Dinky Guardians

Abandoned early access game

The game is too frustrating. * Everything is too slow except for the progression of the enemy waves. * The interface is clunky and it's too easy to get stuck in the wrong mode and be unable to do what's needed (e.g. attack the enemies). * No way to skip the tutorial after having suffered through it one or two times. No way to even skip past the tutorial text boxes; you have to wait for their timer. * The levels seem designed to not allow you to have enough dinkies to actually automate everything that needs to be automated. Even using miners and grabbers, once you open up the second planet, there's too many machines that need interactions on both planets in order to get resources to where they need to go and process them and defend yourself against previously mentioned too-quickly-increasing waves of enemies. I sort of wish my first game had gotten to its null-reference exceptions (yes, it's buggy also) in time for me to realize that i should get a refund.

Dinky Guardians, developed by Endless Loop Studios in collaboration with Code Monkey and published by Endless Loop Studios, is a hybrid management game that quietly builds complexity beneath a playful exterior. At first glance, it presents itself as a lighthearted colony simulator centered around small cloned creatures known as Dinkys, but as the systems unfold, it becomes clear that the real focus lies in automation, optimization, and the gradual transformation of a fragile settlement into a self-sustaining network of production. It’s a game that rewards patience and planning, offering a steady sense of progression rather than immediate spectacle. The early hours are intentionally simple, placing players in control of a handful of Dinkys tasked with gathering resources and maintaining basic survival. These initial steps feel almost intimate, as every action requires direct input and oversight. Food must be secured, materials must be collected, and every decision has a visible impact on the colony’s stability. This phase acts as a foundation, teaching players how systems interact before gradually introducing more advanced tools. The reliance on Dinkys as a workforce also creates a…

TLDR: It's exactly what it claims to be: a simple factory game with not much thought needed. Think Astroneer back in beta. Full review: I played Factorio, Satisfactory, Dyson Sphere Program, Astroneer, Foundry, Shapez, Blueprint Tycoon, you name it--if you build a factory, I've probably played it. This one is... okay. It feels like Astroneer did back in early access--despite being a full release game. Everything is just a little bit clunky. The animations are a bit wonky and your arms clip into your torso constantly. The graphics are simplistic to put it nicely. Picking up things is awkward since you can't use your cursor, only the position of your character. Placing anything precisely is impossible--say goodbye to neat rows of houses or machines. Throwing objects with any kind of accuracy is also virtually impossible because your character gradually turns in the direction he's moving, but throws in the direction he's facing. So if you're facing left, press right, and immediately throw, you'll throw diagonally instead of straight right because your character isn't done turning right. The character creator is janky too--instead of giving you separate choose the thing, then…

Don't get me wrong, the game is really fun and I can tell there is a lot of love that went into this game, but unfortunately, multiplayer seems to just be too buggy at the moment to be able to play with a friend. I'm willing to consider playing this again once it gets polished up a bit more. Again, really fun game, but impossible to play with multiplayer after having the entire screen glitch and crash from resource accumulation (and the world missions getting bugged, alongside the resource launchers simply not working). After making everything automated and then finally making it to the second world, the first world seemed to just implode and impede further progress.

game breaking bugs in the game. I found out too late to obtain a refund.