Derelict Void

it's a neat concept and very original, but unfortunately the difficulty tuning and RNG makes it borderline unplayable. I played 100 runs and only a half dozen or so ever ended up getting a functioning facility, and only one of them ended up upgrading the engines (a major milestone). You really don't get the tools you need to save your ship or crew and are just at the mercy of the dice the entire time. I hope they rebalance it a bit and add more features to make it more of a game of management and less of a slot machine.

Derelict Void is certainly a game that will likely draw comparison to a variety of other titles. The game is apparently inspired by Frostpunk - though in my mind one could likely also see some draw for this game from the likes of Out There: Omega Edition for the emphasis on collection of resources and technologies, Cultist Simulator for its mix of real-time with pause turn based gameplay, and of course FTL: Faster Than Light for text based events. Chief to all these games though is that is all about survival in a hostile environment. Initially playing the game, I can't really say I was too impressed with it. Not enough real direction was given by the developers on how to really play the game and ultimately I had to view the game forum on steam for tips just to get an idea of how to generally survive the first week. The tutorial works well enough to explain the game mechanics but the developers should certainly look into including some semblance for how to strategically play the game - like knowing when to perhaps just book it to a destination and burn everything in the fuel tank as opposed to just drifting to it at a casual pace (perhaps because you have a hull to explore that is already weighing you down). I also found that while the game played fine before fully upgrading the engine the first time, basically the part of the game where you would have 2-3 crews to work with and you will just be dealing with simple junctures, the game didn't really strike me as being all that fun. Generally during what I'll call 'The Early Game Stage' you are heavily at the mercy of RNG and you don't get to deal with a lot of the interesting hulls to explore - after the 'The Mid Game Stage' the game was fine. Notably the Early Game was made a bit worse by just how long it takes to 'get' to the Mid Game and the Mid Game felt somewhat short since you have a lot more to explore but will be hitting 'The Late Game Stage' and 'The End Game Stage' soon after Probably Derelict Voids biggest failing though for this game is that it really feels like it should have been released into Early Access as opposed to a Full Release. While the developers have implemented additional features to help players with their outcry to the difficulty of the game there appears to still be a lot of balancing work that needs to be done - for example, the 'Calorie Synth' seems to burn too much resources for too little Food, some things are implemented - the tutorial mentions a 'Electrolysis Plant' but there isn't an entry for it yet and it doesn't appear in the game, and then there is one event leading to the End Game that just has a placeholder written into it more then anything else. Also of note, there are bugs - definitely a few too many too. Having won this game twice, I can say that I have enjoyed this game enough that I can say it has promise. However, after just 15 hours of gameplay (at the time of this review) I believe I have experienced all that this game really has to offer - at least in regards to what content is 'currently available'. Thinking about the price for this game too I don't think I would be too happy to buy this game even if it was 50% off - let alone full price as it is now. I would say keep an eye on it, though this is heavily dependent on how much extra effort the developers want to put into the game after its 'full release' on Steam.

Great idea for a game but seems inherently flawed due to the fact the whole game is based around RNG. You start with a very small ship and 50 people as crew. The crew needs basic resources to survive like food, water, and oxygen. You have choices of where you would like to travel and there is a random chance that you will receive some of the resources listed above along with a bunch of of other resources like hydrogen (ship fuel), carbon, waste water etc... I have had multiple play throughs where I literally only live for the first 3-5 jumps because I didn't receive the basic life sustaining resources and my crew died. This game is similar to a city builder but instead of being able to build the "city" you have to take what you find and hope that it is what you need. This adds a unique feel to the game but makes it brutally difficult even on the easiest settings. You actually cant build anything in the game, you can only relocate certain buildings and combine parts of existing buildings to repair them into working order. At it's core this game is a resource management game. You have to be mindful of how many crew members you bring on board as they will eat through your resource supply and cause you to lose the game if you don't keep an eye on it. My biggest qualm with the game so far is that it forces you to onboard additional crew at different points of the game weather you have the resources or not. I'm sure this was added as a challenge aspect but many, many times this is an instant death sentence for your ship even on the easiest setting. Most of the negative aspects of the game could potentially be patched to work better but in its current state the game is difficult and unrewarding since you don't unlock anything for playing and dying like most roguelites do. However if you are looking for a near impossible challenge that is completely based on RNG and has nothing to do with how good you are at playing the game then this one is for you.

