Ever wanted to live and work in Space, now is your chance…
Some key points that this game offers:
- Breathtakingly beautiful simulated images of Deep Space.
- Comprehensive Research tree to truly enhance and improve your overall abilities.
- Extensive management system to keep your station running, clean and operating smoothly.
- Indie Gem 3.5/5
Gameplay & Controls:
The game controls are pretty simple, you can play the entire game with just your mouse, using the LFM for most functions to set task, open menu’s and direct your workers, the RMB can be held in and moved in any direction you want.
If you like key shortcuts as much as I do, since they make gameplay more smooth and easier to handle, then be amazed. This game has shortcuts for every aspect of this game, they can all be seen by pressing the F1 button in game.
The gameplay is pretty much a simulation of working, living and producing goods in space while dealing with random events and daily human needs.
You are the space station manager starting off with a handful of resources and workers, from there you start building more modules to expand your Space Station. There is a worker type for each field, medic for the medbay, scientist for the science lab which also serves as the research centre. There are cleaners, technicians and many others.
All workers get assigned manually to complete their tasks, from the medics all the way down to the oxygen extractors, the same goes for the cleaners, carriers and technicians, but a nice feature these three have is where you can tick the box that automatically assigns them to the work that they have to complete.
The game offers a tutorial to help you get into the game, it has a slight learning curve which is actually quite fun to learn, along with that there are a few missions that can be considered the campaign but they are more just there to work as a tutorial and slowly ease you in to the game and all it has to offer, the game is pretty much played in custom mode as a simulator.
Graphics:
The game looks beautiful, absolutely beautiful, the backgrounds are alive with moving planets, suns and other moving particles. There are stunning details behind every module to give them all their own unique look and feel, the workers all have clothing attire specific to their roles, making it easy to determine who is who. On the character panel you can see an up close image of your selected worker, the face he/she has is randomly generated along with said character’s name.
The animations for module failures, asteroid damage and even for running systems are all visible and quite beautiful to experience; yeah seeing a massive leak in one of your modules waste away precious oxygen is quite beautiful but scary, still that oxygen is quite precious in space…
On the setting side of things, we have the VSYNC option, Fullscreen/ Window mode and a massive variety of resolution options from 1152×864 all the way to 4096×2160, so there are plenty of options for you.
Sounds:
The game has a soothing soundtrack that really sets the pace for the gameplay itself, it may not be a fast pace, but then again this isn’t a fast paced kind of game. Play this too fast and your station won’t endure, time and effort is key in these little beauties.
The sound effects also play an amazing role in giving life to your little Space Station here in Deep Space, so all these little sounds really add to the overall gameplay. From the alarms blaring after an accident, or just general noise from a busy station they all come together beautifully further increasing an already amazing little game.
On the setting side of things, we have volume control of the music and sound effects so you can customize them to your liking.
Replayability:
The game is a simulator mixed with Base Building and management; replay is everything that this game is about…
MGR Gaming’s Conclusions:
Spoilers Ahead:
StellarHub is a unique Space Building and base/ crew management game with a ton of potential.
You pretty much just start with one module, the hub, some resources and a few crew members, this can be changed if you are playing a custom game. The custom game has a wide variety of features and settings you change to set up your little side of Space. From how the day/ night cycle plays out, to the length of each, pirate and asteroid activity, crew skill levels and starting resources, all of this can be changed to your liking.
The game starts and plays pretty much like similar simulators where you need to get the basics built and operating to keep your crew alive such as food, sleeping quarters so they can rest as well as a medbay so that they can be treated for accidental injuries, sickness and vaccinated.
The game has a learning curve but as I mentioned it is fun, this game is really fun, you can easily loose several hours behind it. However, the game does lack some content, you build your base upgrade your defensive platforms and then you are pretty much settled to withstand any number of pirate or asteroid attacks with no worries to damage. the game has some contracts for you to complete that also offers funding for the expensive salaries of your crew, the bigger the crew list gets the higher the overall salary pay works out, a thought that should always be in your mind.
On a personal level this game doesn’t sell for too much so it is worth the price and you are bound to get your money’s worth from it, I just feel like it is missing some content, it has the potential for growth and expansion. What we need is more interaction with the game world.
The crews levelling abilities are quite nice and do improve the game itself but a more personal touch here would make it go a long way, as it stands our crew are all just a bunch of coloured suits we use.
Another feature that would improve the game is a priority menu, one where we can shut down all operations in a given field instead of having to go to everyone of your six mines scattered throughout the system and manually shut them down. A function to shut down all mining or one where medical assistance is deemed priority one and all medics reporting for duty to treat patients.
Another example would be with your stations defense, the bigger your station gets the more widespread you will have laser turrets to fend off pirates along with a missile launcher or two and a shield booster or two. Keeping all these modules active is a tremendous waste of energy so they are only switched online when asteroids or pirates’ approach. Having to find all these modules and one by one activate them is tedious, so again defense control to activate all or selected defences would be a massive improvement here.
The contracts are a nice touch as a form of missions, but we require more; the game needs more reasons to be played for longer than just finishing the achievements. More interaction, more story, a campaign or two maybe, not sure how multiplayer would work but the game needs more.
Some basic QOL features will really turn this game into a gem.
Additional Info:
Platforms: PC
Genre: Space: Building: Base Building: Management
Censor Rating: N/A
Age Rating: N/A
Developer: Casualogic
Publisher: Casualogic
Release Date: 17 August 2017
MGR Gaming Steam Curator:
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32364038/
