Hardspace: Shipbreaker PS5 review – salvaging the future

metro.co.uk:

A satirical glimpse at the future of working in outer space, that turns trying to form a union into a compelling gameplay experience.

Consensus suggests we’re living through the latter stages of capitalism’s current arc. Rebuilding Europe after World War 2 fostered a spirit of everyone being in it together, whereas the end of the 20th century felt more like everyone for themselves. Hardspace: Shipbreaker takes the premise that this process continues to accelerate, concentrating obscene wealth into the hands of a vanishingly small number of people, while everyone else struggles just to make ends meet.

Fast forward to the 23rd century and not only are mega-corporations now running everything but 200 years of human space travel has left behind dangerous levels of debris across the solar system. The answer to this problem is a bit of good old-fashioned recycling, and the company that gets the contract is Lynx, your employer.

To be fair, you’re not really an employee so much as an indentured labourer, the astronomical fees for getting you into Earth orbit, plus the rental for the various pieces of equipment you need – plus bed, board, oxygen, and frequent medical expenses – meaning you start the game well over $1 billion in debt. Your earnings in the game gradually chip away at that number, but not in any meaningful way, especially given the daily fees you pay just to live.

Your job at Lynx is to space walk out to the hulks of abandoned spaceships and use a laser cutter to chop them up for scrap. Computers, electronics, and furniture are high value junk that needs to be deposited in a barge, while aluminium and useful metals get sent to the processor, leaving the flotsam and jetsam to be fired into the incinerator. You’re paid to