Hardspace: Shipbreaker

One of the greatest hard sci-fi games out there that immerses you in a cyberpunk corporate hell setting without showing a single moment of it during gameplay. The game is truly fantastic and deserves all the ratings it received. Hopefully one day we can get a sequel and/or a multiplayer update.

Chill

Great game, relaxing 3D puzzle

the game has improved ill keep it this time

After spending a hundred hours in this game, finishing the story twice, and getting literally every single achievement, I can pretty confidently say that the game is good. Gameplay is insanely satisfying, and actually allows for a handful of playstyles. Me personally, I like to do everything in my power to salvage every single credit off of a ship. It's tedious, sure, but I find it rewarding. Some people, however, have taken the way of (I'm not sure how to spell it) hakuchido, where instead of thoughtfully cutting and removing pieces, you just cut with reckless abandon in an attempt to get as much salvaged as you can in the 15 minute shifts you're given. However, this game is nowhere near "immaculate dome from God himself" levels of good. It is impossible, for multiple reasons, to actually 100% any given ship. Various cuts make material disappear, the designers at times force you to destroy salvage (ECU coolant pipes, my mortal enemy), depressurizing ships becomes less of "careful thought and planning" and more of "cut the doors, hang on tight, and hope for the best", and some ship designs... well, let me tell you about the two I have gripes with. First one is the Javelin class: a long dong of a ship that is able to carry cargo or fuel, and it's really more of a pain in the ass to actually do. Every time you want to take off a chunk of the outer hull, you have to use up an extra tether to pull it away, lest the piece gets caught on the aluminum skeleton and sends it all twirling across the yard. On top of that, some Javelin designs feature a massive fuel tank in the middle, and while on paper it doesn't seem so bad, you have to realize that this thing is caged up in both aluminum and nanocarbon, there's no way you can just cut off the blocking pieces. No, what you have to do, after flushing the fuel system, is [i] plant explosives around the tank [/i] so that way you can free up the nanocarbon around it. That's right, you plant explosives right next to the other giant explosive. Just plant them at the furthest point you can, and you're good. The second ship, the Atlas, was designed by a sadistic engineer who probably was inspired by American automobile engineering and thought "they didn't make it hard enough". The main part of the ship is fine, I don't even remember how those go. It's those stupid thrusters that I hate. See, what this engineer thought whilst sitting upon his demonic throne was "I'll put the fuel flush valve [i] behind [/i] the thruster core, and to take out the thruster core, they'll have to cut [i][u] four [/u][/i] fuel lines in quick succession! [b][i] MUAHAHAHAHAHA! [/i][/b]". Of course, this alone was not enough for the demon prince, and he added but one extra layer to his evil: "And when they finally flush the fuel, the surrounding case will cleave itself in twain, hurtling salvage directly towards the furnace! Genius!" And lo, the design was submitted, but the developers, be it through malice or incompetence, left a cherry atop this sundae of hot sauce. When the case splits, for some reason, you become in danger of being crushed. I do not know why two pieces splitting apart registers as "Oh god I'm about to get squashed", but what do I know. That does lead me into another problem I have with the game, the physics does tend to spaz out and send very important stuff flying. Mind you, this is not due to depressurization, this is simply detaching parts with your grapple. On multiple occasions, tables have gotten stuck inside floors, computers have gone flying, and I think once or twice I've gotten smacked with a terminal. Not really a dealbreaker, but it's a bit of a nuisance to do everything right and still lose those credits. Welp. Guess I gotta talk about that stupid story. Honestly, I can't really add anything new. On my first playthrough, the second I heard "they used to form these groups called unions", I checked out on the story. I knew from then on that this story was going to be super canned with a dash of cringe. Really, the major problem I have with this story, besides the dumb dialogue, is that the player character is just a cardboard cutout. Everyone talks [i] at [/i] you, not [i] to [/i] you. I feel like there was a seed of good that got snuffed somewhere by a suit, because there's all this design and mystery around [spoiler] AI nodes [/spoiler], seriously, where was THAT story? That story is ten times better than the trash we got. Oh well, you can either stomach it or install Cheat Engine and fast forward through it if it's really that bad. So, that's about the long of it. A really good game design principle with satisfying gameplay, marred by physics bugs and a writer who should be nowhere near a video game. Or a word processor, now that I think about it. But anyways, buy this game. It's worth it.

Taking apart the ships is probably the most satisfying job sim gameplay loop out there. The story is on the other hand genuinely one of the worst portrayed messages I have ever experienced in a game. And they make you pay attention to it. It is a critique of capitalist power structures and unfair labor laws, the corporation is cartoonishly evil and everyone there is stupid and all it takes is [spoiler] the public finding out and instantly the labor union has an advantage over the company and can demand whatever they want????? [/spoiler] This entire story is about unions vs corporations yet is completely uninterested in the actual history of these labor disputes and how they can play out in tragic and catastrophic ways. The narrative ends up coming off as starship trooper levels of propaganda but for left leaning beliefs, Good gameplay though

To paraphrase Tenacious D's "Pick of Destiny" - I f*cking love this game, it is the best game ever. PERIOD! But in all seriousness, this is an amazing game. The storyline in and of itself is irrlevant, though adds world immersion to the experience which makes a really nice addition, and I throughly enjoyed going through it, but it is really superfluous to the final experience, being fork lift certified in space. Ater one completes the story the playability remains unaffected. The simple truth is that this is a game for people looking to challenge themselves to reach peek efficiency. The income counter becomes merely a way to keep score, the more important statistic is what percentage of each ship does the player successfully recycle. I have spent hours sitting dismantling one ship after another chasing the stickers while Star Trek, the expanse or some other sci-fi related television programme carry's on in the background, it is the ultimate in relaxed gaming experience. I will definitely be keep an eye out for Hardspace 2, but until then this will continue to scratch the itch I need scratching, at least until Elon calls on me to join him on his mission to Mars.