I.T.C.B - Interstellar Trade Compliance Bureau

"ChatGPT - Build a resource trading game, make no mistakes or interesting elements". No depth to it at all. There's a hint of a mystery in the game's description that doesn't exist - you never interact with anything unknown, there's nothing to learn about, no story, and very little challenge. I kept waiting for something more that never appeared. Waiting for something interesting to occur, I hit 100% achievements at 5 hour mark by clicking "Build" at the right pace and buying fuel in maybe three game-days because spamming factories ASAP didn't keep up with demand for a short period. Can I build X factory? Build it. Sell X. Repeat, include Y once it appears. None of the events actually matter, they're just a pop-up to click. There's literally no strategy, nothing to adjust to, and the things to prepare for are no brainers. I literally make resources faster than I can sell them. Charts don't need to exist. I don't buy low, because there's barely any need to buy and you can't wait for a better time to do it. I don't sell high, I just sell when I have surplus because I always have surplus.

For a game basically advertised as being about an inscrutable economic system it really ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ holds your hand every 3 seconds

it feels like factorio without the belts, with unlimited storage... There is no penalty for overbuilding beyond the costs, and the costs don't become a factor if you've overbuilt enough. The windows popping up early game were a bit annoying. I still don't understand what is the driving factor behind unlocking new items (Cycle? Production rate? Income?). But overall it was a $9 game that killed a few hours, with some tweaks it may kill some more.

ITCB was a lot of fun! The overall theme is really cool and unique, being dumped right into the action. The ratios for resource chains are pretty easy to follow but still somewhat challenging as you progress through the cycles. If your looking for an interesting game that you can jump right into, have some fun managing your colony, but don't want to get out a calculator and piece of paper this is for you! Some thoughts and observations I had while playing through: I opted to build factories from the start so I never really ran into a situation where any of my resources fell below surplus unless I over sold. If I did over sell, I was able to quickly remedy the situation by adding a few more factories. It would be cool to see some more scenarios like the mining accident that could effect stock and population demand. Since all of my resources were always in surplus I also never ran into issues with happiness. I could see a future update where you can select or randomly be given a different scenario where certain materials are only accessible through buying on the market, leaning more into the stock trading aspect of the game. I would love to be presented with more decision to m…

I was interested in the concept so I bought upon launch. The significant negative reviews had me waiting for a bit to see how things 'settled'. Now a few patches in its fun. Gameplay is a lot like an idler. If you're struggling focus on production over the market and sell the surplus to make more production to make more surplus...(number go up montage) It is exactly what's advertised on the tin so if it seems interesting give it a shot.

I don't get the hate for this game in the reviews so far. If you found this game to be too fast or challenging, that is only your cue to do something different the next playthrough. I will say that once you get the mechanics there isn't a ton of replayability... for now. From the fact that we've seen a few updates/patches in the FIRST week alone I'm hopeful we'll see more end game content. At this point this game does not meet my own personal game expecation ($1/game play hour). So hopefully we see more or more challenging content coming soon :)