Hardspace: Shipbreaker

 PC
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 37 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 37
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 37
  3. Negative: 4 out of 37

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  1. S3XU4LH34L1NG
    Sep 26, 2022
    7
    Pretty fun game with a depressing story. The game drags on wayyyy too long without innovation. The first half of the story is oretty good tho.
  2. Yoda11
    May 26, 2022
    10
    Kind of indie experience at some point but really cool if you re hooked in this 4d gameplay. I really enjoyed the characters, music, thematic around Union and of course gameplay. This is not for everybody and there is a strong vision/message behind this one. You don’t often see this kind of game, very hard to classify.
  3. PJthePlayer
    May 27, 2022
    10
    A fantastic and original game. It's so much fun to take these spaceships apart meticulously and manage to get a perfect salvage score. The graphics are great, the gameplay has enough variety to keep it interesting, and it even has a decent story. Another hit from the amazing Blackbird Interactive!
  4. AdvisorRook
    Jun 10, 2022
    10
    You'll see a number of people objecting to the story in Hardspace: Shipbreaker. This is because the story, from the very beginning, satirizes and mocks the abuses, excesses, greed, and doublespeak of corporations. People who believe that corporations are righteous entities that are more important than people *hate* this. The story is heartfelt and human and relevant to today's situation,You'll see a number of people objecting to the story in Hardspace: Shipbreaker. This is because the story, from the very beginning, satirizes and mocks the abuses, excesses, greed, and doublespeak of corporations. People who believe that corporations are righteous entities that are more important than people *hate* this. The story is heartfelt and human and relevant to today's situation, and the voice acting (with perhaps the exception of Hal) is some of the best I have ever heard in a game.

    That said, there isn't any choice the player can make with regards to the story; the story progresses as you achieve the certification ranks. Each time you level up, you are presented with upgrades to your shipbreaking kit and snippets of the story the next morning (though sometimes the story pieces come at the end of the work shift rather than at the beginning).

    Early on there isn't any time pressure to help you learn, so sessions can last 20-40 minutes or so. After you get the hang of things, though, each "work day" is limited to 15 minutes, so you can play this game in bite-size pieces.

    The core gameplay loop is super fun. See to your gear, choose a ship, get to work taking it apart, and if you don't finish then you can go back to it the next day. Finishing a ship with as little waste as possible is the key to earning the highest amount of rewards in the smallest time.

    The sound design in this game is amazing. There is an upgrade for your suit that simulates sounds happening around you. Not only does this help give you auditory context clues to your surroundings, but it also leads to satisfying feedback for the work that you do. The soundtrack is fantastic! It's down-home Americana without lyrics, and there is a dynamic music system to add high-tech drama when you're doing something dangerous.

    There were a couple weird things that happened, such as things behind me or to my side that exploded when I was using the cutting laser on things in front of me, or getting killed when shutting down the fuel supply in a ship's thruster and the frame of the engine splits apart while you're inside it. But all in all, the physics work great and in a realistic way.

    I highly recommend this game to everyone- especially if you're an AnCap.    … Expand
  5. Jenna717
    May 25, 2022
    4
    Good core gameplay undermined by a dull, terribly-implemented story with bad, unskippable dialog and other shoddy features like the Hab that detract from the game rather than adding anything.

    If the last year of updates are any indication, this game will continue to get worse rather than better.

    A good game ruined
  6. Coastal2009
    Jun 4, 2022
    10
    Story is great. Lots of sad boys crying about the story being added. It’s fun. And the gameplay loop is addicting. Great for steamlink handheld as well. Hours of gameplay available here.
  7. Lukrejshyn
    Jun 8, 2022
    7
    Hardspace Shipbreaker is a really good space-simulation type game. It's very original in it's design and can be really relaxing. It also doesn't require much of your time and depending on the difficulty it spaces your shipbreaking sessions between 15 -20 minutes.

    The gameplay offers much variety. In the career mode the game constantly adds new tweaks and difficulties to keep the    Hardspace Shipbreaker is a really good space-simulation type game. It's very original in it's design and can be really relaxing. It also doesn't require much of your time and depending on the difficulty it spaces your shipbreaking sessions between 15 -20 minutes.

    The gameplay offers much variety. In the career mode the game constantly adds new tweaks and difficulties to keep the experience fresh. These can really change the way you approach certain ships. The game also gives you a plenty of tools to work with and they come together to create a really entertaining gameplay loop.

    The upgrade system really adds depth to all the tools you'll be using. Some are just minor QOL adjustments and some can greatly improve and change how you utilize your equipment.

    These were the srongest parts of the game where it really shines. Hardspace doesn't have any major issues but it does have a couple of annoying parts. The game saves only when you get to your hub and doesn't save any upgrades you had after you completed your shift so if you already upgraded something or added a new sticker or perhaps listen to new story dialogue and quit you'll have to do it all over again.

