Oxygen Not Included update adds 'critter ranching'

Oxygen Not Included is a sci-fi management sim about clones building an underground base inside in asteroid, currently in Early Access. Since it's from Klei, the makers of Don't Starve, you know it involves very bad things happening to those clones, or Duplicants as they call them, but the latest update seems to add something nice for those poor Dupes: pets.

The Ranching Upgrade Mark 1 is the first of two planned updates, with the second to follow in six weeks time. Though Klei can't say exactly what they're saving for Mark 2, "...we can say that it will increase the depth of critter loops and utility, and will further build on the mechanical foundations laid in this half of the upgrade. (And maybe there'll be a new species...)"

As for what's in the Mark 1 update, there's quite a lot to it. Here's Klei again to explain: "Critter ranching allows you to interact with critters in a variety of new ways and integrate them into the daily routine of your colony. Duplicants, particularly those employed as Ranchers, can care for Hatches, Shine Bugs, and Pufts to increase their happiness, farm additional resources from them, and even breed new critters for your herd."

There's also a new encyclopedia of critters, new varieties of geyser, and various performance tweaks and bug fixes. Full notes can be found here.

Jody Macgregor
Weekend/AU Editor

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.