Deep Sky Derelicts

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Deep Sky Derelicts

by Aethyna Nov 15, 2017 | 1 Votes | 1 Played | 0 Reviews

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9 rate

Genres:

RPG

Graphics:

2D

Labels:

Adventure , Turn Based , Futuristic Setting , Player vs Player (PvP) , Aliens

Platforms:

Publishers:

1C Publishing Set off on a derelict-hopping journey to search for clues, fight off anyone or thing who is foolish enough to stand in your way using the game’s unique card-based combat system, and hopefully, make your way to the fabled mothership in this epic sci-fi-themed adventure RPG, Deep Sky Derelicts. Play Now Similar Games Played Post a Review

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Summary Plotline Gameplay Community Graphics/ Sound Conclusion

Summary

Deep Sky Derelict is an adventure RPG that lets you play as the leader of a small team of scavengers who are experts in scouring massive derelict ships for treasures. Featuring a rather unique card-and-turn-based system, this game will have you complete missions, fight various enemies, be it aliens or other scavengers, and have a fun time exploring every corner of a derelict ship for clues that will point you to the location of the fabled mothership. A life of comfort awaits you... if only you can secure it for the sub-governor.

Plotline

The scavengers of derelicts in the galaxy are often stateless and live harsh and brutal lives. However, a golden opportunity presented itself when the sub-governor proposed a deal you could not refuse – full galactical citizenship and comfortable living on a beautiful mirror world for you and your crew if you can find and secure the legendary mothership which is famous for the treasure trove of tech that it possesses.

To find the mothership though, you’ll need to follow the trail of clues which will have you exploring derelicts of other formerly impressive ships and battling enemies that stand in your way. But you’ll need to be fast though – the sub-governor offered the same deal to other scavenger teams and you need to be the first to get the job done or you won’t get the rewards.

Aside from this pretty intriguing storyline that reminds me of the Vault Hunters in Borderlands, Deep Sky Derelict also has some parts where you get to choose dialogues which will change the path of your storyline, for instance, forcing you to fight an enemy or to successfully avoid a confrontation.

Due to this, it is important to read what your opponent say and choose a dialogue option that will, depending on your intentions, either make your opponent angry enough to attack or make him let your team go without so much as a scratch.

Gameplay

Deep Sky Derelicts has 2 game modes mainly – the single-player campaign, which is the recommended game mode to start with, and Arena that basically lets you battle other players for a chance to reap some extra fame and rewards.

To begin playing the campaign, you’ll need to first set up your team of scavengers. Each team contains 3 characters, so you will need to customize these 3 characters as you like. You can change their names, the team’s name and even the portraits just so you can easily differentiate between them. There are 6 different classes to choose from as well, namely Tracker, Bruiser, Technician, Medic, Leader and Scrapper. Each class has different sets of stats and apparently weapon choices. I find that the lack of explanation for each class is a bit disappointing though. It’d be nice to know more about each class, such as their preferred form of combat or loadout, before deciding on the composition of my team. Oh, and the game also didn’t mention that the first character in the team automatically becomes the leader.

The game isn’t exactly new-player friendly either since there isn’t a comprehensive tutorial. Instead, the game has more of a hands-off approach, giving players the freedom to figure things out as they go along, in addition to providing them with a few basic explanations about some of the more common game features.

Similar to a surprising number of RPGs, Deep Sky Derelicts also give you a nice little base to return to in between adventures. Here, you can access various services, such as getting heals at the Deep Sky Medical, trading at the Pawn Shop, getting new missions from the local pub called The Lair or talk to the sub-governor himself via the Station Hall. You can use the Deep Sky Express to travel to various derelicts as well.

While you’re on a derelict, you’ll be relying mainly on your PDA to scan your surroundings and move about. Unlike the usual 3D RPGs, movement in this game is pretty much 2D. You are given a grid-based map to move on and each move will cost you 1 energy – you have a total maximum of 100. Moving from grid to grid is as simple as clicking on the box you want to go to, but here’s a tip – if you’ve chosen the wrong grid, you can stop the movement by simply right clicking.

Although the map may be a bit bland since it’s basically made up of grids, you may un cover special icons in the grid from time to time. You can find out what each icon represents via the map legends. Similar to the map in the game, A Dark Room, the grids are colored too so you can differentiate scanned regions from the unknown ones.

Scanning regions costs energy as well, but it is very well worth it since it can uncover more grids in addition to letting you know what some of the grids you’ve scanned contain. Not every grid will have something in it though, but the chance of finding a grid that has something happening is frequent enough to keep the game engaging. If you’re lucky, you may even bump into quest givers who will have side quests for you to complete, aside from simply looting abandoned boxes or fighting enemies.

