Colony Ship Review: A space sci-fi CRPG for true RPG fans.A solid Candidate for the YOE GOTY 2023
Вставка
- Опубліковано 23 лип 2024
- 02:31 - Character Creation & Character Progression
10:48 - Gameplay
18:26 - Story & Lore
28:00 - Companions Lorewise
31:18 - Companions Gameplaywise
32:52 - Secondary Mechanics & UX
35:56 - Sound Effects & Mix
38:26 - Voice Acting
38:42 - Music
40:18 - Graphics
43:24 - Performance & Stability
43:45 - Other Considerations & Final Thoughts
The year 2023 has been the best year in gaming in a long time. And in a year in which we have seen killer RPGs of all types and brands from massive triple A titles like Baldur's Gate 3 to impressive indies like Moonring, in rides Colony Ship A Post-Earth Role Playing Game, a space sci-fi, CRPG by Iron Tower, the guys who also brought us Dungeon Rats and The Age of Decadence. This is a title that may very well be best classic RPG to come out since Disco Elysium.
Heavily influenced by Fallout but also by sci-fi cinema classics like Blade Runner, this titles is here to make some ripples. It is already a personal favorite and a solid candidate for game of the year. - Ігри
Your videos are so well written. You go straight to the point, but explore it in multiple interesting ways, without being afraid of having unorthodox opinions. You're very talented at analysing videogames.
Thanks friend. I was really needing to hear that.
The ending got me completely by surprise
this is a very good review and it made me download the demo on steam to take a look at it myself. I wonder why I've never heard of your channel before.
I have my conspiracy theories. Welcome aboard!
i think the biggest problems with most rpgs is that they either dont take their world seriously so why should i, or have very limited ways to play and dont want you to pick specific sides in a conflict because the developers want you to be part of a specific faction for ideological or political reason or straight up laziness so they play favorites, basically the opposite of new vegas. This game seems to understand that in a fictional setting you may want to have different views than the developers
This game makes me wanna play it just by hearing it's premise, good to know that it also comes with some proper RPGing. Definitely a buy for me
Dude... this game is 1000% the kind of game you would like
the premise is very similar to insomnia the ark, but that game is much darker.
Yes i was looking for a review yesterday and i was blessed with one
I don't know if I would call it a blessing. But it it keeps you entertained for 40ish minutes, then mission accomplished!
@@YeOldEntertainmentdon’t say that it’s a blessing that we get this type of content from you have a good one
i was skeptical at first but the fact this game is fallout in a spaceship and has actual good SERIOUS writing and tons of choices has sold me to me, thanks.
Yeah, the writing being serious is not often seen these days. Even Baldurs Gate 3 is a bit to silly at times.
@@Marcusianery at times?
@@arkgaharandan5881 Well, not always.
@@Marcusianery all the clips i have seen make it look unserious.
@@arkgaharandan5881 People always post the most stupid shit but yes, its not Colony Ship tier serious.
Great review!
I've played Colony Ship since its first combat demo in 2020, and I have over 1000 hours as of right now. It's been a pleasure to see it grow. The developers have been role models in community interaction and transparency. Easily my favourite game of 2023, and my favourite since their previous main title, the Age of Decadence.
Regarding the animation, halfway through development their only animator passed away suddenly, and it was a wonder they managed to bring someone to continue his work on such short notice. Much of the gameplay was affected.
I still think sound design and animations are this developer's Achilles heel. If they up their game in those departments, I think they would well beyond their core audience (without having to change anything else).
@@YeOldEntertainment Bit how BG3 did that for tripple A games being an RPG that blow the expectations.
I played this game, it has amazing combat and great locations with music. It not as replayable as Age of decadence though.
Definetely recommend
It may be not be as re-playable as The Age of Decadence but it is better in many other respects. (Factions are better in TAoD though.
It's great playing a rpg without dragons or mages but still had moments of wonder and amazement. This game has been a ton of fun to play and replay and replay. The biggest plus for me is the setting. That ship is amazing. The biggest con is a locked camera. It frustrates me not being able to swing the camera around to see all aspects of the scene. Everything else I think YeOld covered very well. Oh and, the Dev team is the most engaged I've ever seen with any game I've ever played. Even now, months after release, they are still asking for input on how to improve certain aspects of their game. I've purchased many many games but I think purchasing this game has felt like I actually have made a difference for this dev team and they show their love by constantly engaging the community; it's very impressive imo.