    The physics while for the most part are fun to play with often feel very clunky and this is especially evident when using tethers. The light objects usually will work the way they were intended but heavy ones can often rotate in a weird way and break tethers which makes you waste another one, waste your time making sure it moves the way you want to and it can get frustrating after a while.
    Besides those things Hardspace:Shipbreaker isn't the game for everyone. Some can find it boring or too repetetive since all you will be doing is breaking down ships for the entirety of the time spent in game.

    The story also doesn't add much to the game overall and there really isn't much space for it since most of it is presented through text and dialogue.

    However I personally think it's a blast to play and a really good space simulator. It's targeted for a specific audience and that's completely fine since it doesn't try to copy anyone and instead is it's own creation.    … Expand
  8. almo
    Jul 6, 2022
    10
    This is Game of the Year 2022. Everything about this game is solid. But the controls are amazing. It's not because I've been a gameplay programmer and designer for 20 years that I think I'm right. But that experience is why I think the immense attention to detail in the controls are so amazing.
  9. barbone3
    Aug 22, 2022
    9
    I N N O V A T I V E !
    Finally I found something completely different from the usual, also: 0 bugs, simple but fun story and some customization options.
  10. RoccoCille
    Jun 13, 2022
    8
    This game is very unusual: a specialist game that aims to do one thing, and do it extremely well in the form of spaceship salvaging. As a Star Citizen player awaiting the salvage mechanics in that much larger game, I was therefore extremely interested in a game that would specialise in this - and it really does not disappoint. The team at Blackbird have done a fantastic job of making aThis game is very unusual: a specialist game that aims to do one thing, and do it extremely well in the form of spaceship salvaging. As a Star Citizen player awaiting the salvage mechanics in that much larger game, I was therefore extremely interested in a game that would specialise in this - and it really does not disappoint. The team at Blackbird have done a fantastic job of making a space job feel like hard labor, but at the same time it requires thought, planning, and is very rewarding (and relaxing if you turn off the pointless timer and oxygen drain, neither of which is realistic for a job like this).

    Overall, I love this game for its purity. The plot of a dystopian megacorp and worker attempts to form a union, and collecting components for your own side build ship are all adding to the fun, as to collectibles, stickers and upgrades. It’s a game that knows what it is, and does it really well. It’s a game I will undoubtedly come back to regularly for years even once I’ve completed. It’s a solid 8/10 from me, it shouldn’t be judged as more or less than it is.

    Only requests would be to add in a co-player for dual cutting, VR support, and enabling free movement around your hab rather than it being fixed views. Other than that, it’s excellent - oh, and shoutout to the musicians as the music with this game is fantastic and really adds to the enjoyment and immersion with the country theme. Space cowboy ship breaking is my new favourite pass time.    … Expand
  11. lurning
    Jun 21, 2022
    9
    positive: setting / story / characters / music (though repetitive) / polished game-play
    negative: too short (I played through the career in about 30 hours) / not many ships
  12. Gravelhs
    Jun 19, 2022
    10
    Thanks to Xbox Game Pass I had the absolute pleasure to experience this gem! Gameplay is amazing and the game runs with no issue. Of, it's a simulator game so it becomes repetitive after a while but even that isn't really that bad because you have a great and fun narrative throughout the entire game and tons of secrets like data discs in ships that will reveal the lore of this amazingThanks to Xbox Game Pass I had the absolute pleasure to experience this gem! Gameplay is amazing and the game runs with no issue. Of, it's a simulator game so it becomes repetitive after a while but even that isn't really that bad because you have a great and fun narrative throughout the entire game and tons of secrets like data discs in ships that will reveal the lore of this amazing world. What I really wish is to get another game or two connected to this Universum where you can use those ships to do some runs or work in other industries related to them! It has such a potential with what they set up there that I really hope to see something more in the future and I will do the campaign again at some point to get to final level and collect all the stickers (furnace god awaits)… Expand
  13. apokalipto
    Aug 22, 2023
    9
    Very good game. I enjoyed playing this game a lot. I strongly recommend this.

Awards & Rankings

45
#45 Best PC Game of 2022

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 34 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 34
  3. Negative: 0 out of 34
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 29, 2024
    100
    Additional variability in gameplay, however, is provided by a decent number of ship types, which was the biggest shortcoming of the preliminary version. Now the game contains around ten ship classes. In addition, the internal layout of each individual ship within a class is different. So you don't have to worry about running into the exact same vessel twice in dozens of hours of play. [Issue#320]
  2. GameCritics
    Oct 19, 2022
    95
    Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a masterpiece. It offers perfectly-tuned gameplay that dovetails flawlessly with the story that it’s telling, and it’s the rare example that manages to make its points entirely through mechanics — even if someone stripped out all of the dialogue, players would still understand what the game has to say about the crushing cycle of worker exploitation under capitalism. The fact that the developers went out of their way to build a believable world and great characters to help players empathize with the people trapped in this corrupt system shows how much they cared about making the best possible version of their work.
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  3. Riot Pixels
    Jul 18, 2022
    70
    This is a one-of-a-kind saga about a space rigger, but it needs some memorable moments in order to shine.
    Read full review
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