Hardspace: Shipbreaker

Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a simulation game developed by Blackbird Interactive. We are talking about a team whose portfolio includes, among other things, RTS Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. The game allows us to take on the role of a space scrap collector, earning money by selling parts dismantled from abandoned ships.

Plot

Hardspace: Shipbreaker takes us into a future where interstellar travel is part of everyday life. As technology is constantly evolving, obsolete spaceships are abandoned and lying in Earth orbit. The hero of the game is Cutter, a space scrap collector, who intends to get rich by selling components dismantled from such wrecks. First, however, the protagonist must pay off the huge billion-dollar debt he has taken out at LYNX to start his career.

Mechanics

In Hardspace: Shipbreaker, the action is shown from the first person perspective (FPP). During the game we dismantle valuable parts from spacecraft wrecks and systematically transport them to our own ship. At the same time, we can also learn more about the history of crashed ships (many of them arrived in orbit from deep space) and learn about the history of their crews.

Of course, we do not work with our bare hands; there is useful equipment at the base, headed by a laser cutter. Laser cutter allows us not only to cut out specific components, but also to create additional entrances to the ships (usually from the inside, as the materials used to make their outer shells can be too hard). They are necessary both for faster movement and for easier transportation of larger parts that will not fit in the lock or standard hatch. In addition, we have a rope at our disposal, thanks to which we can move more efficiently over longer distances in almost zero gravity or bind individual objects together, which simplifies their transport. As individual vessels are generated procedural, we often have to use a handy scanner that allows us to quickly find out about the layout of the rooms and the location of useful space scrap.

Although at first glance the work of a space junker may seem monotonous, it is not a safe job. Cutter often teetering on the brink of death, and it can die, among other things, from an explosion (to do so, it only needs to cut the fuel line, cause a short circuit or allow the dismantled reactor to reach a critical state), lack of oxygen or even sudden decompression. Fortunately, after the death of the hero, we do not need to start the adventure again - LYNX will be happy to create a clone of Cutter and will charge us for this operation, which will be added to our debt. The debt without this can grow all the time, because of the need to constantly improve tools and unlock the drums (necessary for more difficult tasks) or replenish the oxygen supply (for which you have to pay).

Technical aspects

The graphic design of the game Hardspace: Shipbreaker presents high quality. You may like the full details of the ship's decks and detailed textures, as well as realistic molecular effects. Another strong point of the game is the physics engine, which takes care of the correct behavior of phenomena and objects in weightlessness.