“The Last Starship is already an attractive title, and shows plenty of promise for the further development to come.”
Ever wanted to run a starship through the galaxy, travelling with your crew from job to job just to see the sights and keep the reactor running? What a way to live. But what if that galaxy was rapidly dying – doomed to be consumed by a growing singularity which will eviscerate all life in its path? Surely it couldn’t be so, right? Get ready to run (fly?) for all your worth, because this space jaunt just got serious.
The Last Starship is a starship building and management game, delivered by the creative minds at — – the team behind the all-time smash hit management game Prison Architect. Similar in style and execution, but thematically divergent from this proven fan favourite, the game derives its mechanics from its predecessor and combines with a healthy dose of classic Sci-Fi akin to Freelancer or Elite. Constantly job hopping, mining and fundamentally surviving, the stakes could not be higher. Nevertheless, the thrill of the ride is both forefront and palpable, not to mention gripping for hours on end.
From constructing your ships chassis to making sure you have enough food and oxygen on board for the crew, the game more than puts you in the management driver’s seat from the beginning. You are thrown a few basic life support and propulsion utilities to connect inside your vessel, and then you are off. In its early access form, there is little direction or learning time to speak of, and the singularity waits for no captain. The gameplay loop from here is relatively straightforward; take a job, fly from station to station, sector to sector, making money and buying resources and equipment to upgrade your ship and crew, and stay ahead of the all-consuming and growing black hole all the while.
Whilst relatively visually basic, albeit grey to boot, going through the motions and making the big calls is largely addictive. It is worthwhile deciding what you will specialise in early on, be it mining, combat or basic transit and trade, and building your vessel accordingly. Combat, I found, was exceedingly challenging; largely on account of the challenges of manual navigation in the game. There is a system in place, but without the guidance which will surely follow as the development of the game proceeds, it is tricky to figure out and difficult to master.
Mining, however, is tactical, lucrative and largely the most satisfying job type at launch (barring a fantastic Star Trek-inspired main quest line, which is a blast!). Asteroids are often a place of contention with other smugglers also vying for the same precious minerals as your need. Meteor showers make the process of gathering resources an intense and pressing process. Deciding whether to hand over the haul or smelt it into a more lucrative and saleable form is an ever-careful consideration. More so than simply gathering human or solid cargo, the mining trade loop in The Last Starship was one of the things that kept me coming back in every bit of my free time. It is consistently satisfying and gives you all of the incentives you need to upgrade, upgrade, and upgrade.
The aforementioned story quest is one of very few currently present in the early access title, but it bodes well for the future development of The Last Starship. Equally, the free and open starship-building sandbox of the game is likely to draw in both Prison Architect fans and creative gamers alike for many hours of perfectly replicating famous sci-fi models, or indeed creating something new. The systems for this are intuitive, and reward players who prefer either style or functionality in what it offers. For those less inclined to spend their time in this area, the process is swift and the ability to armour your vessel and increase crew space as you develop gives enough incentive to these players to engage as necessary. Equally, your ship’s hardware and storage layouts can be as ordered or lacklustre as you are inclined to make it, shaping the experience for just about any type of play style.
The Last Starship is already an attractive title and shows plenty of promise for further development to come. From what you can do to keep pushing forward now, from job-hopping to fleet building to the signals for what is still on the way, there is plenty to draw in players to this game; especially those who recognise and have experienced the — model and pedigree before. I am excited to keep tabs on this title as it grows, and can easily recommend it to anyone who enjoys the satisfaction of a mechanically and thematically solid management sim. Keep an eye on that singularity, pilots, and I’ll see you again in the next sector!
Grab your copy here https://store.steampowered.com/app/1857080/The_Last_Starship/
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