ZeroSpace

Really fun so far, love how dynamic the multiplayer is and the factions are very unique. Recommended if you enjoy rts multiplayer!

Viel Potenzial, kann man empfehlen!

It's been too long since a new RTS, and this one cuts the mustard. It's still early and there's a couple choppy bits to the UI, but the game itself is very fun. It's hard to make an exact point of comparison - it feels less tactics-obsessed than starcraft while still requiring personal attention to the battle. Definitely a must for any RTS fans.

The versus mode in this game is a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I haven't played the other modes so I can't say how good they are but I'm enjoying the 1v1.

I exclusively play campaign and have little interest in PVP or in the co-op galactic war modes, so my review will reflect that entirely. I am also keenly aware that this is in VERY early access, and don't write this to be hostile, but to give feedback. First, talking about general stuff. The gameplay that you will likely see in those other modes, and just in general, is solid. Units are varied and visually distinct, have unique niches on the battlefield, and generally control smoothly. Visuals on the battlefield are fine for the most part, with environments and units looking decent and colorful. I had little issue (outside of one mission in the campaign that I'll mention later) actually playing the game, telling my units where to do and what to attack, and it was all very smooth. Kudos to the devs for their hard work in both visuals and gameplay. Audio is a different matter. There was very little in the way of music, just a couple of light tracks during specific cutscenes during the first few missions. Nothing stood out, and actual gameplay was devoid of music. Not only that, but the audio mixing for both unit voices, character dialogue, and gameplay effects is all over the place. Some units I didn't hear a single audio callout from even after giving them orders through multiple missions. Some dialogue lines would be very quiet, and then an NPC shouting would be extremely loud. Sometimes mic quality between different lines is very different, as if they were recorded in entirely different situations. Some of the later missions would muffle combat sounds for whatever reason, leaving me to play in near silence outside of the occasional alert that enemies were on their way. All in all, a lot of work needs to be done in the audio department. The campaign itself is in a very rough state. When I was introduced to Zerospace as an early kickstarter backer, I was sold on a story with branching narrative choices and interpersonal dialogue like in Mass Effect, with mission variety and choices in the footsteps of Starcraft 2. Very ambitious and exciting, but what we see in this first set of revealed content doesn't quite live up to either, in my opinion. I will be talking spoilers for the missions we have available, so be aware. Regarding Mass Effect's inspiration, there is a single narrative choice to be made in the entire 6 hours of campaign we have, to save the civilians of an illegal colony that is under attack, or to save the pirates/murderers/rebels/freedom fighters that told you they would rather die than to accept your help, and the choice does not matter in the slightest. I saved the civilians, and the Free Corsairs and their leader that I left to die showed up as enemies and allies in two future missions, their leader going on about how he wanted to be a poet and helping you because you're a good man despite you potentially watching him become plant food. There are no branching narratives, since the storyline forces you to do two missions (including the colony defense) instead of the critical assignment that you're supposed to be doing so that it can follow a narrative where you're hated by your leader for failing to do your job and must do risky assignments to get in his good graces through his scheming advisor. There are very few conversations in the game, without options to ask questions or get further details, each conversation being one and done. After the first handful of missions, there conversations stop completely, with only a placeholder message saying that they will be introduced in a future patch. Information on the setting can be found on a separate tab of your research console, some of it contradictory to what is actually presented in the game (One alien race are described as high-tech brutal warriors, while everyone in game calls them luddites who hate technology, for example). Most of the setting lore is interesting though, and there are amusing emails from various characters in the game that can be read, though some of them are bugged. Because there are so few conversations, none of the characters have any real chance to develop past basic tropes. The gung-ho soldier doesn't like leadership or rules, the soldier with powerful family doesn't want to be treated like a nepo-baby, the first alien ally is very blunt and doesn't always understand human perspectives, the manipulative cultist with connections has a scheme, etc. Without this development, the occasional lines you did hear from them are very stale and familiar, even when they don't quite make sense (You see the gung-ho soldier on the other side of the river, so you jump over to him, kill less than a handful of aliens nearby, and then he loudly brags about how many times he's had to save you). Story elements are brought up and used without success throughout the campaign. Your character apparently hears his dead father's voice prior to the campaign's beginning, but outside of a dream halfway through the available missions it means nothing. The time skip after you were forced to disobey orders has no purpose other than to bring gung-ho soldier's daughter into the cast and have people question what they are actually fighting for as if there is a secret conspiracy outside of manipulative cultist's obvious scheme. We get teasing glimpses at the larger setting and situation, but with so few actual conversations and one-note characters, they're just hints at stuff that might one day be revealed. Obviously, this is in early access, but this is apparently a third of the entire campaign, and at the end there is no emotional core to the story outside of Sofia being sad about her dad's death and a vague interest in finding out what the manipulative cultist had been up to. There is a lot more that can be said about the writing, but I'll focus on other issues in the campaign. Though inspired by Starcraft 2, most of the missions play out the same. Most play out as either 'clear the map' or 'go to five or so locations and save/destroy a building' missions, with varying amounts of polish. The first few have decent amounts of in-game dialogue, but the latter group of missions when you're finally free to pick and choose your level are vague with the barest amount of context for why you're there. On the latter missions, the polish drops considerably, with lots and lots of bugs appearing. Duplicate heroes standing around on the map, your units no longer obeying orders, audio issues, and the most consistent being weird triggers. On two separate occasions I played through a mission mostly in silence only for all the audio triggers of the last half hour to activate in the last couple minutes of the level, with voices just erupting at me. The last mission, Trinity, was a perfect example of the issues with the campaign. You can select it early enough that there are side characters you haven't been introduced to in the cutscenes, with a basic premise of clearing landing sites so those characters can join you in battle to clear the map. One of the allies has dramatically louder audio than any other, her battle cries echoing through my home, while the in game battles and even the cutscenes preceding and following the mission are almost entirely silent without effects or music. Having so many allies on screen seemed to break the programming, since my units would refuse to attack targets or move when commanded on occasion. Nothing in the story is really revealed, and the cultist and the high-tech tech-luddites leave, so you follow them through a mysterious anomaly, and that's the end. I didn't dislike Zerospace, but I feel like there is an immense amount of work that needs to be done before this campaign is really presentable. The lack of narrative choice from the very beginning, the numerous polish issues, the characters and story that could use several more writing passes, and a lot more could provide a foundation for something truly special, but its not there yet.

Just dont do another stormgate plz Other then that its got a solid foundation, one of the better launched onto steam from an rts game in a while imo

I recommend it