Shallow Space on Steam Early Access

Like the twinkling stars and boundless planetary systems packed with auroras and abstract artistic cloudswirls that line our night sky, Shallow Space [official site] looks gorgeous. Inspired by classic inter-stellar strongholds Homeworld and Nexus: The Jupiter Incident, particularly the former, Shallow Space wants to be the next champion of the ever-burgeoning space scene and has landed on Steam Early Access in its attempts to do so. I’ve had a little play myself.

Thoughts, and a trailer with lasers and pretty colours, follow below.

After spending a short spell floating around in its spacey stretch myself, it looks promising. I spent ages tinkering with my ships’ appearance and loadouts before admiring how pretty they looked against the vast orange hue that emanated from the adjacent Saturn-esque planet. Some guy then fired a shot off at me, so I chased ’em.

It was fun. That said, in its current state there’s not a massive amount to get on with besides that – ship design, fleet design and organisation, and skirmish missions to demonstrate the game’s AI – such as the brief standoff noted above – are what players can expect to get involved with right now. According to James Martin, the game’s creator, however, the game will “advance quickly” through its Early Access stage wherein it plans to live for about a year, releasing two updates per month. By full release the game will have: a non-linear campaign; procedurally generated loot and ship modules; an RPG-like progression system; and cross-platform multiplayer, including co-op, amongst a few other cosmetic features.

Shallow Space is out on Windows, Mac, and Linux through Steam Early Access now for £14.99 (£13.49 after 10% discount until October 28).