Hardspace: Shipbreaker Reviews
A satisfying disassembly sim wrapped in cutting workplace commentary, Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a gig well worth taking up.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker makes disassembling giant spacecraft piece by piece fun for a bit, but due to a lack of variety in its puzzle-like objectives it soon devolves into hard labor.
A deep space shipbreaking simulator with a mellow feel and a satirical edge, that's only let down by a gameplay loop that eventually gets a little too repetitive.
Everything you do in Hardspace: Shipbreaker is mediated by the forces of debt and capital. You own nothing; not your equipment, not your salvage, not even your own life. Salvaging sessions are divided into 15-minute shifts, and you must get the work done as quickly as possible to maximize profit. You return to your private quarters — leased from LYNX, of course — between jobs, and it's there that you're charged a rental fee for the use of your tools and salvage bay.
I’ve even got my own clandestine spaceship that I’m slowly repairing. It’s an option for escape, but it’s also somewhat hollow. Once the ship is repaired, I’ll be “free” to start my own spaceship salvaging company — it’ll be the same dangerous work, but at least I’ll be my own boss.
Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.
A nice idea, very well implemented. If you are not scared by repetitive tasks you may have found your next job.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Hardspace: Shipbreaker is like no other game out there, and offers a genuinely immersive and rewarding experience.
Hardspace Shipbreaker's 1.0 release delivers a compelling work sim where methodically salvaging derelict spaceships is as enormously satisfying as it is thought-provoking
With its incredible gameplay loop, Hardspace: Shipbreaker is as unique as it is addictive. A handful of minor bugs do little to hold back what is an incredibly immersive and rewarding experience.
Despite its ambitious scope, Hardspace never bites off more than it can chew. It is unapologetically pro-union and anti-corporate, and it shows a remarkable deftness in handling the social complexities of those positions. It distinguishes the personal value of labor from the material value - two products our corporate overlords are eager to conflate - and offers a perspective of hope in an otherwise hopeless world. I consider Hardspace: Shipbreaker essential media for anyone that is employed - blue-collar or otherwise. If nothing else it will provoke you to think about your relationship with work in a new way. Considering we spend one-third of our lives doing it, it’s a worthwhile experience.
Dressed up as an unassuming blue-collar employment simulator, Hardspace: Shipbreaker actually clamps down on the injustice of a capitalist system where the health and safety of employees is overlooked in favor of just getting the job done. Gameplay can be a little slow, but the narrative payoff is worth the wait.
Outside of some minor issues, it's hard to find fault with Hardspace: Shipbreaker. It's not a game for everyone, but it does a fantastic job at what it's attempting to be, and could be all-consuming for the right player. It's an engaging sandbox with a compelling narrative and addicting gameplay. They say if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life. Players will easily fall in love with the blue-collar spaceship salvager lifestyle making every shift in the yard feel less like work and more like a dream come true.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a fun romp as long as the ships you're gutting are new and fresh, but it can lose some charm when the plot thins and boats repeat.
Hardspace Shipbreaker does everything it wants to do, and does it well. The shipbreaking is fun, tactile, and rewarding. The story is humorous, thoughtful, and engaging. And the music is relaxing and thoughtful.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker does a great job of reminding us that, no matter how marvelous our futures might be, we’ll still be working for the Man in one form or another. Aside from maybe being too long for its own good, the game is simultaneously relaxing and challenging to play. It drills down on relatively few ideas, but makes them engaging. Hardspace: Shipbreaker has developed into an outstanding sim and puzzle game.
A blue collar simulator-cum-puzzle game, where each ship feels like a mini-campaign, Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a truly unique and rewarding experience, if you have the time and patience to clock in and put in the work.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker is an expertly crafted work simulator. The methodical dismantling of the ships is very satisfying. It contains an addictive gameplay hook and an intriguing story that focuses on the exploitation of workers. It is a job well done indeed.
There is a simplicity to the core gameplay of Hardspace: Shipbreaker. Movement and momentum add an element of skill to every action. The difficulty ramps over time but treats you well to ease you into the escalators. Combining the strategy of breaking the ship with the skill of positioning yourself in place to do so, Shipbreaker wraps it up well with a clever main story to maximize - well, reduction of debt. But most of all, it's calming and fun, set in a world that feels similar to the many wonderful other sci-fi stories that have captured us over the years. Hardspace: Shipbreaker nets you a unique opportunity to inhabit a small corner of those worlds a shift at a time, for a job well done. "Live, Laugh, Salvage."
Hardspace: Shipbreaker is an intricate anti-puzzle game that delivers a searing commentary on corporate abuse.