Inventorix Beta
The dev of inventorix emailed me offering a steam key to try out the beta. So here I will be putting my notes & feedback as I play.
Here's my previous review of the demo
I submitted my feedback on July 27th, 2025 after making some final notes. Most of my feedback was finished by July 23rd.
I may have more feedback at a later time, but that would go in a separate post
Summary
I started playing on July 15 and have been taking notes since then. 14.2 hours of gameplay as of now, and it is July 23rd today. Some of my notes may be outdated since Inventorix Beta has had some updates since I started playing & taking notes.
I love this game. It is a lot of fun, and who doesn't like a number go big game? There are various different builds that work well. Some are definitely unreasonably stronger than others, but since almost every strategy can win you a run, I'm not bothered by this. There is a lot of RNG, which I think works in Inventorix. Some games would not work as well with this much RNG, I think, but in Inventorix I really like it. However, it would be nice to have more RNG modifiers.
I have one huge issue with it, and it is the difficulty. There appear to be 20 levels of increasing difficulty, but the additional levels just don't really increase the difficulty much, and certainly not fast enough. There are also 10 different devices. Device #5 is proper difficult on higher Levels, Device #9 & 7 have some difficulty. But the device difficulty does not increase from left to right. That's not a big deal, but it's odd that Device #8 is easier than Device #5. Either way, the main issue is that difficulty doesn't meaningfully increase. I like some of the ideas of the increasing difficulties, but they happen too slowly, and with too small of modifiers.
There are also several aliens and some items that are ... utterly useless IMO. I don't mind that some items and aliens are relatively weak, but there are quite a few that seem like they are ... completely pointless to ever take.
And a big thing I want in this game is something to work toward. Perhaps a Device #10 that unlocks after beating all other devices. Perhaps a challenge mode that unlocks after beating all 20 levels + all devices. And then there could be a series of increasing challenges that drastically increase the difficulty. The final challenge could be to get infinity money. It might also be nice to have some build-specific challenges (earn 30+ with a single turtle) that unlock new items for selection in the shop.
ALSO, I'd LOVE to see a Bear item or Bear alien. I don't know what it would/should do, but I love bears and it would just make my day to have a bear alien or item (as long as it's good)
My MANY notes below are in no particular order. I hope some of these notes are helpful. I'm definitely a fan of this game and wishing for it to succeed. I still need to beat Device #5 & finish all the difficulty levels.
Little Notes & Things I like
I like how the aliens look. Aliens seem stronger than when I played the demo, and it seems like there's more variety too. Definitely a good improvement. Productier is SO good.
Hovering on spaceball - shows descriptions of all spaceballs. I like this.
Being able to move all items with arrow keys is really great.
Underdoggy + Trigon + Planetoken is awesome. 131,076 on my final extraction (end of payment 8).
Seeing Gnomes for the first time at level 8 was very exciting.
Quality of Life Issues & Suggestions
Upgrading items - When you hold an item over an identical item (such that you upgrade if you drop the item), the extract money value doesn't change. It would be nice if it did. I was merging two teletubes together. With both down I make 8 money. With one picked up I make 4 money (this updates while I'm holding the teletube). After merging, I make 6 money. It would have been nice to see the 6 before merging.
It might be nice to be able to revert my setup to the start of the current turn. So, when I choose a new item, it saves the state of the board just before I place it. If I revert, then the newly chosen item would be in the discard area and all my existing items would be back where they were. I don't think such a feature is necessary, and being stuck with your choices is sometimes part of the fun, so idk I could actually go either way.
I think the extract button should be able to display up to 9,999 instead of doing x.xE3
A 'New Run' button in the 'Options' menu (during a run) would be nice. Should require confirmation before abandoning the current run for a new run.
When hovering on an item it says how much I made 'Last Turn' and its really hard to read the number (actually the number next to 'Gives' is hard to read too, but not as bad). I think partially because of the size, partially because it is a little greyed out or a little transparent? But also the blue color of the number on the dark background is just hard to read. The numbers in the text box (light grey bg) are easy to read. The black text 'Gives' on the dark background is also easy to read. But the blue on the dark bg is very hard to read. A setting to change the color might be nice, cuz it could have something to do with my monitor (a budget gaming laptop screen).
When text pops up (like 'Another Alien Unlocked') it would be nice to be able to click the text box to make it disappear, rather than waiting for it to timeout.
When picking items, some items overlap if next to eachother (TripleC, Oh-Ring, C-Shape)
Once I've started a run, I'd like a way to see what my current device does. Perhaps a question mark in the bottom right corner or in the options menu or something.
