Hardspace: Shipbreaker a new early access title where you dismantle ships

A very interesting game with some social commentary and interesting games mechanics.

You play as a Shipbreaker employed by the Lynx corporation to dismantle and salvage old ships in near earth orbit. It's a physics heavy game with some nice graphics and fun tools that allow you to take the procedurally generated ships apart piece by piece recycling salvaging and processing as approriate all the various parts.

Basic gameplay works this you have two tools a grapple for moving things around (and moving yourself if you like) and a cutting tool. Both of these are upgradable with more advanced features as you play to handle bigger and better ships.

Your job is to buy a wreak of a ship then safely and efficiently dismantle it sorting the parts into three categories. Some can be salvaged like antennas engines reactors seats consoles and so on. Some can be melted down like aluminum or titanium panels. Some can be processed like nanocarbon panels that make up the outside skin of most of the ships.

First you can remove all the outside parts antenna engine nassels and so on these can either just be yanked off with the grapple or their attachment points can be cut off with the cutter. You then just throw these parts into the salvage barge. Then there is the rest of the ship it's typically pressurized so you need to safely release the atmosphere by locating the airlock cycling inside finding the atmosphere regulator and turning it off. If you don't do this the moment you put a hole in the ship it will explosively decompress and parts will be destroyed and you might get killed losing you money and the game is all about the money. You owe the corporation huge amounts of credits (something like 100000000 I think) everything you use is rented from them your tools your sleeping hub even your body (you are cloned if you die and that costs more money) every time you damage something or destroy something or incorrectly sort something you lose money die and you lose money all your supplies cost money so it's all about efficiently and safely extracting as much as you can from the wreaks to pay of your debt while trying not to accumulate more debt.

With a wreak depressurized you can start slicing it up your scanner highlights the internal structure showing the weak points you can melt or cut to break it into sections. Some materials can be sliced up with the cutter like aluminum glass and titanium and other bits can be collected like fuel for your thrusters or oxygen which saves money on having to keep those refilled. Each working day you have 15 minutes to extract as much stuff from your current wreak as you can earning money and completing work orders (with specific goals it extract a reactor or gather X amount of metals etc) these reward you with points to upgrade your equipment and also you gain levels or licenses that allow you access to more complex and more lucrative ships wreaks.

Inside the ship are parts like reactors fuel cells power cells cryofluid that need to be carefully handled when salvaging other wise they explode damaging you and the wreak costing you not only the value of themselves but what ever they damaged. Carefully examine the parts to see what is dangerous is part of the procedure.

There are basically three "bins" you can fling stuff in the barge which takes components like reactors antennas seats switches etc, the furnace that takes raw materials like aluminium titanium and glass, and the processor that takes Nanocarbon panels. You have to put the right things in the right bin or you lose the money and some of the parts are intermingled floor panels are often a nanobarbon panel and then a titanium sheet welded to it so you need to cut the titanium off it and seperate it for maximum money and use the most efficient cuts to minimise any material loss. Glass cockpit windows are the same fused into the frame.

It's very physics heavy with the wreak in your space bay gradually coming apart as you cut it up bits of it then starting to drift off and requiring grappling into the right bin for processing.

It's a zen sort of game reminds me a bit of Viscera cleanup squad you start with this ship and just slowly break it down methodically planning how to extract the most out of it maintaining your fuel O2 and supplies. Then when you are done you get a new ship and start again. There is a story told in small snippets of audio logs you find it's light but adds some richness to the thing it feels very distopian the feeling after you break down a ship salvaging as much as you can when you see the price then see how much your costs negate that then the tiny amount it takes off your immense debt the crushing sense of running in place working hard but making no progress on buying yourself free.

It has a few bugs that I've seen it doesn't like my ultra wide setup at all but I've seen a few quirks where the shadows suddenly invert and you can't see anything but the core mechanics seem to work well slicing up ships into their parts dissecting panels and pulling things off tethering loads of panels into one of the bins for processing feels pretty good.

All in all an interesting title one where you are on a loop of breaking stuff down to then only start again but the process feels very zen and calm and enjoyable if you are in that sort of mood. As I say reminds me of Viscera cleanup squad in that regard and some of the building simulator games like car mechanic sim construction sim house flipper things of that nature. The satisfaction of a job well done as you push the last parts of the broken down ship into the bins.