Breakin' Hearts and Ships in Hardspace: Shipbreaker

I decided to do something that I generally don't do--buy a couple of games that are in Early Access.  Generally, I like to wait until games are in full release and all the bugs and weirdness have been worked out.  Both of the games I purchased had positive reviews so I decided it was worth the gamble.  One of the games I purchased is a follow-up to one of my favorite food related indie series--Cook, Serve, Delicious--and I'm currently playing it and will write it up sometime later.  The other game I purchased is a new entry into the simulation world--Hardspace:  Shipbreaker.

In Hardspace, you play as an unfortunate individual who has managed to rack up an impressive amount of futuristic debt (there isn't currently a backstory about this debt) and has no choice but to take up the lucrative, but extremely dangerous profession of salvaging spaceships.  Breaking up ships requires special tools--a grapple gun that can connect to objects and push or pull them toward a target; a special laser torch that can be used to cut through or melt certain materials; a specialized scanner that can help identify the components on a ship; and, of course, thrusters to help you navigate zero-g, and your handy space suit to protect you from the dangers of a no atmosphere.

The game begins with a short tutorial that explains the basics--how to use your tools, how the various components on ships function, and how to avoid the various dangers of space salvage.  Each ship has a "work order" that details exactly which valuable components you should recover and your goal is to recover them as quickly as you can--each "shift" is 15 minutes long and the ultimate goal is to salvage an an entire ship within this timeframe (which is really, really difficult and is a huge point of contention right now in the Steam discussion for this game).  Salvaging ships means using your tools to cut and then guide the various broken down parts to the correct area for processing--this can be challenging as sometimes you are guiding HUGE chunks of material toward a specific goal.  Another major hazard are the contents of the ships themselves--ships are powered by nuclear reactors which are very valuable, but will go into meltdown as you try to remove them--failing to properly remove reactors within a specific amount of time results in a BIG BOOM and potentially your death (you can be cloned, but it costs!).  Electrical components on a ship can zap you....potentially causing your death.  Coolant components can freeze you....potentially causing your death.  Fuel components can start fires and burn you...potentially causing your death.  See a pattern?  One of the other interesting ways to die (and/or make your job even more difficult) is caused by depressurization--ships are pressurized for safe interspace travel so one of your first goals is usually to depressurize them (using controls located inside the ship) to avoid a violent depressurization which usually has the effect of violently blowing up part of the ship.

During your shift there are resources that you need to buy--oxygen being the most important, but also other things like fuel for your thrusters, tethers (a tool for your grapple gun that allows you to link and pull objects toward a specific direction), or repair kits (because your tools degrade through use).  You're incurring more debt, even as you work toward paying off your debt...sigh.  When you finish your 15 minute shift and return to the "hab" (your space home) you find out how much money you made during your shift...well, minus the expenses for renting your equipment, your room and board on the hab, interest on your debt, etc.  Basically, every day you're getting charged almost $500,000.  If you want some of your hard earned money to go toward paying off your debt, you're going to need to exceed these daily costs.  If you don't....the amount gets added onto your debt.  At first, it really feels like a Sisyphean feat.

Since Hardspace:  Shipbreaker is in early access, this isn't a formal review, but more of an informational post about the game (currently, they just released the first update which was mostly bug fixes).  Eventually, when the game goes into full release, I will do a formal review.

Good:

+ If you're a fan of simulation games and space related games, you will enjoy the zero-g atmosphere and the space-y feeling of the game.  Learning how to maneuver in zero-g is pretty fun and learning how to use your tools to make this easier is also fun.

+ Two different game modes.  In career mode you have specific objectives that help you earn higher ranking certifications and unlock bigger, more difficult (but more lucrative) ships to salvage.  In career mode you work in 15 minute shifts and can work as many shifts as you want toward salvaging a ship (but, you will incur the new fees at the end of every shift).  In free play mode, there is no shift timer and you can choose which type of ship you want to salvage--it's mostly a relaxed experience (there are no fees and you make no money).  Once you max out your certification level there are also more challenging modes that unlock--one limits you to only a certain number of clones (basically you start a career with only a certain number of clones) or an iron man-like mode where don't get any clones.

