Whereas the PC Gaming Present showcased what felt like a whole lot of titles, there was one which caught out to me because the spotlight, and it was a pixelated preview of Area Station 14. A remake of free-to-play function play area station simulator Area Station 13, this recreation has the potential to deliver one of the distinctive gaming experiences I’ve ever performed to a wider viewers.
Area Station 13 was based mostly on the BYOND platform, and initially launched in 2003. The sport can nonetheless be performed at the moment, however it’s held along with spaghetti code, hopes, and desires. There’s two or three essential branches of the sport, and it’s very open supply. However SS14 is making the sport much more accessible with a Steam port.
SS14 is developed by Area Wizards Federation, a neighborhood of volunteers, and retains the open supply roots alive by providing the sport utterly at no cost. And you may test it out on Steam in early entry beta proper now.
What’s Area Station 14, and what does it matter?
Credit score: Area Wizards Federation
To clarify why I’m excited for Area Station 14 it’s finest to attempt to speak a bit about Area Station 13. SS13 is a web based roleplaying recreation the place you and a crew of different gamers try to maintain the eponymous area station working for so long as doable.
In your manner are nefarious Syndicate brokers, lethal xenomorphs, wizards, cultists, traitors, rogue AIs, revolutionaries, and extra in addition to relying on the kind of spherical.
Originally of a spherical you’re randomly assigned a job relying in your preferences. There’s a couple of dozen from Captain, to the station’s AI laptop, safety, clowns, and even the janitor.
You can too randomly be assigned a traitor function, and have to hold out some secret aims. However you need to observe your function. So in case you’re the AI of the station, you find yourself fielding requests and opening doorways. Or in case you’re a cargo tech, you would possibly spend more often than not ordering provides and fielding requests.
These roles are essential since you truly must do them to maintain the spherical going. If no engineers arrange the reactor, energy runs out in a couple of minutes and the spherical is over. If nobody cooks meals, everybody ultimately starves.
If the engineers don’t arrange the engine correctly, anticipate a wormhole to devour the station. Credit score: Area Wizards Federation
Some roles are extra essential than others although. The station isn’t going to disintegrate speedy since you didn’t have a bartender. However these roles with much less essential wants are sometimes essentially the most enjoyable. Rising crops as a botanist, cooking meals as a chef, stamping books as a librarian are nice roleplay alternatives.
It’s enjoyable since you’ll be making an attempt to do that job, after which a gaggle of sentient monkeys will attempt to take over the station. Or traitors will blow up the medbay. And instantly you’re taking part in your function in the course of an area catastrophe.
However more often than not, traitors or no, the station disintegrates. Whether or not it’s as a result of the safety forces are overzealous and unwittingly provoke a mutiny, some engineer forgets one step in organising the reactor and a localized wormhole devours the whole station, or a rogue atmospheric tech tries to combine up a brand new air provide solely to suffocate the whole crew, one thing at all times goes mistaken. And in that case it’s time to name the emergency shuttle and get out of there. Don’t fear although, there’s at all times subsequent spherical!
SS13 Struggle Tales
Credit score: Area Wizards Federation
I spent a whole lot of hours and maybe thousands of rounds taking part in SS13 as a teen and twenty one thing. The tales I’ve sound completely made up, however are solely true and consultant of rounds in that recreation.
The server I performed on had a infamous scientist participant who at all times used the alias “Cuban Pete.” When you ever irritated the science division, an ominous broadcast of “They name me Cuban Pete. I’m the king of the rumba beat. After I play the maracas I’m going chick chicky growth, chick chicky growth” would play over the intercom. After which issues would begin exploding. As a result of Cuban Pete was one of the best bomb maker within the recreation, and will blow up the whole station if he needed.
I performed loads of the cargo tech function after I performed. Primarily as a result of with solely a light-weight spot of hacking, you may order any weapon, machine, or different piece of significant {hardware} you needed. Because of this the Cargo Bay usually declared independence from the station, and greater than as soon as I used to be concerned in a mutiny that noticed us maintain the captain hostage in alternate for secession.
I additionally spent loads of time making an attempt to develop into “sturdy.” Sturdy was type of a meme/joke/slang for being proficient in fight in-game, based mostly on a quote about SS13 having a “sturdy fight system.” To be sturdy was to know the insane tips and tricks to get higher at combating in-game.
You had been extra more likely to knock folks out in case you punched them the mouth. You would blind folks quickly in case you focused the eyes. Private PDAs could possibly be dropped on the ground to create slipping hazards. When sufficiently sturdy, an unarmed Assistant may take down and kill a totally riot gear-equipped Safety Officer in seconds.
What’s extra in case you weren’t sturdy, you had been a goal. Captain for the spherical and also you’re not sturdy? Watch your again. Some assistant would possibly simply leap you within the hall and steal your gear and id. Then they’re the captain, and also you’re just a few bare man making an attempt to persuade safety you’re the true captain.
One piece of widespread contraband was a totally ported copy of the infamous Elder Scrolls e-book “The Lusty Argonian Maid.” It was widespread to search out the Clown breaking into the library to photocopy the e-book and depart as many copies as doable across the station.
In one in all my first rounds as a Syndicate participant, I spawned in with the remainder of my special-ops brethren able to tackle the station and destroy it. We spent a couple of minutes developing with a plan, equipping ourselves, then taking the jetpack journey to the station. Just for an asteroid storm to show all 4 of us right into a superb crimson mist on the sting of one of many photo voltaic panels. We had been too embarrassed to inform admins and the sport continued for an additional 10 minutes earlier than anybody realised our failure.
If any of this sounds interesting, then try SS14. When you love roleplay-heavy video games like GTA On-line RP, Barotrauma, or any of these Garry’s Mod servers, that is undoubtedly a recreation for you. And in case you simply wish to grief, meta recreation, and kill folks, it’s nonetheless in all probability for you. Simply be sure you decide Clown or Head of Safety.
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