Space Haven

我的船员们简直松弛到了一定地步， 每天就是“嘿！三点几咧，做做卵咧做，饮茶先来”

the game just doesn't feel very well balanced. it is a spiritual combination of rimworld with vibes from oxygen not included and FTL. unfortunately unlike all of these games, this game does not allow for much creative freedom besides the cosmetics and layout of your ship. 10+ hours into a run on normal difficulty i was still struggling with resources to the point i ended up failing. the core resource loop is around food for colonists and 5 main building blocks (early to mid game); hull, infra, tech, and energy. i was consistently out of at least 3 of these constantly and even after looting the entire starting area i could not afford enough sleep pods to let me survive the mid zone. looking back i can see where i went wrong or where i could have improved my run, however this happened 4 separate times. 4 runs ranging from 2 hours (immediately after tutorial) to 10+ (my fourth run). i lost patience after i figured id have to do the early game for a fifth time in a row, i would have tried save scumming, but once you realize you have made a mistake it is too late to go back. i understand the semi-rouguelike format (something similar to oxygen not included) where you get better every time and often lose runs as a new player that don't even scratch the surface, however this game's early game barely changes from playthrough to playthrough and is an absolute slog. if i did a few more runs and put maybe 20 more hours in this game might open up for me, but honestly i've long since lost interest this game does to many things right, it looks good, it sounds good, has some nice quality of life, is well optimized and runs smoothly, however it doesn't feel finished, like an 0.7 or 0.8 build, not 1.0 and beyond. i will probably return to this if it gets a new update, but it doesn't quite feel there yet, like they had a good idea, not a complete vision and they still need to fill holes. lastly this game is lacking in information, it has a hold-your-hand tutorial and a quest system that get you started, but does not have any ready to grab info like, for instance, oxygen not included's in game database. as an example on the room overlay, it tells you if a room is close or what a room is if it is complete, but offers no info on what room types are available or what buffs they give. this problem compounds when you realize that this game does not have a very good wiki. all in all its poorly balanced and the game is about ~75% there, but it needs more work.

I have a lot of hours in this game, I've really enjoyed the time spent here and i'm quite sad to not place a recommended rating on it to match that time invested. With each update I've enjoyed exploring what's available and trying what's new even if the actual content which has been added shrank with each passing update. This is the beginnings of an absolutely fantastic entry into the space exploration genre, but only the bones. Having reached 1.0 now with the space station update, it feels as-though the dev's have gotten tired of what they've made and just want the ability to walk away when they want. As it stands the game feels very disconnected, unbalanced, and lifeless "even if the written lore in the game is good" It feel's as though the game itself doesn't really live up to the life it want's to portray.

I am putting this as a thumbs down for now in the hopes that the devs might see it. If I get a developer response, I may switch to a thumbs up. (Steam needs a half-thumbs-up option.) The start of the game is amazing, and it seems like an endless adventure where almost anything could happen. However, after 4 or so hours it starts getting very repetitive with little guidance or story to follow along with. Just jump to the next system, mine/explore the derelict ship, try to expand your ship, trade, and jump to the next system. I want to stress this is fine and possibly expected, but it could do with a little more variation in what happens and what you could do. The main reason I am writing this is the following: Drone systems and the tech tree seem short. For example, there is only one type of combat drone; you can't customize it, you can't upgrade it, you can't, for example, create a laser rifle and attach it to the drone, and you can't get it to target something specific. You're stuck with the most basic options with no way to improve. This is actually shocking compared to the rest of the game. Similarly, we cannot have our own drone fighter wing like those that attack us constantly. You would think that if you could study the debris of them and explore and scrap the derelict, you would be able to build your own version. For example, you could make an "AI control center," a "drone fighter computer," a "drone swarm deployer," etc. Weapon systems are similar. I would expect the ability to have a "torpedo room" where you have to design the steps to manufacture different types of torpedoes and have characters carry them to launchers and fire them. This would be way more interactive instead of having various turrets with little going on. Also, why can we not upgrade the turrets to fire different types of ammo? With how complicated the food system is, it is kind of a shock that turrets are this limited. For comms and negotiations, there should be actual negotiations on cease fire agreements. Instead of just rejecting/accepting their offer I should be able to renegotiate if I don't like their deal or press them harder which may make them declare war again. Also if I beat a faction in battle they should not offer me missions or speak friendly for a while, that breaks the game immersion. I know I am sort of nitpicking, but this was my genuine first impression of these systems; they seem like they could be vastly improved upon in a DLC or update to the game. The game is very good in its foundation. I still remember this first time I encountered more than the crawlers and had to rescue a crew member of another ship; that was an amazing sequence of natural events, and that seems to be the type of thing this game excels at setting up. The game just could do with some more expansion of other systems.

There's a lot of cool stuff in here, but it gets dragged down by a collection of things that are downright frustrating and time-consuming, and it just never quite pays off in the end. Spent a lot of time trying to like this game, since I play loads of games in the genre, but I wound up being uniquely frustrated. I'll definitely check out whatever the developer does next, but didn't enjoy this one.

Empty. Boring

Is it bad? No. Is it good? Kinda. Is it worth your time? No, especially not when Stardeus exists with similar elements, far more depth, and an infinitely faster development pace.

What year is it? . . . if you are looking for a fantastic and addictive space colony style game with a smaller learning curb than a certain other colony sim game that rhymes with (slim) world another fantastic game. this is it. Especially if you love the pixel art style. BUT be warry of the time! I have had the game for exactly 7 days now and have racked up 53 hours while also working full time. It is not for the faint of heart.

It's fun but not well balanced. My first star system had 2 asteroids and a derelict. My second had a single derelict but the thermal radiation hazard made it impossible to salvage so it effectively had nothing. Each sector should have at least something to salvage/mine in it.

Played for about a week... loving it! The flow is polished, the AI is good and doesn't do annoying things very often.. I'm just starting to add mods which seem to work well... I recommend this excellent product...