Substructure Revealed as Next-Gen Factory Builder with Subterranean Layers

If you enjoy independent indie game coverage, consider supporting Indie-Games.eu on Patreon. It helps keep the site independent.

Substructure is a new top-down factory automation and base-building game announced as the headline factory title for publisher Hooded Horse during the PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted 2025. It is being developed by UK indie studio Dubious Design, created by two former makers of the popular Factorio mod Ultracube. The game sends players on a sci-fi mission to industrialize a strange rogue planet speeding toward Earth.

Players lead a rushed expedition to its lush yet unsettling surface, then dig deep beneath it to explore layered underground biomes. The goal is to harvest alien materials, build efficient production chains, and slowly uncover the deadly mysteries hidden at the planet’s core.

In fact, the environment itself shapes how factories grow. Heat, humidity, light, and rocks sensitive to sunlight force you to think carefully about where to place machines and how to collect resources. Because each biome behaves differently, progress requires building vertically and spreading infrastructure across multiple levels beneath the surface.

Gameplay begins small, with players planting crops to power simple generators. Over time, automation expands into large drone-driven systems and logic-controlled mega-factories. This means you will process rare materials, drill through huge caverns, and build programmable elevators and platforms to move goods between the planet’s many layers.

Substructure is also designed for both solo and cooperative play. It supports matchmaking with many players and includes modding tools from launch, letting users create custom resources, recipes, and other content. A release date has not yet been confirmed, but Substructure is planned for an Early Access launch on Steam.