I have been deconstructing space ships for months now. I like how each spaceship is a little puzzle, and that there is some story involved.
Are there any similar cleanup/deconstructing games?
What are you playing that scratches a similar itch as hardspace?
Hey there, cutter.
If you’re really after the deconstruction aspect, then I’m not sure there’s a whole lot out there. But if you zoom out to the level of “methodically tinkering with a system that requires careful attention”, there’s a lot of those.
Hardship Breakspacer is part of a (pseudo-)genre known as “dad games”.
- Powerwash Sim
- Viscera Cleanup Detail
- Goblin Cleanup
- Pacific Drive
- Papers Please
- Quarantine Zone
- House Flipper 2
- Star Trucker
- Dredge
On the “hardcore nerd” end of the spectrum, there’s even:
- Satisfactory
- Factorio
- Scrap Mechanic
- Any Zachtronics game
A little more chill:
- Unpacking
- Potion Craft
- Please Fix The Road
Edit: Or for the “scraping my way through out in space” vibe, but less tinkering:
- Endless Sky (free and open source!)
- FTL
Kinda left field, but Teardown is an incredible game. You have leeway to destroy the environment however you want for as long as you want, but the second you touch one of the objectives a timer starts and you have to get the rest of the objectives and leave before time runs out. Essentially, you meticulously plan your route and make shortcuts for yourself using every tool at your disposal in a fully destructible voxel environment. Its so good
I’m gonna make an argument for Viscera Cleanup Detail. You asked for cleanup games that scratch a particular itch. This is a sci-fi setting that puts you in charge of cleaning up after some horrific space disaster. Each map tells its own story through the evidence you’re tasked with incinerating.
If we can put Powerwash Simulator up there, we have to acknowledge the violent, gory, and hilariously janky physics older cousin that is VCD. It’s even got a sense of humor to it, which is another link to Shipbreaker.
If you don’t mind carrying a bin of severed arms, grab VCD.
It’s really fun with friends. Constant yelling at who the tell tipped over the gore bucket, or whose bloody footprints cross the freshly cleaned hallway.
Keep in mind that these mostly aren’t direct analogues, and not all in the space genre, but I can think of:
- Unpacking +
- Power Wash Simulator 1 and 2 +
- Papers, Please ++
- Space Engineers +
- Ostranauts +
- Besiege ++
- Terra Nil +
- Sunken Engine +
- No Place Like Home +
Cleaning games: +
Detail-driven puzzle or deduction games: ++
While I agree with most of the games in this list that I know, I wouldn’t class Ostranauts as a cleaning game. It’s probably closest to Shipbreaker, at least thematically. You loot derelict spaceships, but can also deconstruct hulls and systems to add them to your own spaceship. Finding a hull with serviceable fusion engine parts is hitting the jackpot, either to sell or for your own ship. While it shares the “I’m in debt for the rest of my life” vibe it’s much easier to climb out of that hole once you understand the game.
There’s Ship Graveyard Simulator 1 and 2 in which you are dismanteling rusty ships. But on earth. I think it is less sarcastic, but if you like the disassamble part especially, this could be for you. I played a free to play “prologue”/demo version of SGS2 on steam once. People write that multiplayer has lots of errors, however you seem to be playing singleplayer so that wouldn’t bother you, I assume.
One of the closest analogues I can think of is Subnautica. Very different genre, but it shares the aspect of having a narrative that actually drives you to want to DO things in the game, and the fact thst the moment-to-moment gameplay is quite fun.
