An innocent mishap has stranded you a very long way from home. There is a bit of good luck: You’ve landed in an industrial spacecraft that even you have the skill to operate. Your goal is to find a way home, carrying out whatever missions you must to keep your new craft in operation.

SpaceKraft! is a physics-based game in which the player is tasked with completing various tasks on interstellar mining worlds. The player’s ship comes equipped with a few pieces of equipment, including a nose-mounted mineral extractor and a tow line used to haul heavy loads. Completing tasks earns minerals which can be cashed in for fuel, repairs, and further upgrades to the ship and its equipment.

The controls in SpaceKraft! are maybe your biggest enemy

The controls, while intuitive, are very finnicky. Particularly when carrying a load, the ship doesn’t quite respond the way you might think it would. Even when unburdened, the player still needs to account for gravity, especially when moving long distances. One small mercy is that the ship is quite durable and can get banged around a lot before it needs repairs.

Missions are varied, but most of them revolve around a handful of tasks – pushing, hauling, or extracting resources. Some are straightforward while others require many steps entailing multiple separate operations. Missions aren’t always fully explained, so be prepared to figure some things out on your own.

The biggest obstacle is the controls, which might not be a disadvantage. A little bit of jank can be part of the appeal for games like this, and your audience may appreciate seeing some frustration. It’s less of a headache than some other physics-based games, so if you have a tolerance for janky games, this might be what you’re looking for. Completing the tutorial before going public is probably smart, but the controls are straightforward enough that you could easily run this one blind.

SpaceKraft!

PC (2024)

Peformance

Streamability

Audience Engagement

Replayability

Summary

SpaceKraft could be a small treat for fans of physics-based games, provided you can cope with the often fickle controls.

STEAM

Drew Johnston

ANDREW JOHNSTON is a teacher, writer and journalist based out of mainland Asia. He is a regular contributor to Superjump Magazine, where he specializes in independent video games and the gaming culture of East Asia. He has published short fiction in 30 markets and anthologies including Daily Science Fiction, Nature: Futures and the Laughing at Shadows Anthology.