+ The type of game where you want to practice to improve your skills.  The goal is to pay off your debt, and this can seem very challenging at the beginning of the game as you're learning the ropes and figuring out the best way to make money.  The 15 minute timer is unrealistic for me, so I mostly focus on trying to make sure that I can at least make some profit every shift.  Some shifts I fail at this and some shifts I can make a good sum.  You're constantly trying to figure out the best way to reach your goal without the game handholding you through it.  Navigating various dangers is also challenging.

+ Some fun aspects and sort of collectibles--each ship you salvage contains data drives which you can take back to the hab and decode for Lynx points (which are used to upgrade your gear).  The data drives contain messages that add some flavor and backstory to the game world.

+ Leaderboards and competitive aspects.  The devs seem to really want to make part of the game about competition.  If you're into that, it could be a fun opportunity to see how efficient you can get.

Needs Work:

- Currently, there are only 5 or 6 different ship types.  I've reached rank 6 (or 7) and all the ships I salvage are the same type.  There are 4 more certification levels and no other ship types.  A big consensus in the community on Steam is that going forward there will need to be more ship types added.

- Not well optimized and might not work well on older machines.  I noticed that it makes my computer run a bit on the hot side (I turned down the graphics settings and it still gets a bit warm).  Others have also commented on this.

- Currently, ships will not save when you quit the game.  You can work as many shifts as you want on one ship, but if you quit, it will be gone and you will have to start on a new ship.

- All the normal early access bugs.  Some people were reporting that their career advancement was resetting (I haven't encountered this).  I have encountered a known issue with fuses--if you try to pick them up they will kill you (through some sort of massive force explosion that destroys your helmet).  Just know that you will likely encounter bugs (it's early access...so, to be expected).  I've also encountered 1 crash.

- Advancing certification levels feels quite grindy at the moment (it will be better once they add more ship types).  Each level means completing a set of objectives--it could be something like a certain amount of metal salvaged or a certain number of work order specific objectives.  If you just enjoy the challenge of breaking the ships (and trying not to die) it doesn't feel too bad, but if you're focusing quickly advancing...you're going to feel those grindy feelings.

- The tutorial explains some basics about using your tools and gameplay, but there are quite a lot of things that really aren't explained.  Some of them you can figure out for yourself, but others are more difficult--for example, salvaging certain items can require a specific set of steps (class 2 reactors will go into premature meltdown if you don't follow a very specific method for removing them) and those are not detailed in the game.  I still don't understand how fuses work and how they are related to the power cores (but I avoid them anyway because they're bugged).

- 15-minute shift timer controversy.  Many people are not enjoying the 15 minute timer and want the devs to make it longer.  Personally, I mostly ignore the timer and just do as many shifts as it takes but some people are upset about the difficulty of trying to salvage the whole ship within 15 minutes.  I wouldn't mind if the timer was longer for the bigger ships, but it's not a huge deal for me.  There are some hints that penalties for taking many shifts might be added into later gameplay. (**addressed in patch on 7/9**)  

Should you buy it?

I've played a mostly enjoyable 22 hours but am currently giving it a break.  Figuring out how to deconstruct ships and navigate dangers is enjoyable and is good for people who want a relaxing experience.  At the moment (and it is very early in early access) there isn't a ton of content so once you've played for a bit, you've pretty much experienced what there is to experience--you can continue grinding the same ship type and slowly watching your debt tick down and advancing your certification.  I guess, at this point, I would say buy with caution and understanding that it's a work in progress.

There's actually very little heartbreaking going on...except the feeling of breaking your own heart when you do something asinine like accidentally flinging a huge chunk of ship into the wrong tunnel or blowing yourself up (twice) while removing a class 2 reactor.

UPDATE 7/14/2020:

In the most recent update the devs addressed the shift timer controversy by adding in another campaign mode called "open shift."  In open shift mode there is no timer, so you can fully dismantle a ship taking however long you want.  Another strange (but according to the devs, much requested) feature is that your oxygen no longer depletes.  Personally, I don't understand changing the way the oxygen works, but I think the open shift option gives players the more relaxing, less rushed experience that many wanted.  I don't think you will fully be able to dismantle a ship without returning to the hab due to the fact that your gear does degrade with use and you can only use repair kits in the hab.

Even with this much applauded change there are still looming issues--ship type is still scant, there are still lingering performance and optimization issues (I forgot to mention some--like the fact that your mouse sensitivity behaves very oddly at times), but I think it's a a step in the right direction to accommodate different types of players--those who like the challenge and difficulty of the shift timer and want a competitive aspect to the game and those who want a more relaxed campaign.