The first time I noticed the boss incoming, I was confused, and didn't know what it was doing. I thought maybe some "incoming" text on the boss's description might be good. But I think this was just something I needed to learn by playing.
When I want to re-work my entire inventory, I remove everything to the discard zone first. Once I do that, some items overlap, all items are overlayed with a discard value, and I can't tell what tier different items are. It would be nice if I could hide the discard values (maybe when I hover over one, all the overlays disappear? Or maybe a checkbox, but that seems cumbersome). It would be nice if like-items were next to eachother, or if there were a 'sort' button to do that when I want to. Some items also overlap eachother in the discard area. I wonder if the panel of aliens could move over (most of the way off the screen) to make room for more discard items so they don't overlap. I also can't tell what tier an item is while I am clicking-and-dragging it. This is fine normally, but a nuisance when dragging out of the discard area.
Level 10 says 'Encounter another Boss', but it seems like I still only see one boss on each run. Is it a harder boss? Or am I just not seeing one of the bosses? I think having two bosses would be great. (I have since realized that the spaceship shows multiple different bosses/aliens in it. I think hovering on the spacecraft OR any of the bosses could show the text boxes of all the bosses in the spacecraft)
When hovering over locked devices, it says "LOCKED: (text) to unlock". I think this would be fine without the "to unlock", or if it were "TO UNLOCK: (text)". Or if it were "(text) to unlock". Personally, I like "LOCKED: (text)". I just think having both is redundant though and makes it read a little awkward.
For items like Infinitoken and Everroll, that can level up tiers forever - Once you hit the max tier, I'd like to see what the next tier is. So Tier 3 gets moved to the middle of the listed tiers & I can see what Tier 4 is.
I'd like to access the Codex while in a run (and not have to return to the main menu)
In the first couple payments, it is possible but EXTREMELY difficult to hover over the bosses and see what they do, bc the icons are so small.
Item & Alien Tweaks
Communist alien (each existing item becomes common, but -3 items): -3 items seems a bit steep, -2 items might be better. I didn't have Starrosa when I selected Communist, but then I saw Starrosa and it said it was 'common' (codex says its rare), so I think 'existing item' may not be the best wording.
Might be nice if A.R. Row (items in a random grid row get 1 more per cell) would only choose from rows that have at least one cell unlocked.
Lord Tolken - I'm confused about what it does. 'Respawn' makes me think that I have to discard the token & then it would respawn in my inventory. But since it says "if you pick", I think it might spawn a second one even if I leave the token in my inventory, or maybe it's a 10% chance to appear in the shop after extraction. I don't think I've ever had the 10% chance be successful, despite having a token-heavy run once. Perhaps 10% is also too low a chance.
I like starting with a Selector, but I don't think I've ever seen one show up to add after extraction. (I assume this is because it is "unique". Perhaps "unique" items could drop still, but ONLY be used for upgrading an existing placement, so you still can't have two copies)
Jellius - "Gives combined value ..." Is it a sum of values or a product of values? (Cactoid also says "combined", and I'm assuming it is a sum)
Some tokens could be buffed. The token that gets you two rerolls - when merging two into Tier II or Tier III, you should get one extra reroll. The token that discards for 10 money when merged actually becomes worse. I think the Tier 2 should discard for 20 while generating 1 per turn so that Tier 2 is actually better than tier 1. The token that discards for 3 (I), 9 (II), and 27 (III) is significantly worse than the discard for 10. I like the idea of having a token that scales, but I think it should scale more - 3 (I), 27 (II), and 81 (III) or something. That way it actually becomes better than the other token if you scale it. (July 19 - I just noticed Infinitoken is now 4, 16, 64. This is great) (July 23 - I think 3, 27, 81 would be better than 4, 16, 64)
T1-Rex doesn't seem to add any difficulty. Only tier 1 items giving money doesn't matter since I'm already rich by the time payment 9 comes. (I since realized that the boss doesn't take money from what I've collected. I only realized this when playing Device #5. So yeah, actually I think this can be a good boss)
Tierexponix - I thought it would downgrade all my items by ONE tier, but it downgraded all of them to Tier 1. I think this is fine, but it should be more clear from the wording (I had tier 7 and tier 8 Everrolls)
Difficulty
Difficulty scaling is too slow IMO (playing device #0, though I have since played all the devices and feel the same way). I like that level 1 is limited classes, and that level 2 unlocks all classes. I like that Payment 6 is added at level 3. But making 6 payments isn't actually more difficult. It's more fun because I get to rock my build a little longer. But it isn't harder. Maybe Level 2 could be 'Add Payment 6 AND Blocker', then Level 3 is 'Add Payment 7 AND Obnox Elder'. Also Blocker & Obnox Elder could be more difficult. You could also add more blockers and/or more obnox elders on subsequent levels. Obnox Elder could be a permanent alien that is non-removable and/or close more cells. Perhaps it could add an alien slot. 5% increase in payments is not a big enough increase IMO. Only increasing payment on later turns (Level 9: Payment 8 +10%) is not a difficulty increase IMO. The only challenging part is getting a build going in the first few payments, since the money I'm generating scales by large multipliers, but the payments only scale by a small margin each time. Device #6 is the first time I've felt a meaningful difficulty increase (I've played devices 0, 3, & 4 before playing 6). Adding some device-specific difficulty increases would also be great - like Device 6 would be more challenging if I only got to pick 4 items instead of 5 or if it were 'Subtotal x2' (or x2.5). This would also add replayability because there would be more differences between runs with different devices. Device 9 adds some felt difficulty (for the early payments), but the cost of items should increase with each payment. Also, items costing money could be a difficulty on one of the levels instead of (or in addition to) being a device.
