Deep Space Exploitation

Deep Space Exploitation, or: Three Bucks from Freedom. This game packs so much into its simple format and short duration. It surprised me throughout, from the satisfying physics-y mining and emergent ways of dealing with various problems, to the overall structure of the game and especially how the narrative and themes are woven into it. Seriously, I don't think I could have hoped for a more unexpected, perfect and [i]organic[/i] dystopian ending to my hardship (no pun intended)! As I understand it, there are multiple endings if you want to explore those, but I've accepted my fate! :) I really liked the visual design, music and overall vibe of Deep Space Exploitation too. I highly recommend checking out the demo!

TOTAL CORPO DEATH Listen Employee...Kill corpos. Shoot corpos. Max ram a corpo into the asteroid. Magnite attract a fur-blood into the cargo. Put shaped charges in a corpo's food. Hammer corpos into the sun. Toss corpos into active mines. Urinate into a corpo's ship tank. Judo throw corpos into a scraper. Report corpos to the Rebels' Council. Laser cut corpos in half. Trap corpos in the space. Stomp corpo skulls with a big ship. Drown corpos in fried red crystal grease. Vaporize corpos with gatling gun. Nuke corpos.

[h3]A perfectly designed and paced short-form job sim/immsim in 2d, with excellent physics, a fun technology progression and a satisfying story[/h3] One of my favourite games of the last couple of years - short, sweet, pretty much flawless experience perfectly blending the mundane work of a corporate debt-slave with a sense of genuine danger and uncertainty as a satisfying little narrative progresses. The gameplay is very tightly tuned, balancing the risk vs reward decisions you make in terms of loadout investments, operating costs and how you handle each shift, each job you select (although quite a few missions are not time-limited, giving you time to chill and experiment), all without derailing the narrative pacing. There's a risk of costly accidents, and a real risk of death (and an optional Iron difficulty for this to have major consequences) but it doesn't feel punishing, it just keeps up an enjoyable tension - you need to make a few serious mistakes in a row to actually get yourself killed most of the time, enforcing a sense of caution without discouraging experimentation. The game respects your intelligence enough to give you dangerous tools and let you learn how to use them for yourself, after the tutorial period covers the basics - all while perfectly in harmony with the plot/setting, the company's lack of care for you as a person vs their value for you and your equipment as assets in a profit machine. It's genuinely so impressive how well tuned and balanced the gameplay is, and how well-written and pleasantly understated the plot is. Everything that disappointed me about Hardspace: Shipbreaker both in plot and gameplay feels like it has been handled perfectly here, in a very similar albeit far smaller and more streamlined, 2d experience. If you've any questions about the game before you buy it, feel welcome to ask me under this review - but do try the demo, it preserves your save so if you like it you can jump straight over to the full game.

wish it had an infinite mode (unless ive just missed it)

This brilliantly-designed little game has some stuff in common with Dome Keeper, but with the addition of an excellent branching narrative, which is weaved through its spaceship mining sim form most expertly. My first playthrough took five hours, and I’ve just completed my fourth, exploring all the different story outcomes, and chasing the achievements (something I don’t usually do much of, but they are very enticing in this game). In terms of the gameplay loop, you fly a spaceship (the ship’s movement feels wonderful!) around a series of single screen asteroid belts, shooting at asteroids in order to mine resources for the obligatory unscrupulous corporation. It’s like arcade classic Asteroids, only a lot slower, and more methodical. Back at your terminal, you read and respond to emails (it’s through these that the story is told and shaped), sell resources and buy (meaningful) upgrades. Then you choose a new job, and head back out to a new area. Although the story is not wildly original, its minimalist mode of storytelling, which dovetails beautifully with the gameplay loop, could only have been done in a video game (and in this case, done very well). The best tales are often in the telling. The art is lovely (especially if you like retro pixel art). There are three difficulty levels, the first two of which are pretty chill. Indeed, I find it a soothingly relaxing game. Oh, did I mention that the ship feels so good to control! I love this game!

Awesomely relaxing game. Story driven with a set start and then diverging from there based on your choices. Hidden items to discover. A very chill game. I wish there was a long career version available.

most of what i'd say is in other reviews... nice little music, great style to it, satisfying mechanics, reminds me alot of Cortex Command. great game, worth the 6$ i paid

One of very few games where I actually want more. A little bit let down by the short length of the story and how quickly the game got repetitive but it was still extremely fun. I would pay top dollar for a DLC that just adds more content, not even story, just content and progression in difficulty.

Heaps of fun

Deep Space Exploitation is a chill little space-simulator-under-capitalism. You're an asteroid miner with a small ship with an upgradable choice of mining guns and a soul-crushing debt. Mine crystals, patch holes in your ship, watch the number creep slowly down, repeat. The best part of this game is the fluidity of the controls. Your ship can rotate and thrust forwards and backwards (strafing is an upgrade) and everything has just the right level of drift and inertia. At first the game is a struggle of maneuvering into position and compensating for recoil, but as your skills go up it's pulling hard turns that end with your shift in the perfect position, a quick mine, and on to the next gig. The plot is revealed through emails and messages and there's a solid upgrade tree. This game is about 5 hours of fun mining, and hard enough to reward mastery without being punishing about the grind.