Dinner is served in Star Birds' latest early access update, adding bakeries and restaurants to the Dorfromantik devs' factory management sim: 'Ever fed an alien pizza?'

Factory management sim Star Birds surprised us when it landed on Steam early access late last year. Intrepid explorer Robin Valentine went into Toukana Interactive's latest game expecting a chill, cosy experience similar to Dorfromantik.

But he discovered that its cutesy visuals and gentle onboarding belied a game of serious puzzling depth. "As a puzzle it becomes exponentially tricky. Each asteroid or planet only houses a small number of possible resources, making effective shipping between them vital," he wrote in September last year. "It starts to feel like trying to fit all the components of a circuit board in a functioning layout on the surface of a potato."

Up to this point, Star Birds' puzzling has been limited to synthetic resource production. Now, though, things are about to get more involved with the addition of organic production chains. Earlier this week, Toukana introduced its Flora & Fauna update to Star Birds, adding alien plants, food production, and a frankly concerning number of tentacles.

Much of this revolves around the new star system players can explore. Paradeira is a green and pleasant sector of space bustling with organic life. Primarily, this life can be harnessed to produce food for your avian astronauts. You can plant seeds, harvest plants, and cook delicious dishes in new buildings like the bakery and the Bird Restaurant.

Some plants and animals serve other purposes, however. Volt Shrooms, which grow on asteroids, can be used as an alternative power source. Meanwhile, those tentacular creatures I mentioned lurk in asteroid craters, denying you valuable construction space. Fortunately, they can be coaxed back into their holes with a spot of dinner. "Ever fed an alien pizza?" the developers write. "Now's the moment!"

You'll explore all these new mechanics across three additional levels, which Toukana says are "longer and more complex than the intro levels from the earlier star systems." Star Birds now allows players to generate their own levels too, enabling you to play beyond what Toukana has specifically laid out for you.

Toukana is already working on the next update, with an additional level that introduces yet more aliens and mechanics currently being tested in the game's beta branch. If you fancy checking that and the rest of Star Birds out, the game's currently on a 25% discount at $15 (£12.50). The sale ends on February 5.

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