Pilot

Tasty-looking space games fill the atmosphere nowadays like satellite launch debris, but perhaps you’ll find room in your weirdly adapted magnetic fishing net for one more – Kaigan’s Nullspace. I came across it in yesterday’s Indie Fan Fest stream, and I quite like the cut of its torpedo bays.

Nullspace grabs me for a couple of reasons. One is its “retrofuturistic universe”, which strikes me as both sleek and cosy. It’s kind of chibi Homeworld. The kitbashed ships come alive with swivelling turrets and manoeuvring jets, but something about the way they’re proportioned, patterned and lit also makes me think of freshly piped cake icing. I also quite like the Star Fox-style jabbering heads of unit commanders in the bottom corner.

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The other thing I like is that this is one of those possibly borked genre hybrids, like Shiny Entertainment’s Sacrifice or Activision’s old Battlezone reboot. On the one hand, it’s a real-time strategy game with planetary bases, various resources to gather, a choice of fleet formations, and the option of either using asteroids for cover or blowing them up for disruption. On the other, it’s a dogfighter, with the ability to seize control of any ship and hose the badniks with your own two thumbs.

The result may prove to be more akin to Dynasty Warriors or a punch-up in an Airfix factory than the Battle of New Caprica. There are a couple of moments in the trailer when ships barge into each other like shopping trolleys. But I do like the bustle of it all.

There’s a story to reckon with, when you’re not making battleships kiss. It channels both “the Golden Age of Sci-Fi” and “deep existential themes”. According to the Steam page, you will “lead or challenge factions like the democratic Hegen, the transhumanist Dominion, and the resourceful Junkers as they vie for survival and dominance.” Apparently the game contains a “unique take on the Fermi Paradox”, this being the contention that we really should have run into some advanced extraterrestrials by now given the amount of stuff there is in outer space. Interested to learn more, I guess.

As for those factions, they put me a little in mind of Sins of a Solar Empire, though they don’t seem quite as vicious. Here’s the blurb in full:

• The Junkers: Survivors and scavengers, the Junkers live on the fringes of space, salvaging remnants of humanity’s past to build a precarious future. Their resourcefulness and ingenuity allow them to adapt to any situation, but their distrust of centralized authority makes them fiercely independent–and difficult to unify.
• The Hegen: A powerful, militaristic faction rooted in discipline and order. The Hegen values tradition and hierarchy, believing that humanity’s salvation lies in strict control and unwavering loyalty. Their massive fleets and technological prowess make them a force to be reckoned with, but their rigidity may blind them to alternative solutions.
• The Dominion: Visionaries, innovators, and seekers of progress, the Dominion is driven by the belief that humanity’s evolution lies in embracing new ideas and technologies. They see opportunity in the chaos, pushing boundaries to forge a brighter future, though their relentless pursuit of advancement often clashes with the values of other factions.

All told: I can dig it. But do I dig it more than Nebulous: Fleet Command? I can see representations of gravity wells in the trailer, there, but I doubt it’s simulating quite as much stuff. Nullspace hath yet no release date beyond “coming soon”.

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