Just a few days after launching in Early Access, the long-awaited Industry Giant 4.0 has only 46 percent positive reviews on Steam.

On November 15, 2024, Industry Giant 4.0 launched in Early Access. However, the German economic legend did not fare so well with us – we gave it a rating tendency of 65 to 75 – you can read more details about this in our test. An assessment that we are apparently not alone in. The game also currently has a difficult time on Steam. Shortly after the release, just 46 percent of the reviews are positive. »It needs at least another year«

The criticism from players is varied. For example, the user TheOrigin:

Don’t touch this at the moment. It’s more of a demo than a game. It needs at least another year or more work and adjustments to the game mechanics and technology. Compared to IndustryGiant2, it’s even a step backwards in terms of some of the mechanics. No idea who came up with this, but it wouldn’t hurt to think outside the box and take a look at representatives of the genre…

In the following, the user lists in a long list what the game currently has for flaws, criticizing, among other things, the maps being too small, the graphics, or the tech tree being behind a paywall.

However, according to Steam, TheOrigin has spent less than half an hour in the game so far. The user Rhaan has invested more than 16 hours in Industrie Gigant 4, which is significantly more playing time. Also Rhaan compares the new offshoot with the famous and popular predecessor Industrie Gigant 2 in his review :

Currently no worthy successor… No AI opponents and thus no economic challenges. No freedom in how you want to build your industry, you just have to slap everything chronologically onto the map. Feels like a run-of-the-mill browser game or mobile game. Hopefully there will be many more updates, otherwise 20 euros is too much for so little content.

In addition to the mostly negative reviews, the number of players is not that high either.At the early access launch, Industry Giant 4.0 had just under 600 players playing at the same time. Currently, the number has stabilized between 75 and 126.

“The basic framework is there”

But there are also a whole series of reviews in which the game comes off well. For example, user writes: :

It’s pretty fun. It can easily compete with Cities Skylines Part 1. Those who liked parts 1 and 2 earlier will love this one.

However, even the positive reviews sometimes suggest that the game is still a long way from where it should be. For example, Backstone says:

The basic framework is there and is very well done. Some things still need work, such as road and track construction.

Meanwhile, the developers from the German studio Don VS Dodo are commenting mainly on the negative reviews on Steam, asking fans what should be changed. This is a good sign that something will be done about Industry Giant 4.0 in the coming weeks and months.

The actual launch in Early Access was planned for October 23, 2024.But just three days before that date, publisher Toplitz Productions and developer Don VS Dodo announced that the release date would be November 15.

The reason for the delay: internal and external testing and feedback from demo players had revealed major problems with the tutorial and usability. The developers and publishers wanted to use the three additional weeks to fix these problems.