In spacefaring management sim The Banished Vault, no one can hear me scream

polygon.com:

When I enter my 23rd solar system, I know this is the end. My small crew of exiles is running out of faith — a pillar of their monastic identity, as well as a core game mechanic. At a glance, the planetoids in this region of space don’t have the resources or land masses for me to build critical outposts or craft key items. I don’t have enough stasis — a liquid matrix that enables the exiles to survive the excruciating hibernation process between solar systems. Eventually, they will grow weary and lose the ability to perform any actions, which is tantamount to curling up in a ball and waiting for death.

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The Banished Vault is essentially a single-player tabletop scenario that has been honed into a singularly intense, sadistic instrument of survivalism and resource management. Each solar system is a procedurally generated trial with the same spiritual vibes as that math problem that requires moving a group of people and a hungry lion between two islands in one boat. It is The Art of War for logisticians written by a spacegoth Dune mentat. Mentally, I refer to the game as The Punished Vault. It is the most grueling thing I’ve played in years, and I love it.

I’m in charge of the Auriga Vault, one of many enigmatic interstellar monastery cities that chart the universe. Somewhere on the edge of space, it