Developer: Skyglow Softworks
Publisher: Skyglow Softworks
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Annihilate The Spance – Preview
Annihilate The Spance promises an epic science-fiction story set in a rich, futuristic universe, coupled with strategic gameplay and impressive visual battles. Self-published developer Skyglow Softworks cites 2011’s Flash game Obliterate Everything by CWWallis as its inspiration. Is this the Ultimate Spance Adventure, or will it just Annihilate your Chance – for fun? Discover the answer in our preview!
The introductory campaign centers around Commander M. Halts and the mercenary group Void Hounds, presented mostly through dialog boxes and slow, unskippable scripted camera animations. Acting as a tutorial, it offers little introduction to the game’s broader narrative. Said narrative provides a wealth of lore and backstory through the Databank, Datafeed, and Dossiers.
The titular Spance is depicted as a perilous, resource-rich cloud of dust within a so-called Milky Way, mined by structures known as Cohesers. The game hints that “Spance” might be a shortened form of both “expanse” and “space”, showcasing the writers’ dabbling in constructed languages. Players also encounter factions such as the Kontaal, Vaalkorei, and the Coallition (note the typo).
Despite the extensive information, the writing quality often disappoints. Militaristic techno-babble saturates the Databank, creating a complex yet shallow experience. The narrative suffers from typos, awkward phrasing, and general clumsiness. Players are expected to be familiar with the factions and political landscape, resulting in a blend of under-explanation and confusion due to exotic terminology.
Attempting to emulate the breaking political, scientific, and supernatural events of successful novels and TV shows like The Expanse, the Datafeed fails to achieve narrative coherence. Often feeling like an exercise in world-building rather than an engaging story, it leaves players sifting through a deluge of text without rewarding us with characters to root for or compelling villains. As the story delves into the supernatural, players at least get to indulge in some seriously eccentric ideas.
The game’s graphics, while functional, leave much to be desired. The user interface resembles a placeholder, and the simple geometric designs with low polygon counts appear to be an effort to maintain stable frame rates during large battles. No small feat, which the developers have successfully achieved. However, this stability comes at the cost of visual flair. The character portraits, with their unmistakably AI-generated appearance, further diminish immersion. Skyglow Softworks at least promises to replace these placeholders as funding allows. Graphically, Annihilate The Spance relies on the sheer number of ships, lasers, and missiles on-screen to create a spectacle, rather than emphasizing the quality of design or visual fidelity. Readability sadly also falls by the wayside with many spanceships lacking distinct silhouettes.
Peter Brown, also known as peakssound, composed the soundtrack for Annihilate The Spance. While his work is commendable, it lacks the creativity and delightful eccentricity of his previous videogame project, Reassembly. The music is far less memorable, with none of the tracks standing out even moments after hearing them. Sound effects for gunfire and explosions are functional but desperately lack punch and volume. Menu interactions have a single sound effect, and selecting units and buildings is eerily silent. This missed opportunity to provide immersion and auditory feedback is particularly disappointing, even for an Early Access title.
Annihilate The Spance introduces players to its gameplay mechanics with a main platform, then tasks them to collect and manage three primary resources: Matter, energy, and logistics. Players utilize these resources to build additional harvesters, stationary defenses, and yards. The yards, in turn, produce autonomous spanceships, offering only limited control over ship types and waypoint assignments.
With a vast selection of vessels featuring diverse weapon systems, specializations, and roles, Annihilate The Spance strives to offer strategic depth. However, most campaign missions devolve into slow battles of attrition, seldom deviating from this formula. We can only hope that skirmish modes and the level editor will eventually mitigate this lack of variety.
The gameplay impresses more with its sheer volume than its quality. While the variety of spanceships provides some strategic depth, success often depends on finding an overpowering combination of ships rather than employing clever tactics. Consistent performance during battles with hundreds of ships on screen is a notable positive aspect, but the overall gameplay experience feels repetitive and lacks innovation.
Conclusion
Annihilate The Spance focuses heavily on its campaign, offering at least a handful of quite interesting missions. However, both the writing and gameplay are primarily impressive due to their sheer volume rather than their quality. The variety of spanceships offers some strategic depth, but the emphasis on finding an overpowering fleet composition rather than smartly dismantling enemy forces diminishes the challenge. The game’s performance is commendable, even with numerous ships on screen. But it lacks the potential for significant improvement unless more missions adopt novel victory conditions beyond “build many ships, destroy the enemy base.” The story, while rich in lore, is marred by poor writing and confusing terminology. At times, it feels more like a list of names, places, and dates rather than a captivating narrative, with the most interesting aspect being the heightened presence of the lesser-used letters of the alphabet. Certainly, Annihilate The Spance is tailor-made for a special niche of strategy gamers looking for massive fleets battling it out in a blinding display of laser beams and plasma pulses without a lot of stressful micro-management. But for exactly this large-scale autonomous space combat, players might find more enjoyment in revisiting 2009’s Gratuitous Space Battles.
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