Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a genuinely phenomenal game, but it is NOT perfect. I just want to go over some of the common complaints from the perspective of someone who still recommends the game in spite of them.

The most common complaint from Early Access was the enforced 15-minute shift timer; this is still present in the game's "career" mode (which functions as the campaign), but there's now an option to play a free-mode without the timer. The forced shift time is a requirement for the campaign to function, but playing with it is now optional from the moment you load up the game - so if it was putting you off, don't worry.

Secondly, a lot of complaints leaving early access were the number of ships. I somewhat agree; the game revolves around the internal systems of the ships becoming increasingly complex, but if you progress quickly through the levels (ie: if you're good) then you'll reach a point where you've seen everything a little quicker than you might expect. This means that the only real "challenge" the game has is how cleanly you can salvage a ship - the focus is no longer on learning, but on perfecting; however I'd say that only now, 70 hours in, have I reached a point where I can perfectly salvage any ship. Some more variation would be nice, but I wouldn't say it makes the game not worth playing, there's still plenty to learn before you hit that plateau.

And thirdly, the story. BBI explain in their FAQ that they believe a game to be "a conversation between the developer and the community", and while it's a sentiment I agree with, in H:S's case it is VERY literal. The story takes the form of a series of dialogues that the player listens in on; you cannot interact in any meaningful way, and the only "choice" you have is at the very end of the story. Because there is no interactivity, and there is ONLY dialogue, the characters come across as very 1-dimensional. There's no way for the player to know these characters outside of what they say, so they kind of have to put their whole personality out from day 1; this leads to a heavy use of cliche and trope that makes the story itself predictable and bland. The actual quality of the voice acting is pretty decent, which makes it not intolerable, but again if you progress through your salvage goals quickly (ie: you're good) you will be getting unskippable dialogue between AND during EVERY shift, and there's probably only one character you actually care about (Weaver my beloved).

In my opinion, BBI needed to pace their story WAY better. They've used the line following the prior quote, "the other side of that is that sometimes we value different things", to seemingly shield themselves from any form of criticism; but when you make a game about having a relaxing time breaking ships, and then have your story sort of... get in the way of that? You literally just needed to have the frequency of dialogue be lower and it would've been fine, avoid trapping the player in the HAB between shifts and just let people interact with your game. Maybe if there was any way AT ALL to be involved in these conversations it would've worked in its current form; but having no choice but to sit and wait, with literally nothing to do, while your characters monologue at me for 5+ minutes at a time is NOT a compelling way to tell a story.

HOWEVER. You CAN just turn down the volume for voices; while the dialogue can get in the way sometimes, it's not actually too often - mostly just towards the campaign's conclusion. And the worldbuilding, oh my; it's genuinely really compelling. I just wish the main storyline explored it a little.

So, why do I recommend it?
Because H:S isn't really ABOUT the story. That's not why you play the game. You play the game to deconstruct ships in Zero-G, to get better and better at it, to overcome a seemingly insurmountable debt; you play the game to see number go up, and feel like your skills and dedication have a tangible impact on how quickly that number changes. The physics are fantastic, the visuals impeccable, the soundtrack enchanting - everything that isn't the story is done with a level of polish that would make AAA studios blush. All the complaints above amount to minor annoyances that don't really stop you from enjoying the game for what it is; that's why I kept playing it, that's why I recommend it.

Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a genuinely phenomenal game, but it is NOT perfect. I just want to go over some of the common complaints from the perspective of someone who still recommends the game in spite of them. The most common complaint from Early Access was the enforced 15-minute shift timer; this is still present in the game's "career" mode (which functions as the campaign), but there's now an option to play a free-mode without the timer. The forced shift time is a requirement for the campaign to function, but playing with it is now optional from the moment you load up the game - so if it was putting you off, don't worry. Secondly, a lot of complaints leaving early access were the number of ships. I somewhat agree; the game revolves around the internal systems of the ships becoming increasingly complex, but if you progress quickly through the levels (ie: if you're good) then you'll reach a point where you've seen everything a little quicker than you might expect. This means that the only real "challenge" the game has is how cleanly you can salvage a ship - the focus is no longer on learning, but on perfecting; however I'd say that only now, 70 hours in, have I reached a point where I can perfectly salvage any ship. Some more variation would be nice, but I wouldn't say it makes the game not worth playing, there's still plenty to learn before you hit that plateau. And thirdly, the story. BBI explain in their FAQ that they believe a game to be "a conversation between the developer and the community", and while it's a sentiment I agree with, in H:S's case it is VERY literal. The story takes the form of a series of dialogues that the player listens in on; you cannot interact in any meaningful way, and the only "choice" you have is at the very end of the story. Because there is no interactivity, and there is ONLY dialogue, the characters come across as very 1-dimensional. There's no way for the player to know these characters outside of what they say, so they kind of have to put their whole personality out from day 1; this leads to a heavy use of cliche and trope that makes the story itself predictable and bland. The actual quality of the voice acting is pretty decent, which makes it not intolerable, but again if you progress through your salvage goals quickly (ie: you're good) you will be getting unskippable dialogue between AND during EVERY shift, and there's probably only one character you actually care about (Weaver my beloved). In my opinion, BBI needed to pace their story WAY better. They've used the line following the prior quote, "the other side of that is that sometimes we value different things", to seemingly shield themselves from any form of criticism; but when you make a game about having a relaxing time breaking ships, and then have your story sort of... get in the way of that? You literally just needed to have the frequency of dialogue be lower and it would've been fine, avoid trapping the player in the HAB between shifts and just let people interact with your game. Maybe if there was any way AT ALL to be involved in these conversations it would've worked in its current form; but having no choice but to sit and wait, with literally nothing to do, while your characters monologue at me for 5+ minutes at a time is NOT a compelling way to tell a story. HOWEVER. You CAN just turn down the volume for voices; while the dialogue can get in the way sometimes, it's not actually too often - mostly just towards the campaign's conclusion. And the worldbuilding, oh my; it's genuinely really compelling. I just wish the main storyline explored it a little. So, why do I recommend it? Because H:S isn't really ABOUT the story. That's not why you play the game. You play the game to deconstruct ships in Zero-G, to get better and better at it, to overcome a seemingly insurmountable debt; you play the game to see number go up, and feel like your skills and dedication have a tangible impact on how quickly that number changes. The physics are fantastic, the visuals impeccable, the soundtrack enchanting - everything that isn't the story is done with a level of polish that would make AAA studios blush. All the complaints above amount to minor annoyances that don't really stop you from enjoying the game for what it is; that's why I kept playing it, that's why I recommend it.