Platforms: GeForce Now, Microsoft Windows
Initial release date: July 30, 2024
Engine:Â Unity
Developer:Â Mirage Game Studios
Genres: Strategy video game, Adventure game, Strategy, Early Access
Publishers: Mirage Game Studios, THQ Nordic
Space for Sale is an isometric, factory-building, planet-exploration simulator with a strong emphasis on extraterrestrial life.
This is a chibi version of Satisfactory on the front, rear, and pretty much every side. From a different angle, Space for Sale is satisfactory in terms of character models, gameplay ideas, and even the main objective.
But there are a few changes that could improve the game significantly. Now let’s get started!
Space for Sale is quite satisfactory.
A brief check at the Steam website for Space for Sale is enough to detect the remarkable parallels to other titles in the category.
The essential formula remains consistent: an intergalactic corporation sends you to an exotic planet with the task of gathering resources and constructing a factory. This procedure entails systematically gathering resources from various nodes distributed around the terrain while also destroying some of the local plant and animal species that may pose a threat to your advancement.
The gameplay loop of resource management, exploration, and battle is immediately recognized, indicating where the game got its inspiration. Even the electricity system is the same as Satisfactory’s (with identical designs).
The nature of the planet itself is where things start to change. This factory builder offers a significantly broader diversity of alien life than Satisfactory, where most of the organisms you encounter are either minor nuisances or stage dressing.
This game doesn’t hold back, and you’ll engage in fight with alien life far more frequently than in the previous game. Encounters with gigantic octopus crabs, floating frog hogs, massive slug beasts, and living swamp slimes are all possible.
Even though the map is smaller than those in Satisfactory, it contains twice as much information in its isometric setting. The game remains new for a long time with its beautiful and captivating biomes that include deserts, forests, and other distinct regions.
This game has a ton of activities that will keep you occupied. Nevertheless, this isometric plant building simulator is deficient in a few areas.
Some Niggles
The tale and, more seriously, the primary objective, are the two big hanging axes over this game. Although it is obvious from the outset that we should construct a factory, automate processes, and other things, we never truly feel inspired to do it.
Satisfactory excels in this situation since it gives a defined end objective almost right away. You send resources back home and run a massive space elevator. It’s easy to use and enjoyable. The circumstances are very different here.
You don’t spend the entire game on your planet, in contrast to Satisfactory. To prepare a planet for sale, sell it, and then move on is the objective of the game. You can upgrade using the money you earn from sales.
The game doesn’t really alter with these upgrades, and you can play until you decide you don’t want to.
That must be the case for the majority of games—why play on once boredom sets in? But instead of feeling like I wasted a lot of time, I wanted to feel like I accomplished something through gameplay. Something Space for Sale does not offer is that.
The Same Area for Sale, But a Different Method
A unique isometric artistic style that distinguishes Space for Sale from other titles, together with captivating interactions and intricately detailed environments, contribute to the game’s attractiveness and variety.
With its diverse alien ecosystems and engaging biomes, each with its own distinct difficulties and opportunities, it offers a fresh spin on the factory-building genre.
Space for Sale is definitely worth a try if you’re searching for a novel take on isometric factory simulation and planetary exploration. But don’t be shocked if, as the novelty wears off, its appeal wanes.
Review Overview
Gameplay – 78%
Story – 70%
Aesthetics – 82%
Content – 76%
Accessibility – 80%
Overall Rating – 77%
Good
Summary: Space for Sale is a space colony simulation game that blends resource management with exploration. Players will find themselves immersed in building and managing a thriving colony on an alien planet, balancing tasks like gathering resources, constructing facilities, and ensuring the survival of their colonists. While the gameplay is engaging and the visuals are polished, the game can sometimes feel repetitive due to the lack of varied objectives. Nevertheless, it offers a solid experience for fans of simulation games, with accessible mechanics and a charming aesthetic.