Deck & Conn

Really pleasant surprise that just randomly popped up on my radar a few weeks back, a game that scratches my very specific autistic itch of a 90s-core throwback ship command simulator in the style of EGA Trek (but without the weird racism). There isn't a huge amount of content on offer, just procedurally generated patrol taskings where you go, sail around (it's a *ship*, not a piddly little space fighter) and look for enemy ships to engage, take as prizes, respond to distress calls from merchants and... that's kind of it? Not hugely mechanically deep and complex either, it's no Dangerous Waters, it's not even Highfleet, but it makes up for it with style and wonderful tactility. I really hope it gets expanded upon, it's a really good starting point mechanically and I'd love to see new ships, new weapons, new enemy ship types and patrol objectives (I can't believe I'm saying this but give us convoy escort taskings please), maybe even fleet actions? I won't mind if it isn't either, a passion project is a passion project and unlike the average Steam user I wouldn't dream of slapping on a thumbs down just because a solo developer working in her spare time dared to not adhere to a live service update cadence, but well, a game like this is a rare treat. Either way I can see myself enjoying this every now and then even if it never gets an update at all.

Great atmosphere, sounds and is fun to play. This is a turn based sequence game, meaning that you can't just shoot or fly away. You have to go through the required steps every time and at the same time keep an eye on potential enemies and make sure that you have enough power. The game gives you help doing the right sequence for the task, but it doesn't hold you hand and gives you everything on a plate. You have to figure lots of things out yourself by trail and error, which makes the experience even better. You can even do (almost) everything from the control panel by typing in commands rather than clicking on the buttons buttons! You need to have patience until you learned the all the correct sequence steps, and when you do it really makes you feel like a commander on a space ship. Highly recommended!

I cant in good conscience recommend this game at the moment, I want to, I really really want to. But it just feels like an unpolished EA version of what will one day be a great game. The core concept is great, and its exactly what the devs advertised. But the tutorial is vague at best, and even the first mission devolved into me waiting an hour just to get to the fight, because i got stuck in a system with 3 other ships and each "round" took 60 seconds to complete, and all that was happening was moving 1 tile. If the devs keep updating, and release some optimizations and redo the tutorial, I would be more than happy to come back and play this game again and even change my recommendation. But for now I cant give this a yes.

The game oozes character and the style and tone are spot on. However at its current, recently launched state, I cannot recommend it. I played through the tutorials and a single patrol mission and already upgraded 50% of ships meaningful upgrades. And just by doing one mission, I got access to Nukes, which seemed the only upgrade which was behind a sort of wall (You have to EARN the right). One more mission and the progression itself would just come to an end. It just isn't a good deal for 15€. A lot of the games systems are shallower than first seems, or perhaps their inner workings are so well shrouded from the player that their depth isn't visible. Things like: damage types (EMP, explosion, railgun, nuke, is there even a difference really?), what the crew REALLY even does and what does taking damage to ship systems even means. Or what it means to your enemies? I see things like: "Critical hit!" but it doesn't seem like its reflected in the damage indicators anywhere. It didn't feel like I got critically hit. It was just, minor damage to a thing that gets fixed in literally one or two turns. You are just spraying enemies with railguns and torpedoes and waiting for invisible dice to fall without even knowing what things factor into their spinning. Even in this short time span the combat started to feel simplistic with little feedback on if what you were to your advantage or disadvantage. The battle logs are cool and helpful, but awfully thin in variety. I love the doodaads and buttons and checklists and all that, but in the end lot of these systems are shallower and less charismatic than what Objects in Space had to offer. Like many others in the reviews and forums still remember OiS, and what unfortunate state it was left in. I feel like all this development time could have just gone in to fix what was broken, instead of building a new charming, but inferior product. I hope the updates redeem this, but we shall see... Its an early access product wrapped in a sparkly 1.0 cloth that disappoints after a few hours. There were more things to talk about but this is already long enough. Looks cool, feels nice (for a bit), and then that's it. (And don't get me started on no saving between missions)

I'm sure this game has their audience but I didn't find this as fun as objects in space.

Controls frustrating to use. Have had to click on items more than once to register. Had a plotted course disappear for no reason. Had torpedoes go off in the opposite direction and explode in a nearby space damaging my ship. Targeting of an enemy ship disappears between turns. it's at the point that I stopped playing this game until an update fixes control issues.

Really fun game. Exactly the 90s sim / Microprose nostalgia I have been wanting for a while, but with some modern conveniences. Love the immersion. Don't be put off by early reviews - mid mission save would be great, but so far I don't see any issue with just making sure you have 30 min or so before starting each mission. Great job on this game!

Cant locate the APU nor do i know what its, so the to resolve this issue i pressed "Refunded" then Execute.....