Talking about fighting, Deep Sky Derelicts has a pretty interesting and unique card-based combat system which will have you take turns dealing and taking damage. Every character in your team will have at least 1 move per turn, unless they are somehow stunned or had their initiative points, which will determine how fast your character can make a move, drastically reduced.

During a turn, you can then choose an action (usually, but there are times you can pull off two actions per turn instead) from the 4 cards shown on the bottom right of the screen. There isn’t any mana cost that you’ll need to be aware of like in most MMOCCG since the card-based gameplay in this game is somewhat more simplistic and hence, easier to get into. If there isn’t a move you want to make, you can simply click on End Turn to pass the baton to the next character in line or you can spend precious energy in boosting your character in preparation for some devastating damage that they are about to deal.

As the game has a somewhat sci-fi/futuristic theme, it’s also important to note that most enemies and also your characters, will have shields to protect them from damage. There are some EMP-linked abilities that can easily wipe out shields entirely leaving the victims completely vulnerable, or puncture effect that will bypass the shields and deal damage directly on the enemy, but generally, it is wise to keep these shields up as long as you can. Shields can regenerate on their own and be fully ready for the next battle, but to regain health, you actually need to spend money at the doctor’s if you don’t have a medic in your team before you can get your crew patched up.

Another vital information is that combat consumes energy too, especially fights that are really drawn out. So, make sure to keep a watchful eye on your energy level and top them up with energy cells if you have them or return to your base post-haste if it is dangerously low. Like heals, recharging energy costs money so it is equally as important for you to plan your moves and avoid wasting every bit of energy you have. Due to this as well, the game thankfully doesn’t have enemies that can pluck your team out for a battle while you’re moving on the map.

Since most maps in this game is also rather huge, you’ll often find yourself returning to the same derelict to explore other parts of the ship even after you’ve obtained the data you need from the place. You may find more stashed loot that is just sitting there, waiting for you to come and find it.

Although the game’s very easy to get into, especially if you have already played similar games before such as (again) A Dark Room or the old Fallout games, I find that the game has a really nice amount of depth when it comes to character progression and development.

Each crew member in your team can be customized and improved through a few main ways. You can equip them with the best weapons, tools or shields along with their associated mods (each item can be augmented with up to 2 mods) you have. The items you equip will then determine the “deck” that you’ll be using during combat. Bear in mind that the game doesn’t have a limit on how many cards there can be in a deck, but having more cards doesn’t mean that you’ll get all the best ones.

Leveling up your crew will also allow you to invest ability points into their “ability tree”. Each item on the tree can usually be upgraded up to 3 times (hence, 3 ability points) and if you somehow manage to get a ton of ability points to use, you can actually grab all of the abilities the game has to offer if you want to. But if you ask me, I’d rather spend more points upgrading abilities that I actually use rather than putting 1 point into every ability in the tree.

Once you get your crew up to level 4, you can also unlock specializations which will allow you to further mold your characters into the roles you want them to play. As much as I like the customizations, it might have been better if we could recruit more crew members along the way and decide which characters to bring along for the next leg of the adventure.

Deep Sky Derelicts did really well by providing players with up to 4-pages’ worth of inventory, so you basically can horde a ton of items and switch between them whenever you need. However, this part of the game can use a bit of improvement in the form of inventory management tools. These tools can include letting players shift items between pages or grouping stuff together into “bags”.

Community

As the game’s early access is not yet released, we can’t really tell how much of a player base that Deep Sky Derelicts may have. Hopefully, the game will have a big enough group of players who can then keep the game’s Arena mode alive and well.

Graphics/ Sound

The comic-book graphical style that Deep Sky Derelict opted for is simply prefect for the game. However, I find that the repeated use of enemy models a bit boring after a while. Maybe they can add a few more different types of enemies to spice things up a little?

In terms of sound, the game sticks true to its sci-fi theme by offering players fun techno music to enjoy as they play. The music sets the background nicely, allowing for a sufficient amount of immersion into the somewhat wacky yet cutthroat world of derelict-scavengers.

Conclusion

Overall, Deep Sky Derelicts is a rather impressive RPG that may not be perfect – it is still in early access after all, but it is incredibly fun enough to play. It is also engaging enough to keep you returning to it just so you can try out new classes or alternative plot paths. Moreover, I particularly like the game’s card-based combat system since it, along with the accompanied comic book-effect, is frankly a breath of fresh air, but that’s not the only things that the game did right - the game did really well in other aspects too.

So, if you think you might like Deep Sky Derelicts, be sure to stay tuned to its Steam page by putting it on your wishlist and following it, and grab it once its early access is released.