Hardspace: Shipbreaker

The idea behind it is genius. The fundamentals are great. Unfortunately the game suffers from fatal flaws: - an astounding lack of content, which leads to extreme repetitiveness: there's just a handful of dangers, boring upgrades, and the variety in the moment-to-moment gameplay which within the first few hours seems on a good trajectory because more mechanics are gradually introduced, suddenly stop, and the game stagnates in repeating just a handful of basic motions over and over again - an abysmal user interface which is infuriating to work with and actively undermines the experience - the game feels quite pointless because everything is generally very easy, outside of the no-revive mode which feels half-baked anyway - annoying pointless dialogues, in a vain attempt to make this a story-driven thing, which is clearly a bad match for game - the usual boring trite corny setup: a distant-future dystopia, a bad oppressive corpo, strong anti-capitalist undertones, hints of catastrophism of the climate-change sort, and so on. It's basically the usual setting that we've been subjected to just about six billion times before. What about having an original though, for once? A real shame, because with more focus on content, meaningful difficulty, and a more inspired setting, this would have been really great.

Overall, really fun. I beat the whole campaign from start to finish, which took ~30 hrs. There are alternate game modes, but there really isn't enough replay value here to warrant playing beyond the campaign, but I think the hours/dollar calculation here is pretty fair. You get what you pay for in terms of hours. The game does get repetitive towards the end, but the basic gameplay itself is really fun so doing it more isn't a bad thing in my book. The story is pretty good. Nothing life changing but above average, I'd say. I'd say the game is at it's worst around the middle, in my experience there were 5-10 hours in there where you aren't seeing any new content and the story isn't progressing, meaning that period is the most repetitive, I think. The art and music are the high points, here. Everything feels really cohesive. The ships youre breaking apart seem realistic, and have some elements of randomness to make repeat ships not entirely rehashed. Overall, well worth the price of admission and i happily recommend it In short, this game is really well made

Perfect for your OCD, not so much for your equilibrium. A really really enjoyable experience, and a surprising touching and humane story. Hits surprisingly close to home with current state of labor and bioethics politics. Oh, and it's canadian made!

A fun game that, if you turn off air consumption and time limits, can be fun to just "zen out" to. The single player story line is fun and not over taxing but the ending makes me wishing for one thing. For a final, endless mode where you hunt down derelicts and explore them, pulling the choicest scrap before tagging them for hauling back to the yard for a small finders fee.

Let's try to be TL:DR Good game. This is really a puzzle game and it is good at it and it is fun and the KABOOMs happen. Story is decent. If you like what you see, get the game. Maybbe during a sale. SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS** Story is decent until the game 'ends'. The ending is verybad because it throws all the story off the window with optimism and 'the system works'. You don't live in the 90s guys. You made a decent story and this ending? Shame on you. Anyhow, that doesn't affect the game and you can keep playing it after that. So, still good game, the story can be ignored.

It's a great short game, would recommend if you like the idea of breaking ships down.

The story is so comically bad and intrusive it's difficult to just play the game.

Looks good, the lore is funny, but pretty repetitive

This game knows what it wants to be and it executes that very well; it's a real time puzzle solving messy disaster simulator, and it's beautiful.

Very fun game with a good story line. Break apart progressively more challenging ship designs as you progress through the story. A good variety of ships are available so working each one is different and you have a choice in what ship you're working on. The tutorial missions are excellent. Showing you how to accomplish each new challenge without too much hand holding. I was surprised at how into this game I got. Thinking about how I could plan the ship break to be more efficient. Highly recommend this game.

Great chill game. Good for playing while watching something on a second monitor. The story is actually good too.

