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The Crust
Build and automate a lunar colony that Earth depends on. Mine regolith, run conveyor-and-drone factories above and below the surface, manage colonists, trade with rival Earth factions — and play a story campaign with multiple endings.
In short, Steam reviewers most often praise “Deep automation and base-building systems” (65 of 104 reviews) and “Frequent updates and active developers” (18); the most common complaint is “Game-breaking late-game bugs” (20). What reviewers agree on ↓
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-30 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-13.
What reviewers agree on
65 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“I do not recommend this in its current state. The positive: - reasonably good looking - good voice acting - polished UI appearance - a decent-looking and diverse gameplay loop The negative: - insultingly petty and…”
“not for kids... intelligent and demanding. good planning and a quiet brain is needed for this game”
“While I understand this game is Early Access, I cannot recommend it at this stage. There are many fun building elements, which I have immensely enjoyed, but at the same time, there are also a lot of "game breaking" bugs…”
18 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“Fun game. After an initial very slow start, the dev's have been pumping out some significant updates. These focus on QOL, optimizations, game function via controls and things like how the drone and conveyors function.…”
“It’s already a great game, and it has the potential to get even better. I’ve run into a few bugs, but the developers are constantly fixing them. The music is excellent, though the gameplay slows down a bit halfway…”
“I had this game on my wishlist for a couple of years before buying it. It was fun, but did require some planning and learning so stopped until I had the time to learn it properly so... fast forward to today. I had some…”
11 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“not for kids... intelligent and demanding. good planning and a quiet brain is needed for this game”
“Solid game with a good difficulty level. It's hard enough to be challenging while playing casually, but not so hard that it feels like you have to save scum after every mistake. If you like factory games and colony…”
“One of the most captive features of this game for me is OST... It's just irresistible... Thanks! Overall impression is very positive and addictive... Even release of Older Era could not take me out... Technically - only…”
11 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“I do not recommend this in its current state. The positive: - reasonably good looking - good voice acting - polished UI appearance - a decent-looking and diverse gameplay loop The negative: - insultingly petty and…”
“(Kickstarter!) The Crust is an interesting mix of automation and business management. It's not quite Factorio, it doesn't have the same depth or scale of building a factory that spans the planet. But it expands the…”
“One of the most captive features of this game for me is OST... It's just irresistible... Thanks! Overall impression is very positive and addictive... Even release of Older Era could not take me out... Technically - only…”
9 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“Solid game with a good difficulty level. It's hard enough to be challenging while playing casually, but not so hard that it feels like you have to save scum after every mistake. If you like factory games and colony…”
“(Kickstarter!) The Crust is an interesting mix of automation and business management. It's not quite Factorio, it doesn't have the same depth or scale of building a factory that spans the planet. But it expands the…”
“Still has a little ways to go, but i like the story and the factory mechanics. And things like fuel generators and outposts aren't all that clear how to use them.”
20 of the 104 reviews raise this · 8 of them still recommend the game.
“Do not buy until stable release. The game is promising and I love a lot of concepts it introduces. But for now... You can spend 20 hours in your run to then get an update that soft/hard-locks your progress. I hope…”
“The game itself shows a promising base. Bugs are to be expected, since this is an Early Access release, and the game has plenty. Unfortunately one of the biggest problems is performance currently, but the developers…”
“Why you should not play this game. Depending on menu, close might be an X, a back arrow, a minimize button, on the right or left, or a button below If you see a contract and click "I'll think about it", it's gone if you…”
13 of the 104 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“While I really like the idea of the game and its great potenial, i see the following major issues (for me): - overall gamespeed is SLOW, even at max acceleration, it feels like normal speed after a while, still becoming…”
“Do not buy until stable release. The game is promising and I love a lot of concepts it introduces. But for now... You can spend 20 hours in your run to then get an update that soft/hard-locks your progress. I hope…”
“I played 20-some hours before I got bored of waiting for the research of the next five things on the tech tree that I need to build the one thing I actually need next. The devs need to look at when you can produce what…”
11 of the 104 reviews raise this · 5 of them still recommend the game.
