Developer Weird and Wry has announced that space colony sim, The Spatials, is headed to Steam at the end of the month.
The Spatials takes place in a distant future where humans are trying to spread their cultural influence to the far reaches of the universe. What better way to accomplish this than to send tourists to a barren asteroid on the edge of space? Of course, tourists aren’t just going to travel to the edge of the galaxy for nothing; it’s up to the player to build a space colony filled with shops, exotic goods, and attractions gathered from the surrounding planets.
Rather than focusing on galactic conquest, the focus here is on commercial enterprise. That’s because combat, although significant, is the means to an end (allowing the colony to gain access to resources from faraway worlds) — not the core of the game.
EXPLORATION & COMBAT
Each planet has a mission that must be completed once it is first discovered; after that mission is completed, players can then set up resource supply lines. There is a variety of difficulty options for each mission — which means that if players get tired of fighting off pirates on “Easy,” they can bump it up to “WTF?” and get a real challenge.
During combat, players take control over a team of officers as they explore and shoot their way across the planet. Combat in The Spatials is different than in most games: Instead of controlling each officer individually, players control the entire squad as a single unit. This applies to all movements and attacks — similar to how a player controls a single character in a MOBA, with each ability mapped to a specific key or sidebar button. Death is dealt with in a fittingly sci-fi way: An officer who dies during combat is put in “stasis” and is “revived” upon returning to the main base.
BUILDING
The Spatials gives players the freedom to design their space stations any way they see fit. There are no pre-built structures; players are only limited by their imaginations. Building is very fluid and easy to understand: Each space station starts as a lone teleporter room and a group of officers, which then connect it to other rooms by building corridors. To begin expanding the space station, all players have to do is select the corridor piece and begin plotting the length of the hall. The station officers will automatically begin building the corridor, and the rest is history.
KEY FEATURES
* Design a space station and watch your crew as they build it in real time
* Receive visitors, cater to their every need — and watch the credits flow in
* Experience a randomly-generated galaxy with 100+ planets
* Explore the surface of planets and asteroids
* Find natural resources and items that your officers can equip
* Engage in real-time combat with RPG elements
Here is The Spatials official trailer:
PRICING & AVAILABILITY
The Spatials will be on sale on Monday, March 30 for the discounted price of $9.74 on Steam. On April 7, the game will go back to its original selling price of $12.99.
Source: Press Release
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