[h3] An oddly satisfying space salvage adventure that hides more beneath the hull. [/h3] If you thrive on precision, and attention to detail, this game will quickly suck you in. The core gameplay loop is incredibly satisfying. Initially, you are learning and meticulously disassembling derelict ships piece by piece. Before long, you’ll find you know each class of ship like the back of your hand, instinctively approaching the hull from just the right angle. Each cut delivers a genuine dopamine rush, making even the salvage jobs unexpectedly rewarding. The gameplay, though deeply gratifying in its own right, doesn’t dramatically evolve. However, the game has an unexpected narrative thread that starts subtle, but grows over time. In the end, this game is a love letter to careful craftsmanship and hidden stories. It rewards those who take their time, notice the little things, and don’t mind doing a job thoroughly just for the sheer joy of it.

If you like puzzles and taking things apart, this is your game, very addictive, time sink, but also really fun, kind of like having a futuristic job lol, I highly recommend, going on 14hrs as of this writing. Thanks for reading, PS Much better with a Xbox style controller.

Lots of fun both casual and hardcore. Loads of replay value.

A really fun and unique game. If you have ever dreamed of being an astronaut on EVA, positioning yourself in various ways to perform tasks .... that is exactly what this game is. The premise of a future world in which "shipbreakers" are hired to perform these tasks (on worn out ships) seems at least reasonably possible. The interaction between you and your trainer ("Weaver") seems realistic and fun. The game sort of forces you to play in 15 minute "shifts," with breaks in between, which I think is a good thing, because you'll be manipulating your mouse a lot, and your hand will get tired .... you'll need the break! I like the progression of skill, and the progression of ships to be salvaged getting harder, more complex and more dangerous! I love being a shipbreaker.

Played first through Xbox gamepass on PC. Beat the story for the 2nd time here on steam. Didn't initially know what I was going to get with this game but it got me genuinely hooked on the complexity of breaking down and salvaging space ships for money without blowing it all up to smithereens. Story is simple, but that's what makes it good for me. Story takes about ~30 hours or so to complete, only slow parts are in the very middle of the story where you just salvage ships until you level up to a certain level with little to no story bits. I've tried my hand with the other modes, while they are pretty fun, I'd say this is a game where you'll probably only play the campaign. All in all, this is a fantastic game for what it is. Definitely worth the price I.M.O. A must try, especially when you're burnt out from your main games and just want to play something different just as a refresher :)

It's fun, really. You have to be able to learn from failure, though. There is a bit of a tutorial to learn new things but lots of details are missing. When to cut where, what can happen if you cut here or there. Sure, there is a general info: things can blow up if you cut wrong. But where is right and where is wrong? The story is.. meh. I feel for no NPC in this game. Imagine minecraft and some NPCs are talking about their lives while you just want to explore a cave. And they take ages to tell you their life stories. And you can't skip them. This game doesn't need a story. It definitely doesn't need an unskippable voiced story line, that takes ages to complete. Graphics are fine. Who cares about graphics anyway. Everything else is fine.

lets hope for some big DLC with more compelx ships and more danger

It's a very fun game if you enjoy taking things apart and learning mechanically how things fit together to make the whole. Very big "Dad Game" energy, and pretty casual. You can play it more hard-core if you like, or you can relax and listen to a pod cast while pretending you're a space grease-monkey.

As challenging as you want to make it. I play on standard and find it quite relaxing and chill.

Fun puzzle game. Weaver such a sweetheart. Would have been nice to have more ship variety, and for Javelins to not be so consistently more value compared to other ships; I found Javelins so unfun to salvage, and had to force myself to not optimise the fun out of the game.

I love this game, though I might be a little autistic. I love the pacing and the slow breakdown of massive ships. The story is really good, especially when I was not expecting a story at all. Figured this was a typical ship graveyard type of game. But, I like this WAY more than those. I kept restarting the game each time I died trying to get to the end credits with only 1 life. Hell of a challenge, at least for me, and I loved every moment of it.

8/10 * Fun relaxing game-play loop * Much more interesting and complex deconstruction than in other deconstruction games * Story is hit or miss * Just when you think the prolonged prologue is over, the game has reached it's conclusion ...