“Why you should not play this game. Depending on menu, close might be an X, a back arrow, a minimize button, on the right or left, or a button below If you see a contract and click "I'll think about it", it's gone if you…”
“While I understand this game is Early Access, I cannot recommend it at this stage. There are many fun building elements, which I have immensely enjoyed, but at the same time, there are also a lot of "game breaking" bugs…”
“This game was designed for the developers. They are the only people who will begin this game and understand it. The tutorial is abysmal. The concept is great, but the execution is disappointing. The configuration…”
9 of the 104 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“While I really like the idea of the game and its great potenial, i see the following major issues (for me): - overall gamespeed is SLOW, even at max acceleration, it feels like normal speed after a while, still becoming…”
“The game itself shows a promising base. Bugs are to be expected, since this is an Early Access release, and the game has plenty. Unfortunately one of the biggest problems is performance currently, but the developers…”
“This "Thing" has more bugs then the Amazon... Are they getting addressed? No not really. Apparently it's more important to have 3000 Options when it comes to Tech then a Smooth Client.”
8 of the 104 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“While I really like the idea of the game and its great potenial, i see the following major issues (for me): - overall gamespeed is SLOW, even at max acceleration, it feels like normal speed after a while, still becoming…”
“Despite the game being in EA for nearly 2 years, the Devs are mostly focused on delivering Performance improvements and forget about delivering deep content for the game. After almost 2 years, the game feels as empty as…”
“This game was designed for the developers. They are the only people who will begin this game and understand it. The tutorial is abysmal. The concept is great, but the execution is disappointing. The configuration…”
Counted across 104 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 75.7% positive rating · as of 2026-05-13
“Ive finished the game twice, it lags towards the end. However, its one of the most fun base building I've played. And despite being in "early access", the dev have shipped big improvements since I've started to play. Every few months, there is a new big update. I highly…”
— a player, Steam review · 174 hrs played“I really dismissed this game at first. I thought it was ok but not that great. After giving it another shot I see I was totally wrong. There is so much more depth to this game than I imagined. The tech tree is vast and deep. So much to control and work on. They are active in dev…”
— a player, Steam review · 125 hrs played“Regardless of my playtime, I can't in good conscious recommend this game. The base structure of how the game mechanics work, and premisse regarding why they work that way are very good, The lore itself is also very well made, the whole storyline is well written and your…”
— a player, Steam review · 471 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-06 via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-10-23.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-10-23). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
Hotfix 1.0.45
Added Added new upgrades to the Tech Center: increased speed of all production module +10%. Added new upgrades to the Tech Center: increased organic growth speed in all farms +7%. Fixed Fixed an issue
Hotfix 1.0.40
Fixed a bug where the recipe would not be set in modules whose construction was started in a previous version (1.0.30). Fixed a bug where, in some cases, drones could get stuck while constructing, cha
Hotfix 1.0.38.1
Fixed Fixed a bug where drones assigned to the Cargo Drone Reconfiguration Module would get stuck inside it and fail to convert into cargo drones.
Update 1.0.38
Fixed Fixed a bug where balance changes were not applied to older saves. Fixed one of the possible causes of a bug where, in some cases, quests would stop progressing and would all appear at once when
Hotfix 1.0.30
Added Added a new encyclopedia page: Manufacturer. Fixed Fixed a bug where colonists remained assigned to deleted workplaces in the Kitchen. Fixed a bug where negative gas values could be obtained in
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-09-29.
| Genres | Simulation, Strategy |
| Player tags | Early Access · Base-Building · Space · Colony Sim · Automation · Resource Management · Sandbox · Strategy · City Builder · Building · Simulation · Management (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Steam Achievements · Steam Cloud · Steam Leaderboards · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English * , Russian * , French, German, Spanish - Spain, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Portuguese - Brazil, Polish, Italian, Spanish - Latin America, Japanese, Turkish * |
| Achievements | 28 |
| Official site | https://veomstudio.com/the-crust/ |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS *: Windows 7 64-bit or newer Processor: Intel i5-4590K or equivalent AMD-Hardware Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: GeForce 1060 or equivalent with 6GB of video RAM DirectX: Version 11 Storage: 8 GB available space