I’ve been spending an absurdly large amount of time playing the Early Access version of Colony Ship: A Post-Earth Role-Playing game (the sci-fi RPG from the makers of Age of Decadence that was brought up in this thread back when the EA started in April).
It’s so much fun. It’s like playing Fallout 1 or 2 with modern quality-of-life mechanics:
There’s a party management window where you can heal your characters and assign roles.
Moving the cursor around a battlefield shows you the lines of sight to the enemies
There’s a deployment phase before combat starts where you can place your characters, load weapons (or just select “always load weapons after battle” in the management window), and activate gadgets like force fields or stealth devices.
Sneaking isn’t just an on/off-button like in most RPGs – stealth missions are an actual feature in the game. They are not text adventures either but actual animated characters moving on the screen.
etc.
Character development is a fun mixture of learn-by-use skills and a selecting a feat when leveling up. The number of companions is determined by the charisma stat (as in Dungeon Rats), while constitution limits the number of cybernetic implants you can install on yourself.
The writing is dry and sardonic, but in contrast to Age of Decadence the companions add a touch of warmth and humanity to the bleak setting. (not to say that AoD was populated only by sarcastic assholes, but the companions in Colony Ship are a welcome counterbalance to all the sassiness)
What I’m saying is, if you like top-down role-playing games, this is a game to look forward to. It has the potential to be the best RPG released since the turn of the millennium.
Sorry about the preachy nature of the post, couldn’t help it.
That does sound cool. Although “Underrail” single handedly changed my reaction to hearing “it’s like the original Fallout games” from “Sweeeeet” to “Ugh. I hope not”.
I guess by “feeling like the original Fallout” I mean a range of separate things:
The main user interface is obviously inspired by Fallout – it features a similar info feed window and the option to choose between two weapons that have different action point costs – but it has gone through a series of iterations. It feels more like a callback than slavish recreation of the Fallout UI.
Social interaction is focused on skill checks that determine dialogue outcomes. But whereas the skill checks in Fallout actually aren’t very frequent by modern standards, in Colony Ship there are checks everywhere. For instance, you can absolutely get by with putting all your points into persuasion, streetwise, and impersonation. The “science boy” and “stealth boy” paths envisioned for some of the latter Fallout installments seem to be viable paths too.
The story takes place at a time when the social order has collapsed as a result of a disastrous mutiny. The juxtaposition of order versus chaos (reminiscent of Killian Darkwater vs. Gizmo in Junktown) is heavily present.
Exploring the space ship gives me the same vibes as delving into Vault 15 or the Glow in Fallout 1 or the Weeping Stone Catacombs, Drowned Nations, or Warrens of Thought in Planecescape: Torment. There’s one big difference, however: Iron Tower Studio doesn’t do trash/filler combat.
In short, I feel like the game is an evolution of certain old design ideals. The RPG system is more meaningful, the encounters more impactful, the combat is more tactical, the interface – particularly the inventory – is more tolerable, etc.
How is the new user experience? Is Character Creation fun like in Fallout? Each stat has a funny picture or joke and nice descriptor? But you don’t need to mess with it if you don’t want to?
EDIT: @tomchick, thank you for creating the thread! I think you got the name slightly wrong though, it’s Colony Ship, not Space Colony. Unless that was on purpose, in which case, very good.
Alas, the character creation lacks the cartoony illustrations of Fallout. It’s very matter-of-fact and concise. All info is displayed on one screen in four columns.
Overall, the humour is more… subtle (?) than in Fallout. It’s more situational instead of being part of the general presentation. For instance, I thought I had left a certain breed of mutated killer frogs behind me as I entered a new part of the ship. Squeezing myself through a half-open doorway in some factory hall, I met more of those ankle-biting and head-eating amphibians. The narrator remarked, “Not those goddamn frogs again! Where do they even come from?”
Anyway, the most recent EA update added pre-made characters for those who get analysis paralysis from stat adjustment:
Hmm, I’m not sure why you’re quoting this post at me. It was buried in one of the forum’s 742 worthless catch-all threads until I rescued it and gave it a home here. :)
Oops. I must be subconsciously pining for the olden days of Firefly’s before-its-time colony management sim. Talk about hiding the discussion! Yeesh. Thanks for the correction!
Yeah, I’m stoked for this specifically because of how subversive Age of Decadence was. Now I just have to ignore this thread until Space Colony Colony Ship is out of early access…
I did that before you separated the thread out, because I was under the mistaken impression you hadn’t found it yourself and were wondering what game was being discussed. :)
That’s primarily why the resurgence has happened. Normally demos are a net negative, but giving them bonus advertising plus doing it in an event where people are unlikely to get their fill of any one game makes it more likely for the strategy to work.
I should love this kind of game (and even more so its predecessor, with its ancient roman theming), but I’ve bounced hard off AoD every time I’ve tried to spend any time with it. Games with 100 stats that require you to spend more time designing your character than actually playing it, just aren’t my cup of tea anymore.
Based on the screenshot and brief dip into the demo, they haven’t changed their approach much, have they?