Something broke the game xbox controller functions. At first it was easy to play with my xbox controller. Now, it often doesn't register input until the 3rd -4th attempt. Making it near unplayable. I know its not my controller because no other game acts like that. Also when I plug it in it it works fine. Need some help with this. Other than that great game.

Excellent. It really does just speak for itself. I highly recommend it.

Hardspace: Zero Gravity Obsessive Tidying Simulator is the most stressfully zen experience I think I've had in a game. Let the (surprisingly well voice-acted) story wash over you as you sink into flow state and dismantle increasingly complex spacecraft filled with little touches of ambience and worldbuilding - and also with hazards that will burn, freeze, shock, bludgeon, irradiate, or explode you if you mess up. The drip-fed dopamine combines with spikes of adrenaline into a blend that will bliss you out so much you won't even think to wonder where the last six hours went.

Incredibly surprised by the itch this scratches. If you like building things or taking them apart to figure out how they work, this is the game for you. The story had me hooked from the start as well, even though it's not as much in the forefront as in other games. 5/5

Preface: BUY ONLY AT A HEAVY DISCOUNT A game with a lot of potential, sabotaged by its own devs. The gameplay loop is incredibly good with steadily increasing challenge and rewards, the physics and looks are great and the environmental storytelling is fun. Unfortunately, instead of focusing on finishing the game, the devs inexplicably turned their efforts to the story mode which is just plain atrocious, with grating characters (screw you, Lou) yammering at you unskippably after every other shift and even during shifts. No, Cartoonishly evil, all-powerful megacorporations don't get defeated by a kindergarten tier 'industrial action' performed by three people. What's worse, you get literally no input and no way to affect the story in the slightest. You receive e-mails and voice calls, you read/listen to them, you're dead silent the whole time and the story just progresses past you. Even the final action where you're given the apparent option of a choice between staying loyal to the company and sabotaging the salvage job, your choice has NO IMPACT on the outcome, aside from a different achievement. Meanwhile the rest of the game is plainly unfinished, with the final third of level progression earning tokens (skill points) that cannot be spent on anything, while no new ships or mechanics are introduced, so you just keep doing the same thing over and over. There are less than half a dozen unique ship types, a missing tier 10 hazard level and fourth hazard type, cut grades above two make no sense, the signs are everywhere that the development focus shifted to the nothingburger of a story, then when that was done, the game got released in this sorry state and abandoned, which is a real shame.

Enjoyed the core game loop and it had a serviceable story, along with some lore to discover along the way.

Game is fresh and enjoyable, but is not good enough to explain how Homeworld 3 turned out so poorly. Gameplay is satisfying but loses is luster once you memorize ships. Needs bigger more complex ships, more scenarios, and more tools. Failure is not really punishing. Would benefit from a "choices matter" story layout. Otherwise the "story" is just background noise. Wish it was co-op; I hope they make an expanded sequel.

the game is amazing, if you are into the work simulator genre, it does have a hard mode if you like a challenge like myself. great game and loving it so far especially if its on sale, there is a story to the game as well with some Lore if you're into that along with upgrades as you play.

An incredible mix of "chill out" and "oh crap oh crap oh crap" gameplay that has become my go-to wind-down title. If you enjoy sci-fi atmosphere, innovative mechanics, and just the right amount of excitement, this is absolutely worth every penny!

Nice relaxing game with a small story about sticking it to the corporate overlords.

TLDR: Close to greatness. Story sucks. Cant skip pointless dialogue. I just wanna tear down ships. Man this game is awfully close to being my next 'tism. Imagine if this had custom workshop ships that the community made for you to breakdown, or if it had an in game Ship Builder. But it doesnt. Its just 15 minutes at a time, make progress on this ship, go back into your little space apartment to listen to some crappy, pointless intercom call from a character I couldn't care about less. The thing is that corporate greed is a great message to get out there, this game just does it in all the wrong ways with annoying, pointless drivel that goes on and on... its unskippable and I cant even manage my tools or upgrades while its going on. I wish that there was an option that I could just turn off the time limit and story progression, and just progress through the ships, hazards, and tools on my own... maybe with occasional guidance from the Foreman.