Let's get a few things aired out first. This game will kick you in the teeth right from the start. It doesn't coddle you into a false sense of security and babysits you throughout the run. You will fail more often then you think you would with this type of game. You will be tested, a lot. Morale decisions and resource/industry management is an ABSOLUTE MUST. You're going to say, "How is this possible?" Well, think of this as a race to get out of dodge with everyone you saved without losing. It's designed to be unfair to even the most veterans of players (I should know , I've been at this repeatedly). If you're all about being about to fix problems and managing everything you gained, this will be an auto-include. Be warned, this isn't for everyone and realistically, most will find this hard to swallow. With Patience, you should do great. But, if management isn't your deal, walk away before wasting your time. Sinister-Sama

The game relies to heavily on RNG and 9 times out of 10 its weighed against you. Its no use talking to the devs because you only going to get the "its a feature" line from them and then them saying git gud at playing our game we have no intentions of changing. if they would show the game some love and actually do some of the stuff that the players are asking for it would be alright, however as is it wouldn't even be worth it if it was free because of lack of support when it literally just came out like a week ago

Even on the easy setting, getting the needed resources is far too hard

Game balance is way off in several ways. Food, oxygen and water consumption is too high. Lots of buildings that dont work till you find more of the same to use as parts so you end up with a bunch of non working junk. Nothing between events to manage so you use the next event button A LOT. Game idea is interesting, however it is mostly just a clicker.

It is near impossible to survive early game with all the randomness, but late game (day 20 or so) was even worse.

With a design focused on RNG that cannot be mitigated and very frustrating requirements to have any agency in the game this is one experience you can be happy to skip. A game like Frostpunk shows just how poorly this game was designed.

The game is brutal but fantastic. It certainly does not cater to the mindset of there is always a way and instead in my opinion portrays a somewhat more realistic experience of the survival rate of a cataclysmic event. It is a fairly simple game but you'll need to use any small advantage you can gain to actually survive and many times a bit of luck. You only have enough water for one trip before you die. Do you go for a guaranteed water source? Maybe a riskier water source that contains enough to give you a bit of breathing room? Or do you attempt to salvage a hull that you've detected a water treatment plant on in the hopes that some clean water will be stored for your immediate needs and you'll be able to use that facility to further your chances? Every option requires consideration of what might happen during that event or in the future and sometimes it doesn't matter how well you planned because someone gave up hope and threw a spanner in the works dooming everyone. As you play you'll learn about the possibilities of each event and what rewards or penalties are given to you giving the knowledge to progress a little further each time. Despite the negative reviews (of which are mostly about the game difficulty) it is enjoyable, and deserves a chance and each playthrough is fast enough that you won't feel you've wasted hours to die unfairly. Spoilerish: Some tips to success: Don't waste time, always keep your ship moving. Pick up a hull, start exploring and move to the next. The extra mass of a hull will make a trip less efficient, taking longer and costing more, but you can choose to travel slower and more efficiently to counter that at the cost of a longer journey. But during that time you can finish exploring the new hull and doing what you want with it before you get to your next destination. You'll have to learn to judge how to use this as you go. Take your time. Attempting to rush through the story is not always the best option. Move buildings off of new hulls to be discard last. Using the repair option takes time, and during that time the parts are still on that hull, but moving immediately removes it from that hull to take a bit more time to place it elsewhere, allowing you to discard that hull and continue with a slightly more efficiency journey without waiting a few hours. In the same sense, rubble is useless and can be discarded without fully exploring it. Residencies appear to be the same taking a fair while to explore without offering anything unless you plan to use them. Sometimes you might be best to stop your crew exploring a residence to explore a storage first so you can discard, saving you a few hours. Gaining crew is important and rare, which you should attempt to do at any available opportunity if it won't kill you (Expand the resource info panel to see actual numbers) but you can still survive without taking every opportunity to gain one. It is still best to ensure you have enough resources available for when the event occurs as it will make life easier. Spoiler: When you are reaching the finish, I've found it best to end on an asteroid you can continuously mine, this can give you a steady flow of secondary resources used to fuel your production of primary resources. This should massively increase your chances of success if you had any hope to start with but no guarantee