Objects in Space

So, this game is a really great concept: basically, what if you treated space combat like submarine combat and slowed things right down and made stealth a major factor. The universe itself is also similarly interesting - although only partially developed. It takes hours to get *anything* done in the game; this may sound like a criticism, but the pacing actually kinda works. It makes things a tense when you know you can't just load a save from 5 minutes ago in the last system and makes one question whether or not you are actually stealthy enough when pirates can easily ruin your day if they spot you. Sadly, the game itself isn't getting further updates: the developers needed to move onto other projects, and it's more or less stalled. The game in it's current state isn't bad, but it has a flaw making me hold back on general recommendation: stability. It crashes. And when one considers the pacing (slow), you can lose a lot of progress from one of these crashes. It's a niche game - one for space/submarine sim fans; and sadly, it didn't find a large enough audience to be developed further (programmers have to eat, after all), but as a concept it's certainly worth a look. I'd only recommend getting this on sale, and even that, if you're specifically interested in the idea. It entertained me for a few hours, and I really wish more games embraced the modempunk aestetic - but it's not finished, unstable and sadly it's not going to get any better.

Objects in Space disclaimer: I was sold on this when the first announcement blurbs came out listening to each new podcast from the dev team and cursing when the closed beta was Steam-only. The soundtrack alone may justify the current price tag but you get a fine game with a very charming feel and retro atmosphere to go with it anyway. :-) Things others have mentioned which have been dealt with: * Tutorial & introductory NPCs - can be skipped / disabled * Tutorial being basics only - in-game infopedia / mail has the rest covered quite well * Parts being non-descriptive / hard to judge or compare - this got an overhaul and is rather clear now * Module repairing being a little cumbersome due to UI - drag and drop with replacement rectifies this * No manual docking - got added and autopilot usually works anyway * slow travelling - 4x speed-up makes any hop bearable * grinding start - you are not limited to the starting system, there is a (limited) jumpgate network Still holding true: * still a bit crashy, but auto-saves at last docked place make it bearable * Lists (little) / text (mostly ignoreable if so desired) scrolling being tedious due to UI

Looks like a promising game. I could see myself getting lost in it, if it weren't for some problems. There is an attempt at a tutorial, but it's severly lacking. It helps you through a few basics, but there's so much about the game that's left completely unexplained. The interface is okay for the most part, but is needlessly tedious in some areas, like navigating lists. I don't mind the multiple screens for different functions, and like the old-school command line interfaces on some of the terminals, but overall the UI needs work. Repairing components in the ship is a great concept, but poorly executed here. It is tedious to go through your various systems and pull out the damaged parts, because of the UI. There's also absolutely no indication of the differences between the versions of the various compoents. The game is really buggy, too. I've crashed a number of times, which means I lose quite a bit of work. That makes me unhappy, and less likely to put any more time into the game right now.

My eyes are complaining at the font, and it sometimes looks clipped which is annoying and makes me unable to play for long. Still, I like the retro feel and the interface, however obscure and inconvenient, has its charms. The dialogues are quirky and sometimes feel strained; as far as I understood, there is no overarching story but rather a myriad of little unconnected stories to experience. I feel it's best played as a sort of "meditative game" just to chill out and enjoy the atmosphere. However, frequent crashes take that away quickly and the game doesn't even have a quicksave feature I could use to prevent my in-game progress randomly coming undone. Absolutely intolerable in a product marketed and sold as finished. I cannot recommend buying this game.

The trailer for this game looked fantastic. I loved the modempunk aesthetic, I love the idea of tooling around in space Privateer-style with a deliberately retro interface. I was hoping it would scratch that Duskers itch, where that game had turned me off with its "random brick wall to the face" difficulty. Well, it turns out Objects in Space also has a huge difficulty curve, it's just that it's the game's interface. I don't mean to say that it's old-fashioned, no. Duskers is old-fashioned, using only terminal inputs, but it also allows for some sophistication and streamlining. It doesn't ignore modern design principles, instead presenting the aesthetic without the frustrations. Objects is on the entire other end of the spectrum. Aside from the game's premise, which has been done enough times I was able to call the opening dialogue in advance play-by-play, the user interface is atrocious. The first time I left a space station, it took me forever, because I didn't realise that to request permission to leave from docking control, you have to get out of your seat, *physically leave your ship*, push a button by the airlock, then re-enter it. WHAT? Then I had to undock - the docking button isn't a toggle switch, there's an undock button living in a completely different part of the control panel, and it was hidden behind a message log. Why would anyone ever design a ship's controls that way, ever, in any universe? Then I realised that I wasn't able to take on most missions, the reward for doing missions was just barely more than the damn docking fees, calculated out how many missions it would take to afford anything, threw up my hands and said "to hell with this". I'll go back to playing X: Beyond the Frontier, which is way clunkier than the sequels but still looks, controls and plays better than this mess. (Also apparently the developers have decided they've made enough cash and have abandoned the game. Awesome.)