Putting the R In RPG
HIGH An accessible way to be introduced to PC-style RPGs
LOW Pixel-hunting to interact with items.
WTF The “Buttload of Porn” items around.
TRANSCRIPT:
Hi everyone, Eugene Sax here with another review from GameCritics.com.
I didn’t have a lot of experience with the classic PC style of RPGs like Baldur’s Gate or the original Fallout titles, only their more modern and console-friendly counterparts. One immediate difference I noticed was that I was able to go through console RPGs more like a checklists than actually role playing.
I could start with the things that come easy to the character I created, then buy or grind up stats to be able to do the quests I couldn’t initially handle. There were rarely limits, which comes with both good and bad. While I admit that getting used to PC sensibilities can sometimes be annoying, Space Wreck makes limitations meaningful while also making the feeling of overcoming them enjoyable.
In this isometric RPG title, players will control the rookie captain of a spaceship who finds themselves stranded in space after a pirate attack. The crew draws straws to determine who takes the remaining shuttle to a nearby space station to get help. The player (of course) draws the short straw, meaning that they’ll explore different space stations and ships in space to try and find a way to fix their ship and get back home.
After players create a character and set up skills, the world is their oyster. For example, rather than being immediately handed a basic quest, players can interact with NPCs in any way they want — Charm them into helping, sneak around and steal their stuff, or murder them, if so desired. There are many choices, as long as the character can handle the task, often in the form of passing a stat-based skill check.
Having said that, there are some serious limits to Space Wreck as a whole.
From the jump, the game tells players that combat is not required, and with good reason. Even as a bulky character, there were instances where a single blow would kill me. It wasn’t often, but it was enough to make me reconsider my habit of brute forcing my way through things. On the other hand, my character wasn’t the greatest at speaking, which means there were some conversations and choices I missed out on because I failed the skill check and couldn’t initiate a chat.
While these things were a bit on the brutal side to me, I quickly started to appreciate those limits and actually started to roleplay my character. Instead of trying to beat everyone up, I used hacking skills to get robots to fight for me, and put my tinkering tools to use trying to get into every locked area I could.
In one section, I landed on a wrecked ship that housed a colony of people. The colony was dying, and it was only a matter of time before the aging people would no longer be around. When I went to leave, the security chief in charge was going to force me to stay in the colony in an effort to revitalize it. I couldn’t fight them to get my stuff back, and I couldn’t steal it back, so I had to get creative. There was another shuttle that no longer had navigation controls, so I could hack it and leave, or I could hack the life support system to knock out everyone and take my stuff back then, if I could find a space suit.
This one small example shows how roleplaying branches out to every other portion of the story, leading to different outcomes and affecting everything going forward.
Something else I appreciate is how streamlined Space Wreck is. I’ve played enough tabletop RPGs to know a character sheet can get bloated and become filled with stats, abilities, items, and much more to keep track of. This also occurs in the videogame world as well, but not so much in Space Wreck. Characters are limited to five stats and five skills and inventory isn’t a big concern, so it was easy to keep everything in mind and never became overwhelming.
It’s also easy to go back to a specific point in the story and make new choices. On startup, Space Wreck has a map which shows players their progress. On some of the major milestones, players have the option to reload from that point, finding even more ways to interact and solve problems. It’s a small touch, but helpful for players (like me) who would like to explore more options without starting a new playthrough each time.
My only gripes with Space Wreck are that it can be a bit difficult to click on the exact item I want to interact with. The pixel graphics and isometric view mean some items overlap each other, and there wasn’t a good way to choose what I wanted. It also feels like some of the dialogue trees were not triggering properly. I would try to speak with an NPC, roll a successful speech check, and then the dialogue box would close without the talk happening.
Space Wreck feels like a good first step into the bigger world of PC RPGs for a newcomer like me. It certainly has the same level of brutality that I’ve often heard of, but it remains manageable and easy to come to grips with. Even better, a run can be completed in under 10 hours, so it’s not a huge commitment and can be readily replayed. I wasn’t sure if Space Wreck would be one I would enjoy, but I’m already starting a second playthrough to see what other secrets it has to offer.
For me: Space Wreck gets a 8 out of 10.
Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Pahris Entertainment SIA. It is currently available on Steam. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on Steam. Approximately 9 hours of play was spent playing the game, and the game was completed.
Parents: This game is currently not rated by the ESRB, though for me this game would equate to an M. Players can fight enemies with melee and projectile weapons. There is no blood, but characters can be turned to ash with the right weapons. Characters will curse in dialogue, and clothing items can be removed to make the character appear naked. There are come cases where players can have sex with NPCs, though there are no graphics for this, it’s text descriptions only.
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes. There are two mods to change how the screen looks from a DOS look (blue background with white or gray text) or an LCD mode (White background with Purple or Black text).
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: There is text in game, but the text is not able to be altered or resized. There are no voices, and the audio mostly serves aesthetic purposes. There are no necessary audio cues. When text comes on screen, it is normally the main focus, so comes in fairly large. The game is fully accessible.
Controls: Controls are not remappable, and there is no control diagram. Players can use mouse left click to control everything, with right click giving some more detailed options (Ex: Right click on a person to Talk, Move To, Kick, Shove, Stab, etc).
While Sonic and Street Fighter were great places to start, his first love was Final Fantasy X when his dad bought a PS2. Ever since, that love for gaming has evolved -- there are a number of game worlds out there, and he intends to explore them all. RPG to horror, platformers to casual and everything in between -- if it’s available, he’ll play it.
While his time is short between writing reviews, tabletop gaming, and attempting to start a cheesecake business, he has caught all 806 pokemon and can speedrun Star Fox 64 in less than 40 minutes. He’s always looking for new things to try and new challenges to conquer. You can find him on Twitter -- @eugene_sax.
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