Outer Belt Industries is a free pixel simulation game where your goal is to industrialize asteroids in the outer belt. Every asteroid has resources that you need to mine in order to build new structures and improve the technology you can access while facing the challenges brought by outer space.

Created by an indie developer, Nate Largo, the game is designed in a pixel low-resolution minimalist style. From the zoom-out view of the entire space up to the graphics of the structures you can build, everything is minimalistic. So, players can focus entirely on building and developing their asteroids.

Strategic and mentally stimulating

The minimalistic approach of the graphics of Outer Belt Industries removes the distraction caused by eye-catching animations. This can force players to focus on the goal and how to strategically place the structures to maximize the resources of an asteroid. However, the pixel size of the graphics is a little too large, making the design look a tad lazy. Regardless, the sandbox gameplay is mentally stimulating.

All you really have to do is build bases and space factories using the resources available in an asteroid. One of the best features of the game is you can expand to other asteroids, trade resources, and link your headquarters to them. The game offers six research tech tiers, which can help you automate the collection of resources, which will then unlock new technologies.

Unfortunately, the game still lacks quite a lot of things. For starters, it’s not very beginner-friendly because there are no instructions on what to do initially or at least a brief walkthrough about the purpose of the commands. The game immediately starts with an asteroid on the screen and a bunch of commands that you’ll have to figure out on your own. Hence, this causes a lot of confusion.

Confusing but fun sandbox game

Outer Belt Industries is a fun sandbox game that will challenge both your creativity and strategic skills. It is packed with enough features that will keep you hooked. However, you’ll have to get past the initial confusion brought by the lack of instructions, which can be very frustrating at first. Once you understand the purpose of each structure and how to optimize their positions, it’s easily a highly enjoyable game.