When does Hydroneer get good?

The first 3 hours are a test. In the first 2 hours 1 in 2 reviews are negative (58%); after 10h it's 1 in 11 (9%). Fully opens up by hour 7.

All games

AdventureCasualIndieSimulationStrategy

Hydroneer

May 8, 2020 Steam: Very Positive

The first 3 hours are a test

Gets good by 3h almost every game dips in hours 2–3

Fully opens up by 7h rated like by long-time players

Started playing 60% of owners

Steam reviews 86% positive of 28,634

What the data shows

In the first 2 hours 1 in 2 reviews are negative (58%); after 10h it's 1 in 11 (9%).
Fully opens up by hour 7.
The opening is criticised more than in 87% of games we track.
The game has no story achievements, so drop-off points can't be measured.
Only 60% of owners have even the first achievement — the rest barely played.

When it gets good

Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.

before it gets good opening up fully opened up

Based on all 28,824 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 294 reviews: 24.3h for positive, 3.3h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.

Where players quit

Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (59.6% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.

This game has no story achievements, so we can't tell where players quit.

All achievements (78)

story milestone ending side

My First Hydrocoin Sell something at the jeweller. 100%
Let There Be Light Turn on the lantern. 86%
Smelt It, Dealt It. Smelt a bar. 85%
Dirty Rock Go Gzz Now Sparkle Cut a gemstone by hand. 76%
A New Home Purchase a new plot of land. 54%
Goodnight Use a bed. 49%
A Dirty Job Produce 1000 dirt from drills. 44%
It's Harvesting Season Process 1000 dirt in harvesters. 43%
Black Friday Purchase 100 items from stores. 40%
Clout Get cloutium ore from a harvester. 36%
Tutorial Complete! Complete the Tutorial. 33%
Masterworkin' Create something using the Masterwork anvil in Icehelm. 33%
Wolf of Bridgepour Sell something at the stock market. 32%
Where did it go? Use the Icehelm item chute. 32%
Hot hot hot! Touch Lava. 32%
Fire In The Hole! Use a logic TNT barrel. 28%
Logical Compression Compress 100 gems in a logic compressor. 26%
Diamonds Are Forever Cut 50 gemstones by hand. 26%
On The Road Again Purchase a new Hydro Truck. 23%
Tall Order Smelt 100 bars. 23%
Bonk. Hit 25 NPCs with vehicles. 22%
HydroCoins Accumulate 100,000 HydroCoins. 21%
Quad Squad Purchase a Hydro Quad. 21%
"one mans trash is another mans hot trash" Use the scrapyard. 20%
Keep On Rollin' Baby, You Know What Time It Is Purchase a Hydro Roller. 19%
Room For Improvement Purchase South Hope Dig Site. 18%
Don't Worry About The Quarry Purchase Dreck Quarry Dig Site. 14%
Where's The Water? Purchase Mildews Aquifer Dig Site. 13%
From The Core Get corestone ore from a harvester. 13%
Master Baiter Catch 100 fish. 13%
Deep Underground Purchase Icehelm Dig Site. 11%
Quartermaster Deliver 10 weapon requests. 10%
Nuclear Miner Use a logic mini nuke. 9.6%
Prospect Guild Tokens Accumulate 10,000 prospect guild tokens. 8.6%
Loyalty Card Purchase 1000 items from stores. 8.4%
I Dig It Purchase a Hydro Mole. 8.2%
Wishing Well Throw coins into a well. 8.2%
It'snow Problem. Purchase Snow Rune Falls Dig Site. 7.6%
Stonks Make 100,000 HydroCoins on the stock market. 6.7%
Soup Kitchen Create 10 soups. 6.4%
Chef Deliver 10 soup requests. 5.9%
Sowing The Seeds Plant 100 crops. 5.7%
Archaeology Donate a bone to the museum. 5.0%
Master Fisherman Get the maximum level rod. 5.0%
Prospective Perspective Purchase a Hydro Prospector. 4.7%
Snowball Fight! Throw a snowball. 4.5%
Franchisee Build a store in New Glade. 3.9%
"scraaaaaaaaap" Scrap 100 items. 3.7%
Indiana Bones Donate 10 bones to the museum. 3.5%
Hydroneering Melt Ice in the Ice Melter. 3.4%
Booooooiiiingg! Activate the truck Easter egg. Why did you folks request this feature?! 3.4%
Green Thumb Grow 1000 vegetables. 3.2%
Thermodynamics Melt 1000 Ice in the Ice Melter. 3.0%
Farming Season Purchase the Hydro Cropper. 2.5%
Farming Guild Tokens Accumulate 10,000 farming guild tokens. 2.2%
Down By The River. Purchase Waterside Dig Site. 2.2%
Scout Guild Tokens Accumulate 10,000 scout guild tokens. 2.0%
Shopping Haul Purchase a Lava Hauler. 2.0%
Restoration Rebuild an abandoned miner. 1.8%
Good as New (Glade) Fully Restore New Glade. 1.8%
Lava Biker Purchase Lava Bike. 1.8%
Oh hi Mark Refine a Forge Mark. 1.8%
Secrets Of The Cave Use relics to find the secrets of the cave. 1.7%
My First Lap Complete a lap on Mot's Island. 1.7%
Thaw's Hammer Purchase a Lava Thaw. 1.7%
Feeling Wasted Put 5000 items into the logic destroyer. 1.5%
Calling Your Bluff Purchase Lumberton Bluff Dig Site. 1.5%
Fully Loaded Withdraw the maximum amount at an abandoned miner. 1.3%
Good Footing Purchase Cinder Footing Dig Site. 1.3%
Where's The Lava? Purchase Scoria Chamber Dig Site. 1.3%
Lucky Roll Get a 3 star buff from a Forge Mark. 1.2%
Bonafide Bone Finder Donate all the bones to the museum. 1.2%
Frosty The Snowman Discover the hidden snowman. 1.2%
SPEEEEEEEEEEEEEED Complete a lap on Mot's Island in under 1:11. 1.2%
Let's Go Down To The Breach, Breach Purchase Shattered Breach Dig Site. 1.2%
Unlucky Roll Get a negative buff from a Forge Mark. 1.0%
Passive Income Rebuild all the abandoned miners. 1.0%
Assassin Throw a snowball at The King. 1.0%

Steam page Updated: 2026-10-18.