Space Station Tycoon Review (PC)

Another radiation storm is getting close to the space station, and I am not suitably prepared. Sure, I could harden most areas of my station, making sure I have enough shielding and batteries to ride out any disaster without sweating too much. But I’ve decided I’d rather accept the pain and then spend to quickly rebuild affected modules. Soon I might also have a special drone repair system that will patch up systems.

Sure, some employees might quit, but that’s a good opportunity to hire better people. The biggest hassle is making sure that my massive space advertising billboards are up and running, giving me the cash, I need to expand. I have space lanes connecting quite a few planets, but I really want to see the entire sector and make sure everyone can visit my station.

Once the radiation passes, I invest in a casino and another research hub. I plan on researching the most luxurious space dock, surrounding it with all the facilities and entertainment I can offer to drain them of cash. I have enacted a policy that means ships do not pay docking fees to make sure they have more to spend during their stay. I also need extra turrets and maybe more escape pods to make all visitors feel safe and to deal with pirate attacks.

Space Station Tycoon is developed and published by Lunheim Studios. I played it on the PC via Steam. As the name makes clear, the game takes classic ideas of the tycoon genre and takes them to deep space.

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It is the year 3,000 and humanity has managed to become a multi-system species. We don’t directly see the planets we inhabit but space stations are the nodes that hold systems together. Players take charge of a bare-bones one and need to develop it, make money, and deal with challenging situations. It’s a classic setup for the tycoon genre.

Unfortunately, the game does little with its setting. There are spaceships and alien eggs to incubate. But there are no real narrative beats. Writing for all crises that pop up isn’t very expressive, as well. Space Station Tycoon does allow players to interact with individuals and see how they are feeling but there’s rarely a good reason do to do. The entire experience is designed to focus on the mechanics of creating a thriving space station.

The structure is initially bare bones and options are limited. Gamers can create small landing pads, provide them with power, and create limited accommodations for incoming visitors. Escape pods, turrets, and small shields create a sense of security. As more visitors come in and spend money, more options open up.

Soon it’s time to access a bigger area of the system and connect to extra interest points. Put down a few of the three research buildings as soon as they are available and target developments that reduce overhead or increase incoming funds. Then use those to build larger hangars and docking spaces, while providing the personnel they need (positive traits only). Billboards are a great investment, especially if players satisfy the specific requirements for the big, pocketed advertisers.

Gamers need to make choices. The spinal connections that support solar panels for energy production can also be used for machine guns or a bio gun. A shield might make it harder for an attacker to destroy an important module, but a casino will deliver more revenue. The game gives players information on their station’s performance and policies can be tweaked to boost research or weapon power.

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Space Station Tycoon creates a loop of constant development but there are limits. From time to time, a crisis comes around. The radiation storm is the worst of the bunch and will take both significant funds and time to recover from. Pirates attack and it’s OK to pay them off before a system of turrets is set up and capable of destroying them. None of these events is as good at limiting growth as the simple fact that the space station only has eight arms.

At first, one floor is open, offering access to four of them. Fill them up and it’s time to save up a quarter million credits to open up the second one. By then, the space station has massive power and security needs and it’s very easy to get to a point where there’s no more room to expand. Once that happens, it is crucial to eliminate older modules and optimize as much as possible.

Space Station Tycoon’s mechanics are too conservative, taking the best elements of the tycoon genre without adding anything significant to them. The science-fiction theme offers plenty of opportunities to create weird modules or to add cool research options. But everything the game offers is overtly familiar.

Space Station Tycoon is decent to good looking. Players can move around their space station, admiring new modules and watching ships as they fly in to dock. It’s beautiful but limited because the developers chose a classic futuristic industrial look. The year 3,000 setting gave them license for extra weirdness, especially when it comes to the design. The game’s interface makes it easy to build and develop.

The sound design is less successful. Effects, ranging from laser turrets firing to mechanical extensions for the space station, don’t stand out. The soundtrack is initially very exciting, with some rock sequences that work well with the setting but does suffer over longer play sessions because of its limited variety.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion