Dyson sphere is to harness the energy of a star, the entirety of it. The game oversimplifies the immense undertaking of building a structure that large and the benefit as well. As it stands, the game is primarily focused on building an interstellar factory than a Dyson sphere. Constructing the sphere can’t begin until mid to late game, and harnessing the true potential of a Dyson sphere can only be done with late game tech unlocked. I would argue the snowballing effect of a Dyson sphere, the magnitude of automation needed and energy budget earned, isn’t exactly what the game is specialized in simulating.
But as an interstellar factory builder with a touch of space-faring civilization atmosphere, it does provide the mechanics that other factory sims usually stay away from. Instead of viewing the space as a void, it is now a traversable, physical environment that needs to be accounted for. Space is also a place that can be utilized and where opportunities lie past it, not a mere threat against the survival. It is also not a place of endless bounties — something many sims reluctantly choose to make the space out to be, a key for a utopian paradise. What it doesn’t do proper would be the lack of overall space contents; aside from Dyson swarm, sphere, and the enemies known as the Dark Fog, there aren’t much else we can do in space. As it stands, there isn’t even a space turret to fend off the Dark Fog autonomously, even though the space combat is part of the game mechanic.
There isn’t much to be said about the story or the narrative. It does appear to have some hidden lores. But as the game is in the process of receiving major updates as part of Early Access, — Dark Fog was added in 2023 — I decided against studying the lores until the full release. There are also some hidden techs, but the game is still fully playable without them. In fact, as game provides more UI similar to a factory sim, I found it to be more practical to build another factory world than to upgrade an existing one. The game is about to receive a multi-threading updates and the public beta testing has already begun. To summarize, the game is still in development.
That being said, despite Dyson Sphere Program’s attempt to live up to the expectations of Early Access, I can’t help but notice that that the Early Access began in 2021 with the 1 year long time frame. It’s 2025, and the game is going through yet another major update. As much as I enjoyed the game as it was offered, I believe Early Access as a release model is being misused in current standing.
Conclusions: Factory Sim in Space
Dyson Sphere Program does have limited offering compared to some of the hardcore factory sims, such as Factorio. But its atmosphere and an attempt to incorporate Dyson sphere into a game, into a factory sim, is definitely a welcoming one. As it is common in most simulation games, Dyson Sphere Program is already facing optimization issues, one which would need to be addressed before the full release. While I am optimistic for the game, it is an Early Access game from 4 years ago despite the promises written on the Steam store page. They say “all’s well that ends well”; let’s hope the game leaves Early Access status on a positive note.