Hardspace: Shipbreaker

Incredible game

very fun game with intuitive space movement, an incredible soundtrack, some cool visuals, and a very moving story. after a while, the ships can get a bit repetitive, because the game stops introducing new ones, but this only really became an issue after completing most of the story. plus, its so satisfying to dismantle all the ships regardless.

A solid game with a fantastic premise, but what feels like a lot of unrealized potential. Lots of spoilers ahead - The core gameplay loop is solid - Neutralize hazards, take care of high value components, dissect everything, sort it all, then move on to the next. The continuous introduction of new ship models, components and hazards is a really good way to keep things fresh, but it quickly feels like most new aspects of the work just become a "for a few seconds" type of annoyance or issue, and in the long-term you'll still find the mast majority of your time expenditure being used on the same handful of major tasks as you were at the start of the game. Even the biggest, baddest hazards usually just result in a loss of maybe 10-15% of the ship's value that you're already liable to lose out of a standard "value first" salvaging doctrine - There's only one real hazard that can ruin an entire salvage op, and it can only do so with deliberate sabotage or unheard-of levels of negligence outside of the first few mistakes you're liable to make early on. Additionally, while the ship subtype system helps, only having 4 main ship models quickly makes most salvages feel extremely similar, if not exactly identical save for a few notes you can't even remember later. If there were more ships, more meaningful hazards and more individual tasks to do (Potentially rewiring minigames, interacting with a computer system instead of just pulling 1 lever to flush the fuel system, etc.), the core gameplay loop would definitely have more longevity and keep its charm longer. Secondly, the tool system is a great foundation, but it definitely starts to feel somewhat shallow. 99% of all your work is going to be with your cutting tool and grapple tool - First to dissect, then to sort and sell. You get demolitions charges for breaking hard targets, but by that point in the game, there's almost no use for them as you're already at the point of doing "fast and dirty" salvaging where you're throwing such huge chunks of low-value modules in the trash bin just to save time depositing the far more worthwhile bits of furniture inside them. The main gripe, however, is the shallow upgrade system. Upgrades mainly work around improving some base stats and reducing wear and tear on your tools, which is nice, but your cutter feels largely the same as when it started, except that you spend less time waiting for it to cool down. Your cutter won't cut the same connector pins any faster in the end of the game as it did at the start, leading to a bottleneck where the salvaging process doesn't get much faster thanks to your tools - largely, improvements are your own mechanical skill and techniques you develop. Additionally, the fact that your laser cutter never gains the ability to cut harder materials, seemingly for the sake of giving the near-useless demolition charges some shallow semblance of utility, just adds to frustration, and it feels like all of these aspects together encourage wastefulness for the sake of speed. Why cut apart a massive low-value aluminum interior hull when you can sink the whole thing in the barge and get the full value of its interior modules for a fraction of the time use? Lastly, there's the story. The narrative largely happens entirely without you lifting a finger - As you level up over time, the story just happens on its own, and there's virtually no real agency in what happens. Additionally, as the only interactions you have with other characters is hearing them talk, it's hard to find much real investment or care in the greater parts of the story. It seems like the game recognizes this, as one particular character largely plays your whole role, with the constant assumption that you agree with them fully, that you're their best friend and that you have nothing more to add. It largely also feels that the story is limited by the longevity of the gameplay loop - As it gets more repetitive and nothing really challenges you anymore, the story starts speeding up in an effort to reach the finish line, leading to virtually no real room for character dynamics or development that aren't surface level. If the story could've been longer and you were given any agency, even voiceless, rudimentary dialogue options, it would've added 5x the depth and reason for a player to care. Tying back to the gameplay loop, if there was more to it to keep the player interested and entertained, it would've paved the way for a deeper and more meaningful narrative. In its current state, though, it's largely just you wanting to work and achieve your own goals, which is constantly interrupted by unskippable dialogue sequences in your "home". When they talk while you work, it's fine, but there are times when the dialogue drags on way too long during a time where you physically cannot do anything but listen, waiting for it to end for you to return to the actual gameplay. This especially discourages replays, as you'll be stuck listening to the same old yapping no matter how often you've heard it. If there was at least a bandaid fix to skip dialogue in the HAB, it'd allow you to blow through the shallow story and at least get to the actual gameplay you're a lot more liable to enjoy. There's a lot of potential here narrative-wise, but so little of it is actually realized, and it just ends up feeling half-baked and last-minute. The music is solid, and the semi-adaptive music system, while simple on paper, is still really nice, bringing in more intense electronic instruments whenever things are going wrong. Only real wish is for the OST to have been somewhat longer, and for there to potentially be some of the electronic instruments in parts of the song that play during calm moments - only hearing the songs at their best for the short few seconds of peril means you miss a lot of the soundtrack's best hits. Regardless, the music is still fantastic and fits the premise amazingly well, especially considering it's a genre I never personally saw myself listening to prior. In short, the game is excellent and one of the very best of its kind of "fictional blue-collar job simulator inspired by real-world work", but almost everything would've been better with more depth and more time in the oven - Just having more of what's already there and more actual investment in virtually every avenue of the title. Decent value as-is if you can sink into a job simulator game fairly easily, but it's definitely worth it on sale.

So good i'd buy a sequel without question if they had coop

This game scratches a deep itch. really enjoyed playing it -

Fun idea but quickly gets way too repetitive. You basically just hit the same ships and do the same process over and over again. I thought maybe you'd get more tools, or cooler upgrades as time went on but even those are pretty underwhelming or even unnecessary.

GREAT GAME

Приходишь со смены за*банным, ешь и спишь, чтобы завтра могли за*бать заново... ммм... О чем это я? А да, это сюжет Hardspace Shipbreaker.