A fantastic factory sim. The combination of deformable terrain and vehicles is fascinating and different. Production chains are complex and full of ways to optimize performance.

However.
The decision to release functional content as a paid DLC while remaining Early Access has decimated my confidence in these Devs.

From the Dev's own EA statement:
"[DLC] will be niche additions and not required for the main experience."
"The full release is planned to be feature complete with a finished progression & endgame..."

Logically this means that DLC content is meant to be things that are not considered core features. I would argue that, for a factory sim, logistics is the whole point of the game. Efficiently get product A to point B, product B to point C, and so on. Therefore, alternate fuel trains and the ability to ship molten materials absolutely should be considered a core feature of the game. Treating it as 'niche' and 'not required' is counter to the spirit of the entire genre.

Semantics aside, I feel like this behavior is predatory and intentionally takes advantage of the most devoted fans. They could have created some kind of cosmetic pack. Vehicle skins, more road materials, seasonal map themes, UI skins... I could go on. They did not. I understand that these things would have taken development time and effort, but I strongly believe it would have been worth it. A good cosmetic pack would absolutely sell well among the core players while also maintaining positive community sentiment. This decision to cordon off content that was almost certainly originally intended to be part of the core game is in poor taste. It demonstrates a desire to extract money from the install base with minimal effort and sets a bad precedent.

Avoid.

Adjacent Rant.
I am sick and tired of Early Access games. Developers are no longer using it as a means to finetune a game using community feedback and are instead abusing it to fund meandering projects with no concrete goal or vision in mind. I really believe that Valve should impose a time limit on EA status of 2 years at most. Devs need to shrink their scope to something they can handle, rather than coasting on optimism, goodwill, and DLC. If you want to crowd fund your project, go use Kickstarter or something. EA was never supposed to be a method of funding.

I want to start by saying that I genuinely love this game. I’ve put a lot of time into it and I wouldn’t be writing this if I didn’t care about the project or want to see it succeed. Captain of Industry is one of the most engaging factory/management games I’ve played in a long time, and it’s clear the developers have put a lot of thought and passion into building its systems.

However, I strongly disagree with the decision to release DLC while the game is still in Early Access.

This isn’t a criticism unique to this game or this studio — it’s something I feel strongly about across the entire industry. Whether it’s an indie developer, a AA studio, or a AAA publisher, I believe the same principle should apply: finish the base game first, then think about DLC.

Early Access exists so developers can complete and refine the core experience with the support of the community. When players buy into Early Access, they’re effectively investing in the development of the base game with the understanding that the priority is getting it to a complete 1.0 release.

Releasing paid DLC before that point sends the wrong message. It gives the impression that development resources are being split away from finishing the core game, even if that isn’t actually the case internally. From a player’s perspective, it can feel like content that could have been part of the base game is instead being carved out and sold separately while the main product is still unfinished.

I fully understand that additional funding can help support development, especially for smaller studios. I don’t doubt that the developers care about the game and want to continue improving it. But in my opinion, selling DLC during Early Access is not the right way to go about it.

There have been far too many examples in the industry where games enter Early Access, begin selling additional content, and then remain unfinished for years — or worse, never reach a proper full release. I’m not saying that will happen here, and I sincerely hope it doesn’t. Captain of Industry deserves to be completed and polished into the incredible full release it has the potential to become.

But the principle still matters.

When players purchase an Early Access game, they’re putting trust and belief in the project being finished. The focus should remain on delivering a complete, polished core game before introducing paid expansions.

Again, I want to be clear: this criticism comes from someone who genuinely enjoys the game and wants it to succeed. My issue isn’t with the quality of the game or the developers’ talent — it’s with the broader practice of releasing DLC during Early Access.

Finish the game. Bring it to a proper 1.0 release. Once the base experience is complete, I would be far more than happy to support additional DLC and expansions.

But until then, I strongly believe the priority should be finishing the game we all bought into first.

I've owned this game for quite a while but haven't played it very much because I don't want to play an Early Access game. I want to support the developers making games I think have a lot of promise, but I want to play a finished game. I do make some exceptions, like Dyson Sphere Program, so I have intended to do a deep dive into this.

I'm not aware of whatever has gone on before now, I don't know what kind of discussion there has been about this train DLC. But having paid DLC that has actual game content, not just cosmetic stuff, available for purchase for an Early Access game is frankly shocking. I had no idea this was happening until I saw it in my Steam news feed that the DLC has come out.

There is no context I could be told that would change my reaction to this. If the main game cannot be finished without selling parts of the game to people for a second time, the developers have massively mishandled the situation. Using money gained from selling Early Access to a game to develop parts of the game that are then offered to Early Access owners as additional content to be paid for is not acceptable.

Even if I would have loved this game, I wouldn't have paid for it while it was in Early Access if I knew they were going to develop and sell gameplay DLC without finishing the main game.

Edit: Just read what I guess is the developer's pinned FAQ about the train DLC. Absolutely nonsensical, apparently people have been telling them for months this is a scumbag move and the response is basically "screw you shut up" and they've gone ahead anyway. I regret purchasing this game.