Released in 2020, crafting, base-building, and mining sandbox Hydroneer has been an indie success story that sold upwards of 500,000 copies as of 2022. Now it has a full expansion, Journey to Volcalidus, that dumps a huge new environment to mine and profit from: The island of Volcalidus, which is "over 6 times the size of the original island" and comes complete with a town to rebuild.
The expansion also has a huge new crane truck, a slew of new deep-underground resources to mine, and a bunch of lava-powered machinery that harnesses the island's volcano to get work done a bit easier. There are also new systems around augmenting your tools and machines for extra effect while crafting them.
The expansion comes alongside a big patch of free quality of life updates and fixes for anyone who owns Hydroneer. The biggest feature there is building snapping and a lighting rework, but upgrades to how well vehicles handle and a bunch of performance optimizations don't go amiss.
Hydroneer first got PC Gamer's attention back in 2020 because of one questionable innovation: It has no inventory system. That turned out to be great in the eyes of players, and since then hydroneer has gone on to huge success and a pretty polished modern state, getting power and logic systems as well as local multiplayer and vehicles in a big 2.0 update back in 2022.
You can find Hydroneer on Steam alongside expansion Journey to Volcalidus. Hydroneer is currently 50% off—$7.50—until April 12.
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