Hardspace: Shipbreaker, by developer Blackbird Interactive and publisher Focus Home Interactive, puts you into the shoes of a shipbreaker working to pay off your debt to major corporation Lynx. Your job as a cutter is to deconstruct scrapped space ships and separate parts into their corresponding bins. Metals go into the furnace to be melted down. Whole ship parts go into the processor to be repurposed. Other pieces that remain intact go to the barge to be reused. You’ll need to use both your grappling and cutting tools efficiently in order to salvage as much as possible from each ship. Each shift lasts only 15 minutes, so you’ll have to work fast, but be careful not to blow something up while you’re at it.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker‘s controls really do a great job making you feel like the astronaut handyman you possess despite being in zero-g. You can move in all six cardinal directions plus you can roll left or right or stop entirely. Straddling these nine different keys makes for an experience that gives you absolute control over your position in 3D space.
Onto your tools, you’ve got the grappler and the cutter. The grappler is used for quick movement of objects. Its uses include dragging small pieces through space, pushing pieces away from you, and tethering pieces together. Note that the laws of physics do apply, so try not to move things that are too heavy without a tether lest you go flying in the opposite direction. The cutter is used for deconstruction of the ship. This include cutting both vertically and horizontally as well as melting things outright. I have to say these tools work phenomenally and I’ve never seen a game that does even one of these justice, let alone both. It really makes you feel like a futuristic spaceship salvager.
The art in Hardspace: Shipbreaker is amazing as well. Of course, a game centered around breaking ships needs a well-designed ship, but the variety of ships you can deconstruct is impressive, not to mention each ship is equipped with miscellaneous equipment left behind by the previous owners. The ships do their job of immersing you in this world of shipbreaking. The folk background music makes you feel at peace while you work, but the second you pick up something volatile like a nuclear reactor or a gas tank, the music shifts to a more intense electronic feel. This amplifies the short stressful bursts between relaxing metalworking.
I would say this game is great and fun as it stands, but there were a few complaints I had while playing. Most of them involved the tutorial not teaching me enough or in the proper manner. I accidentally removed a nuclear reactor before my instructor told me not to yet. I didn’t realize my laser cutter can cut through things between the cutter and what I’m aiming at (which makes sense, but it wasn’t explained). Some other minor issues I ran into were tethers accidentally latching onto the same part on both ends and not being able to tell when an airlock is enabled. Overall, these issues are minor, and once I learned how things worked, I had very few troubles.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker does so many things so right. That being said, it’s still currently in early access, so I’m excited to see what else they have to add to this already great game. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a relaxing game that can last anywhere from a single 15 minute shift to multiple ships for hours on end. With the amount of variety presented, it never gets old.
Check Out the HARDSPACE: Shipbreaker Trailer
Hardspace: Shipbreaker is available for 20% off on Steam Early Access until July 7th. The game is also in development for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
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I am an aspiring game designer looking to explore the philosophy behind game creation. Some of my favorite games include Overwatch, Super Smash Bros, Portal, and Beat Saber.
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