Author's note: Spaceport Trading Company is currently incomplete. The information provided in this review (along with the TL;DR score) is expected to change over time.


5/10: The time trial mode of play adds purpose to playing, but the price tag is heavy for a casual indie game. (And an incomplete game at that.)


Games featuring space travel are pretty cool, and Spaceport Trading Company is only a slight exception. With the campaign currently a work of progress, the player can either just pointlessly fly around the universe (or just a single galaxy if they prefer) or take on a time trial in which the player has to make as much money in a one year period as possible. The time trial seems a bit pointless in the sense that there's no rewards for making a certain amount of money or earning achievements. While it may be overly pessimistic to describe anything as pointless, there is a fun factor (and potential for improvement) in Spaceport Trading Company, and the chill experience is nice until the player gets burnt out.


The graphics are basic but do have a nice aesthetic to them. For the most part the player will be looking at three things: A top-down view of the map of the star system where the player is currently traveling through.
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3259196790

The next thing the player will be looking at quite a bit, are the jobs that the player can take for heads of whatever faction is most prominent on a planet.
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3259196816

And lets not forget about the planets themselves. Most planets have tangible graphics upon the player landing on them, while some places (most notably an asteroid belt called Far Point) are just merely scenes of open space.
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3259196837

The sounds are all basic, and the electronic ambient music does sound nice while also being a perfect mood setter.


The player either gets casual strategy games, or they don't. While Spaceport Trading Company isn't going to be kicking the player's butt like FTL: Faster Than Light, players may or may not enjoy Spaceport Trading Company without campaign mode. For ol' Il Pallino, there's enjoyment, but the burnout is inevitable.

Spaceport Trading Company has great ideas, and who knows how many more are bound to come! Ideas for things like gadgets to add to one's spaceships made for an interesting experience, while the extra ships capable of intersystem travel adds an extra interesting element to the game. (Don't expect to raise enough credits in time trial mode to afford such a ship, and especially when such ships are only available in Far Point.)

The idea of adding jobs to survey planets in one of three ways is interesting, as is the idea of appeasing prominent people who will provide bonuses to the player as they progress through the game.


Incomplete, but the developer has made a good faith effort to improve the game, and with excellent communication, this proves that Spaceport Trading Company is not at all being abandoned. If the player likes the concept of the game and can wait for the best to be yet to come, the player is encouraged to buy Spaceport Trading Company to help out the developers, and let them know that they have an audience.

Follow our curator page, OCG-Curations, if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.

[i]Author's note: Spaceport Trading Company is currently incomplete. The information provided in this review (along with the TL;DR score) is expected to change over time.[/i] [h1]TL;DR[/h1] 5/10: The [i]time trial[/i] mode of play adds purpose to playing, but the price tag is heavy for a casual indie game. (And an incomplete game at that.) [h1]Overview[/h1] Games featuring space travel are pretty cool, and [i]Spaceport Trading Company[/i] is only a slight exception. With the campaign currently a work of progress, the player can either just pointlessly fly around the universe (or just a single galaxy if they prefer) or take on a time trial in which the player has to make as much money in a one year period as possible. The time trial seems a bit pointless in the sense that there's no rewards for making a certain amount of money or earning achievements. While it may be overly pessimistic to describe anything as [i]pointless[/i], there is a fun factor (and potential for improvement) in [i]Spaceport Trading Company[/i], and the chill experience is nice until the player gets burnt out. [h1]Graphics and Sound[/h1] The graphics are basic but do have a nice aesthetic to them. For the most part the player will be looking at three things: A top-down view of the map of the star system where the player is currently traveling through. https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3259196790 The next thing the player will be looking at quite a bit, are the jobs that the player can take for heads of whatever faction is most prominent on a planet. https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3259196816 And lets not forget about the planets themselves. Most planets have tangible graphics upon the player landing on them, while some places (most notably an asteroid belt called [i]Far Point[/i]) are just merely scenes of open space. https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3259196837 The sounds are all basic, and the electronic ambient music does sound nice while also being a perfect mood setter. [h1]Positives and Negatives[/h1] The player either gets casual strategy games, or they don't. While [i]Spaceport Trading Company[/i] isn't going to be kicking the player's butt like [i]FTL: Faster Than Light[/i], players may or may not enjoy [i]Spaceport Trading Company[/i] without [i]campaign mode[/i]. For ol' Il Pallino, there's enjoyment, but the burnout is inevitable. [i]Spaceport Trading Company[/i] has great ideas, and who knows how many more are bound to come! Ideas for things like [i]gadgets[/i] to add to one's spaceships made for an interesting experience, while the extra ships capable of intersystem travel adds an extra interesting element to the game. (Don't expect to raise enough credits in [i]time trial[/i] mode to afford such a ship, and especially when such ships are only available in [i]Far Point[/i].) The idea of adding jobs to survey planets in one of three ways is interesting, as is the idea of appeasing prominent people who will provide bonuses to the player as they progress through the game. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] Incomplete, but the developer has made a good faith effort to improve the game, and with excellent communication, this proves that [i]Spaceport Trading Company[/i] is not at all being abandoned. If the player likes the concept of the game and can wait for the best to be yet to come, the player is encouraged to buy [i]Spaceport Trading Company[/i] to help out the developers, and let them know that they have an audience. [h1]The honest word of Il Pallino... OR ELSE![/h1] [quote]Follow our curator page, [url=https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/curator/7871885/]OCG-Curations[/url], if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.[/quote]