Next Up
An experiment by Prashant Matta
Pick another game

In Data Center you: run a simulation, automate machines, work things out

932 of 20,285 games share what you do. These 10 fit best.

Your party Games like Data Center

Keeps what you do. Adds something new.

  1. Tower Networking Inc.

    • Puzzle
    • Co-op
    • Early access
    • Keeps: run a simulation
    • Keeps: automate machines
    • Keeps: work things out

    New here: solve problems your own way, starting over each run

    Why you’d like it: Patching cables into switches and routers to connect clients carries over, but here a tower of random floors adds a strict budget.

    See on Steam: Tower Networking Inc. (opens in a new tab)

  2. Tunnet

    • Horror
    • Solo
    • Doesn’t keep: run a simulation
    • Keeps: automate machines
    • Keeps: work things out

    New here: solve puzzles, exploring

    Why you’d like it: Designing a network so packets route efficiently carries over, but here you also drill tunnels to find new bunkers to connect.

    See on Steam: Tunnet (opens in a new tab)

  3. Rail Route

    • Puzzle
    • Co-op
    • Keeps: run a simulation
    • Keeps: automate machines
    • Keeps: work things out

    New here: solve puzzles, a relaxed pace

    Why you’d like it: Growing a network and earning unlocks to automate it carries over, but here you dispatch trains on real city maps.

    See on Steam: Rail Route (opens in a new tab)

Reserve

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  1. Block Factory

    • Builder
    • Solo
    • Mixed reviews
    • Keeps: run a simulation
    • Keeps: automate machines
    • Keeps: work things out

    New here: solve puzzles, a relaxed pace

    See on Steam: Block Factory (opens in a new tab)

  2. Moon Sweepers

    • Builder
    • Co-op
    • Keeps: run a simulation
    • Keeps: automate machines
    • Doesn’t keep: work things out

    New here: build a base, artificial intelligence

    See on Steam: Moon Sweepers (opens in a new tab)

  3. Modulus: Factory Automation

    • Builder
    • Solo
    • Keeps: run a simulation
    • Keeps: automate machines
    • Keeps: work things out

    New here: build a base, a relaxed pace

    See on Steam: Modulus: Factory Automation (opens in a new tab)

  4. Great Permutator

    • Puzzle
    • Solo
    • Less played
    • Keeps: run a simulation
    • Keeps: automate machines
    • Keeps: work things out

    New here: solve puzzles, a hard challenge

    See on Steam: Great Permutator (opens in a new tab)

  5. Military Incremental Complex

    • Builder
    • Solo
    • Keeps: run a simulation
    • Keeps: automate machines
    • Doesn’t keep: work things out

    New here: make money, the military

    See on Steam: Military Incremental Complex (opens in a new tab)

  6. Good Company

    • Builder
    • Co-op
    • Keeps: run a simulation
    • Keeps: automate machines
    • Keeps: work things out

    New here: build a base, robots

    See on Steam: Good Company (opens in a new tab)

  7. Super Loco World - Cozy Train Automation

    • Builder
    • Solo
    • Keeps: run a simulation
    • Keeps: automate machines
    • Keeps: work things out

    New here: move goods and people, levels that change each time

    See on Steam: Super Loco World - Cozy Train Automation (opens in a new tab)

Played one of these? See what to play after it: TunnetRail RouteMoon SweepersModulus: Factory AutomationMilitary Incremental ComplexGood Company

AI wrote the “Why you’d like it” lines, and a second AI pass checked them against each game’s store page. They can be wrong, so check the store page before you buy.

How this list was made

932 of 20,285 games share what you do. These 10 fit best.

What gets in

A game is what you do in it, so a pick has to share what players say you do most. If fewer than ten games earn a place, the list stays short.

Lists use the tags Steam players vote on, plus each game’s Steam store page.

Less played means far fewer Steam reviews than the game you finished. Mixed reviews means 60 to 69% of its Steam reviews are positive.

What only changes the order

A shared setting, look or popularity can move a game up or down, but it can’t put a game on the list by itself. Being set in space, for example, isn’t enough: a pick has to keep something you do.

What isn’t known

No players have tested this. Newer and smaller games have less data.

Privacy

To learn whether this works, the page records how it’s used. This is all of it.

What’s recorded

Searches

The text you type is never sent to Next Up. If it matches a game Next Up knows but has no list for, only that game’s number is recorded. If it matches nothing, only the fact that it matched nothing is recorded, with a rough length such as 4 to 6 characters.

Suggestions show a small image of each game, loaded straight from Steam’s image servers. So while you type, Steam sees which games’ images your browser asks for, though not the text itself.

The random ID

Your browser keeps a random ID for up to 6 months after your last visit, so repeat visits can be counted. It’s created when the first batch of this record goes out, which is your first action or the first time you leave or switch away from the page, whichever comes first. It’s stored in this browser, not in a cookie.

The ID is kept like this only in the US, Canada outside Quebec, Australia and New Zealand. Everywhere else, nothing is stored for it: the ID lasts only until you close or reload the tab, so a return visit counts as a new one. That’s decided from the location Cloudflare reports for your connection, so a VPN can change it. If it reports no country, or Canada with no region, nothing is stored either.

From your connection

The record keeps your country and region, device type, operating system and browser family, language, and the kind of site you came from. Your IP address, city and network aren’t stored, and this recording uses no cookies. Cloudflare may set a security cookie of its own.

Who else sees a visit

Cloudflare hosts the page and this data, and handles your connection like any web host. Store links and Steam searches go to Steam only if you click them, and Steam then sees that visit.

Game art loads straight from Steam’s image servers (shared.akamai.steamstatic.com and shared.fastly.steamstatic.com): on the first screen’s game tiles as soon as it opens, in search suggestions as you type, and on each list. So your browser contacts Steam for those images, and Steam sees that connection and which games’ images were asked for.

Google Analytics is blocked on this page by its security policy, but the rest of pmatta.design uses it.

AI-written lines

The “Why you’d like it” lines on cards were written by AI ahead of time and checked by a second AI pass. No AI runs while you browse.

How long it’s kept

Up to 13 months.

Turn counting off

Turning it off stops this browser sending anything and removes the ID. The choice is kept in this browser, so clearing site data turns counting back on, and so can a browser that clears such data by itself, as Safari can after 7 days without a visit. If your browser sends Global Privacy Control, counting is already off, and the ID is removed. What was sent before you turned it off is kept for up to 13 months, like the rest.

To ask about any of this, write to privacy@pmatta.design.