Developer: 4gency
Publisher: 4gency
Platform: PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox One
Expected Full Release: Holiday 2014
Habitat: A Thousand Generations In Orbit – Preview
Amongst the huge amount of crowd-funded games, it’s hard to stand out. Some try to create highly realistic environments while others go for silliness. The studio behind Habitat, 4gency, is creating a game with an obvious focus on gameplay. Let’s dive into Earth’s orbit in this strategy space-themed physics-based survival game.
We’re far in the future and our Earth has been ravaged. Within its orbit float tons of objects ranging from current-day monuments to futuristic laser weapons. Your job? Survive. You start of with a spaceship and a few engineers. With the latter you can connect objects to your ship to create a habitat. Each object contains one or more linking points. You connect them to a point on your main habitat and then it basically becomes a part of your craft. Damage however, by collision or enemy fire, can cause connections to break or certain parts to blow up. It’s smart to position objects with a lot of health on the outer parts and create some protection around your booster rockets as they blow up when destroyed.
There are three main kinds of objects: propulsion, resource-gathering and weaponry. Propulsion objects consist of booster rockets of all sizes and thrusters to add some maneuverability. Other objects will add to your resource gain. Weaponry allow you to defend yourself or go on the offense. You’ll come across futuristic laser weapons but current-day weapons can be found just as well. Expects floating tanks, flame throwers, rockets and more. Not all objects fulfill roles as of now but again, it’s still early-alpha. Future updates hold different kinds of resources like electricity, food and oxygen and other things like living quarters
Flying around was surprisingly difficult at first. There’s a physics system in place which strikes a sweet spot between realism and arcade. You’ll be required to think about thruster and booster placement. Thrusters can be turned on by clicking on them, then all turned-on thrusters are controlled by the arrow keys. Boosters obviously aren’t steerable so you’ll have to combine them with thrusters or only turn on the booster on one side to turn to the other. The game could really use a way to monitor the speed of your ship in the different directions and with that some tools to help you properly align propulsion objects on your habitat. All of those things actually matter as your ship tends to lean to a certain side without proper alignment. Some simple additions to this game will add so much more.
The variations of habitats you can create are just endless. I found myself adding cruise ships to serve as the center when another time I used multiple ones on the sides to serve as protection. A modified version of the Statue of Liberty’s head often functioned as the front, yes now it has lasers! Right now, the amount of different objects are limited but from time to time, you’ll encounter some new ones. After flying for a while, I came across an enemy space station built around the Empire State Building. After a fight, I was able to salvage it to use on my own habitat.
For the creative minds, certain objects can be used for multiple purposes. Connecting booster rockets in the opposite direction to your habitat will basically allow you to use them as a powerful rocket. Destroying certain connections can be bound to a hotkey allowing you to break them on the fly. Doing that while turning on the booster, which can also be bound, will create a very effective weapon. There’s also a swiveling robotic arm to be found. You can combine it with a prism to extend the range and direction of laser weapons. Swiveling the arm into the beam of a laser will thus allow you to aim them in a way. Think about the endless possibilities when more items will be added.
Conclusion
Habitat is a fun and enjoyable game, even in its early stages. Future holds refinement to the gameplay, and the whole game for that matter, and an addition of some sort of dynamic story mode. One of the few games still in alpha mode which I can recommend playing already in its current state.
Habitat: A Thousand Generations In Orbit - Preview,
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