Hardspace: Shipbreaker

Availability: Windows (Steam Deck YMMV), Xbox Series X/S, PS5

On the surface, you might think Hardpsace: Shipbreaker has a rather mundane premise: You’re a “shipbreaker,” tasked with salvaging old spaceships in the distant future, breaking them up with high-tech power tools and sorting the materials for necessary processing. But don’t let that fool you. Hardspace delivers some great space-themed science fiction with a solid narrative about a far future firmly under the control of profit-seeking corporations which have factored your probable bodily harm and destruction into an acceptable level of loss for their balance sheets. (Um, we are talkin’ the future here, right?)

Tearing apart the game’s procedurally generated ships leads to a satisfying level of destruction. Like No Man’s Sky lets you carve up planet surfaces, Hardspace gives you a laser cutter to dice up ships, picking apart what’s valuable while trying to avoid various hazards as you float around in space.

There’s a satisfying sense of scale as well. Planets orbit off in the distance, massive structures float around you, dwarfing and impressing you with the fantasy of high-tech industrialization. Add to that a nice gentle, Firefly-esque soundtrack, and Hardspace offers compelling science fiction wrapped up in some great aesthetics. Here’s a game that you can, forgive the pun, space out to as you get to work wiping out your extraordinary corporate debt.