Start with a very cool idea for a chill deconstruction sim. Add terrible story to it. Never add more ships or complexity to your cool game idea. Game goes from an 8.5/10 to a 6/10 for no good reason. Truly one of the most disappointing games in recent memory.

The story is abysmal at best, the game is very repetitive and the grapple mechanic slightly fiddling. Get it only at ~70%+ discount after watching some YT gameplay to confirm it's (a bit) your thing. I have 50h in it due to a completeness/achievements fetish, once you get to the largest ship type the repetitiveness becomes loud. On the plus side you don't have to spend hours reading tutorials, everything is simple and you can turn off your brain for 30min-1h after work.

Widegape Buckbreaker Great game, very fun, interesting gameplay and SATISFYING gameplay. The concept is very original and works well, really like the simple retro-feel HUD. Would've liked if upgrades came sooner, but its fun the whole time. Noticeably DEI cast and crew, story is simple and ends simply, nothing special, not bad and not good. Very predictable, and I was rather ired by the fact the dialogue was unskippable! I played with character voices set to maybe 15%, everything else at around 80%, maybe music much lower because I usually supplemented it with my own chunes, basically ignoring the subtitles the whole time. Oh, and did I tell you you can't turn the subtitles off. Yeah. The actual game SFX though, the tools, furnaces, and space physics sound great and really enjoyed them with a good pair of headphones. 9/10, Buy it at full price.

Excellent game, terrible discussion threads.

forced 6 minute intro before i can go to settings, what the hell game launches and stops responding, i have verified integrity of game files after reinstalling the issue persists

fun game mechanics; decent enough story; fun achievement hunt

fantastic space sim for ur late stage capitalist dystopian sifi

Intro was like The Expanse TV series. Damn These guys should make movies! The atmosphere, graphics, lore - incredible

Quite therapeutic! So long as you don't blow up any reactors...

Do not buy this game unless you want to watch a bunch of tutorials on youtube before you even begin.. no idea if the game is even good at all because they tell you nothing about playing the game. Disappointment that games can't even give you a tutorial to start. No idea what I paid for this game but it was too much.

A good looking, good working, good sounding game.

Completed the campaign in 36.6 hours and this felt like the right amount of time before I think it may have started to get boring. Even if you feel like this is too short there is always to option to "Free Play" that allows you to process ships at will. I didn't try the speed runs as I had my fill at that point so no idea what they are like. The progression is nicely done; the pressures you face change towards the end of the campaign so it doesn't feel like a static grind. By the end, if you're invested in successfully processing a ship as close to 100% as possible then you have the tools/space to so which I was glad for. Nice voice acting, the story is pretty straight forward and you follow it in a linear style, it's more of a side line to the actual game play i.e. processing ships. Good graphics, only had some stuttering when certain voice prompts played but not really a big deal or game breaking. Overall good game; got the game at 60% off and that felt like the right amount of money for the content. *** spoilers beyond this point *** The only thing I found lacking was the ghost ships, I expected more and they were a little bit of a let down. Maybe I missed something but as far as I can tell they just mess with doors and that's it? I kind of get it as going down the rabbit hole with AI/Robots would pull away from the main story; but they were a bit anticlimactic. Maybe it would have been nice to have them present a new challenge, like reactors II, where you have to do certain things to prevent disaster?

SHUT UP LOU I JUST WANT TO SALVAGE I DONT CARE ABOUT YOUR STUPID UNION SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP

I have over 300 games in my library. Only 10 are in my favorites list. This is one of them.

Very very addictive. It's not difficult to play, but it's difficult to play and achieve the top scores, as a mistake at any point on the level affects your final rating. After 80 hours of play, I'm still into it! Highly recommend.

pipe accidentally lit on fire after stealing components from a console causing a chain reaction leading to the core of the ship detonating, killing me and wiping out all my salvage goals. overall 10/10 game