I was very excited to see Level 8 is going to have a Boss Encounter. The boss's ability was to make aliens and items that SPAWN only be common. I already had my build, so this didn't affect me (and wouldn't have affected me on most of my other runs either). (I had an AutoAdd III, CarrierMul, and TripleCIII, plus some big buffs from aliens/gnomes. Last turn I got 1.7E10 points!). I think some bosses just need to be more difficulty, or perhaps apply for an entire run, not just the last payment.
Bugs
The Extract value is wrong when dealing with Wayfinders. AutoAdd (my only item) got me 6 last turn. So 'Extract' says it'll give me 6. It says this no matter where AutoAdd is placed (even if I know I'm getting less than 6). I also had this problem with AutoMul in another run. I think it should say 0+ like it does for the chance items.
Obnox Elder should close a free cell EVERY turn, or perhaps close 2 or 3 cells on the last turn and be impossible to remove. It's just not a real difficulty increase to have to spend an extra 10 to remove it in the first 5 turns.
Subtotalix - I was on payment 9 of device 7 with Subtotalix in an Alien slot. I discarded several items, then extracted. I only got a couple hundred thousand points for something that shoulda been like E15. And Subtotalix didn't depart. I completed the boss payment, though. The boss was just ... 2 fewer aliens and items offered iirc (I might have had another boss that I didn't notice. I'm not sure). I started Endless. On my next payment, subtotalix departed and I got 7E18 subtotal. (Also I'm wondering how Patron works with this device. I tried to test it, but failed the next payment so didn't get to find out.)
I had Multibonix AND Diversix selected. Diversix triggered & departed, but Multibonix did not. Multibonix DID trigger on the next extraction. (I have no issue with this if it is intended, but thought it might be a bug)
Suggested New Items
I'd like other items similar to the selector: Make a class of item LESS likely to appear (or cause a class never to appear, maybe at Tier 2 or 3), items of the target class spawn with an upgraded tier, items of a target rarity more/less likely to appear
Might be nice to have an item that increases the number of aliens I am able to have.
Major Gameplay suggestions and notes
I'd like to upgrade aliens sometimes - especially the weak ones, like 'get 3 money if your extract value is a multiple of 3'.
Some of the aliens are too weak imo. There is good variety, and plenty strong ones, so I think weaker ones are okay, but I feel some of the are still too weak.
It might be fun to have some aliens that have both a positive AND negative effect.
I'd love to see a Device #10 that unlocks only when you've WON with devices 0-9 (maybe also having beaten the highest difficulty once). And possibly a device #11 that only unlocks when you've beaten the hardest difficulty with Device #10. With this, I'd feel like I'm working toward something. Perhaps a Device #11 could require me to get infinite money (perhaps on endless)
Devices
Device #5 unlock - 'without unsnapping any items' Does this mean to not select anything from the market? Or does this mean not moving anything in my inventory? Maybe both? (It means not moving items after I've placed them in my inventory. I think the wording is okay, but perhaps "without moving any items" would be clearer. I'm not sure)
Device #2 - Surprisingly added some difficulty. I really didn't expect it to, but it was definitely an added challenge dealing with my cells constantly closing. Though, I did a teletube build, and I'm sure I could have gone for something a lot stronger.
Device 8 - The deduction for opening cells is quite small and does not add difficulty imo, except maybe for the 2nd payment.
Device #5 is very difficult when getting the boss that only allows tier 1 items to make money. I think this is great. I think that boss could be good as a device instead (or as well).