Some of us view video games as a way to relax after a hard day of work. Sometimes, after that grueling 9-to-5 job, all we need is to kick back and experience a world of simulated fun and adventure so we can unwind. These simulated adventures can come in a variety of different forms such as open world fantasy epics, story-focused third person narrative experiences, or competitive online shooters. But it takes a certain kind of developer to muster up the courage and ask: “what if we turned that grueling 9-to-5 job into a video game and then set it in space?” The fine folks at Blackbird Interactive and Focus Entertainment are that kind of developer and publisher, and the answer to that burning question is Hardspace: Shipbreaker.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a first-person action-adventure sim that has players taking on the role of a ship breaker for the Lynx corporation in a post-apocalyptic future where humanity has colonized the stars to escape an earth plagued by a myriad of issues such as social unrest and resource inequality. As a ship breaker, your job is to break apart various run-down spaceships littering the cosmos and process the scrap.
The main gameplay loop will be spent scrapping these spaceships and putting their components in a processor, barge, or incinerator. On the surface, this sounds simple enough, but the complexity comes from how each ship is designed. There are a multitude of ships in the game, and each of them functions like a puzzle box that the player has to solve while avoiding the multiple, multiple ways to die while salvaging them. Most ships have power systems that will electrify the player if handled poorly, fuel lines and tanks that can catch fire and explode if the cutter is used recklessly, pressurized rooms that will suck out players if breached, and a nuclear reactor core hidden in each ship that deteriorates equipment at a fast rate and will explode if taken out and not deposited in the barge fast enough. On top of this, the player has to contend with decreasing fuel and oxygen levels, tools that break down after repeated use and must be repaired, and (should the player choose) a time limit.
Because of this, every salvaging job contains layers of tension from the outset. This is further multiplied by the game’s excellent space physics. The game truly feels weightless, and the player must utilize the sometimes slow and slippery movement to traverse the ships they salvage. If the player does not break effectively, they will find themselves drifting off into space which can waste time and endanger the player. These physics also apply to the salvage the player will handle. So, not only is the player at risk of flying wildly through space, but they also have to worry about having large chunks of metal doing the same and possibly flying into the player, causing massive amounts of damage. It’s a finely tuned, engaging system. If I had any criticisms, it’s that the act of processing the salvage you collect (which amounts to pushing the trash into the correct bin) is a tad boring and repetitive.
Then again, part of me wonders if that aspect of gameplay is part of the point. The game is about labor, and it specifically centers around the exploitation of blue-collar workers. Perhaps the monotony of processing salvage further helps push the idea that this is a soul-crushing job, much like the game’s writing. When booting up the game for the first time, you are met with a contract to work for the Lynx corporation that buries the player character under a mountain of debt and also allows the company to clone the player character in the event of their death and use the clone as an employee. This game’s megacorporation quite literally owns the lives of their workers as property. Towards the end of the game’s first act, the topic of unionizing is brought up by one of the supporting characters, and the game tackles both this and union-busting as a primary theme. Given the current political landscape, that makes Hardspace: Shipbreaker a very topical piece of media.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker is an exceptionally crafted space simulator that perfectly simulates the feeling of being adrift in the void. Coupled with topical themes and finely crafted puzzles in the form of ships to salvage, I feel confident in giving this game a 9/10.
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Related: Reviews by Josh Freeman
I love games and love talking about games. Some of my favorites include action games (both 2D and 3D), metroidvanias, roguelikes, shooters, and Indies.
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