Hardly a week back, Steam decided to do something very interesting in order to piggyback off of the 'completely online' E3 that we found ourselves dealing with. Taking the advice and example from last year's VGA's, E3 decided to actually bite the bullet and reach out to smaller indie devs in the hope that they could provide their platform with E3 exclusive demos. That's right, the age of demo's are back ladies and gentleman! I remember those evenings of yore spent browsing through countless snippets of titles you'd never quite forsee, all the time experiencing gameplay that you'd never expect. Of course, back then it was mostly for title that were firmly out, what we're looking at today is even more bizarre than that; this are in-development titles that have conjured some mid-dev vertical slice for the public to try out. Truly it's an odd situation, but one I encourage greatly and hope really catches on for future E3s. (What's cooler than actually getting to play these games?)
Through this I was able to try some games that I've had my eye on and others which just caught it, such as this one title which was published by a studio with whom I'm quite familiar; Chucklefish. (The guys who published 'Starbound' and 'Stardew Valley') Now I'm always up for a romp through a pixel-rocking title (which is odd considering how condescending I typically find that 'faux-retro' aesthetic) so when I saw the ominous, almost horror-esque, flash card for a title called 'Starmancer', I immediately downloaded the demo with no questions asked and no idea what I was getting into. Which is yet another cool thing about embracing the world of demos, jumping into something without extensive prior research is usually a sure recipe for buyers remorse, yet that robs some of the mysterious fun of picking up something wild that surprises you. Point in case, I downloaded this title expecting some sort of space-gothic Metroidvania; and that was absolutely so far afield of this game that it likely touched down on another continent.
Starmancer is a pixel-styled space-station building title that, according to the Steam, was built by a team of two people using Unity. With that in mind, I must say that I'm quite impressed with what they achieved (Aside from the way that the fullscreen kept clicking off but I'll choose to blame that on Unity) It's a game in the style of 'Prison Architect' or, in their own words, 'Dwarf Fortress'. (Personally I've never played Dwarf Fortress so I'll have to defer to their expertise on that matter.) That is to say, the core loop of the gameplay is based around slowly expanding your operations and the scope of your base whilst managing the various needs and wants of your buildings/staff. In this way the game both resembles this sort of dynamic puzzle element of solving management issues and this creative side of creating an entire station completely to your own whims.
In terms of story, the game takes place after some catastrophe on Earth has forced humanity into the stars in order to fair their best amidst the cosmos. You take control of an AI assigned to lead this effort and ensure the survival of the Human race, maybe, your really left to your own devices at that point as far as I can tell. (I am really curious about how much of a malevolent AI you're capable of becoming.) Humanity have gone full SOMA and uploaded their consciousnesses to your artificial systems so that you can grow their archetypes from scratch in a manner reminiscent of 'Oxygen Not Included'. Of course, building and sustaining a new space station home is just the beginning of your work and, as the trailer hints, the later game will require the handling of situations largely outside of the AI's control such as invasions from roaming space-pirates. (Avast!)
The demo, however, contained none of that as it was only the opening hour of gameplay, that being said I still played enough to get a general feel of what things were like and to become hopeless addicted to a title that doesn't even have a prospective release date. (Darn) As I implied I have played this sort of game before in 'Prison Architect' and I have seen enough of 'Oxygen Not Included' and 'Rim World' to roughly recognise the ins and outs of this genre. So what does 'Starmancer' have that those games are slightly lacking on? Well, accessibility; at least based on the little I have tried of the game so far. Some of those games, 'Prison Architect' in particular, have this tendency of drowning the player in information overload to the point where the actual meat of the game becomes difficult to just pick up and play. Master that difficulty and you'll have lots of fun, to be sure, but that's still an initial hurdle to overcome. Starmancer, on the otherhand, was straight forward. To the point where I could pick up the ins and outs within a single hour time limit. (Something I never imagined would be the case for a game like this.)
The controls and tasks at hand at incredibly simple and easy to learn. You have to maintain your power and bio levels at the beginning of the game, with water and fuel becoming a factor as you start to expand. The trick comes in hitting that sweet spot where you can keep your residents fed and productive whilst growing out the base and ensuring that the power doesn't cut out. (Because if it does, so does the life support.) The basic act of designing the layout, expanding, laying cable and (I imagine) isolating sectors from the grid, (I didn't get to play long enough to achieve that glorious moment) is all the basic fun of these games wrapped up in a nutshell. For those who get excited about the idea of planning and reiterating to find what suits them, this is exactly the sort of game up your alley and I cannot recommend it enough. What kept me coming back again and again to this demo, however, was the challenge of balancing everything when it could all fall apart due to a single blunder. Several times I managed to completely wipe out my station by suffocating everyone. (And most of the times it was an accident. That other time they really did deserve it.) I can only imagine how this might expand and develop as more factors are wound into the equation, as is the promise of that eventual final release.
Any gripes I had with the overall experience are honestly minimal, even more so considering that this is apparently being worked on by a team of two. All I can really say is that I feel the HUD could use a bit more work in order to feed information a bit easier, (It took forever for me to realise how much energy I had at my disposal) and maybe there could be some sort of map with icons included to get a quick overview of your base at a glance. Again, this wasn't really an issue in the short demo but I can imagine things getting a little confusing in a full game. But all these complaints are based on an Alpha for game that is months, maybe even years off, so it's likely that the team already know and have plans for all of it. Personally, I just can't wait for this title to get fully realised so that I can get a proper session with it; the promise of randomly generated factions and universes holds quite the allure for the stubborn endurist like me. (Excluding that one game of Stellaris where I got mauled by my neighbouring empire right out of the gate. Which was also my first game of Stellaris. That was uncalled for and I still have that save file so I'll return someday. Don't hold it against me.)
Already I have to say that I positively adore this new initiative, whether it be a product of the E3 staff or just Steam's prerogative. (I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this was more Steam.) Finally this is a system that allows those smaller titles to really stand out and connect with an audience in a very personal and unique way. Point in case; I'd never heard of Starmancer and might never of until this event, and now I'm an excited fan who's ready to buy that full game as soon as possible, all because of these demo days! It's rare when I have something so unilaterally good to say about somewhere the industrious gaming landscape is trending, but this is one of those exceptional moments of clarity. Keep this up, Steam. And keep up Starmancer, Ominux Games, I can't wait to see what becomes of it.
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