This looks super solid and is waiting for me to play it in my library. Not an expert but something tells me sound is a pretty difficult thing to do well in games. Visually I think it's very pleasing.
Awe. I like Epcot, it's not cheesy!
It's cheesy
As always, a great review! A pity this game didn't took effort with thir sound, it could be even better!
Yes. The sounds and animations are the low points.
I just watched your video for BG3 to get a right review and I was not disappointed. Colony Ship for me is GOTY. Finally somebody who knows about real CRPG's like Arcanum and Underrail.
Thanks man! Colony Ship is fantastic. Unlike other Iron Tower fans, I think Colony Ship is better than The Age of Decadence.(Though the factions are better in TAOD)
A game that is a clear improvement upon Age of Decadence, while retaining its best elements.
Hey, Alex, great job, as always. Looking forward to play this one.
Second thing, do you know Seven: The Days long gone? Indie game mixing thief series, gothic and isometric viev. Game was a blast for me, I believe You might enjoy it aswell
Off topic but do u guys recommend playing pillars of eternity deadfire without playing the first one fully? The issue is i have deadfire on ps4 and played the first one on my laptop but it's old and really slow now, so i don't wanna play it on there anymore and the game never goes on sale on ps4 (i don't wanna pay full price for it and it'sgonna be a while before i get a new pc). I did love the first game from what i played(35hours or so)
I wouldn't "recommend it" because the first one's really good too. But you certainly can. While they share the same lore, the stories are pretty disconnected.
Gonna have a lack of connection with some of the companions.
you can go into deadfire without playing the first, it's what I did and it was OK
@@MaitreMechant Did u play the first one after?
@@shakaj1525 yeah, I've found that the writing was absolutely boring so I gave up after 15-20h, Deafire is way more focused and interesting and engaging
Been thumbin this one for a while, Alex...
It's one of the best CRPGs to come out in a looong time
Detailed!
"ye olde" is spoken as "the" because "y" in printing represented the older letter "Þ" which is called thorn and is spoken as "th".
I downloaded the demo by the way, thanks for the suggestion and review. In regard to difficulty, it basically has "story" and "freaking hard" haha. You can also customize the difficulty by moving the slider right in the middle of the two. Would you recommend this? I only ask because I like challenging but fair RPGs (not story mode), but I also don't like banging my head against the wall either with nearly impossible combat encounter that take 15 tries to complete (no longer fun). Thanks again for the review, I love these types of sci-fi RPGs.
No. Go for the hardest challenge. The idea is that you run into some encounters that you can't win so that you have to use other means. That' s how you get the full RPG experiencie! Enjoy!
@@YeOldEntertainmentThanks!
8:11
"We cut off one hydra head, yet three more took its place. Next time we'll do it right." is just making fun of people who think having a revolution would do anything, no? unless i'm miss reading it and it's supposed to make fun of the people saying just go after the one or 2 bad people in power.
Colony ship premise is similar to Insomnia, I backed both games and still havent finished both.
Highly recommend any old school RPG fan to play it.
I am a true RPG fan.
the premise is very similar to insomnia the ark
"a post earth apocalyptic game"
"if you choose the gifted perk"
I see what you did there fallout in space.
There's more to it but... yes.
I think the problem I had with Chapter 2 was that all three of the main factions are just plain awful. The game was a little too well written in that respect, because they are awful for really believable and recognizably human reasons, but that just made me hate them even more. Chapter 1 is just about survival, and there are sympathetic people throughout. Interestingly, I found both the Cyborgs and the Mutants in Chapter 3 far more sympathetic despite being so alien; if not for them continuing to do their jobs and staying out of the civil war, everyone on the ship would be dead already. The emotionless Cyborgs and the despised Mutants both managed to maintain a sense of purpose and hope that the other factions didn't, and everyone is alive because of it - and it's something nobody in the game ever credits them for.
The cyborgs were even more authoritarian than the Protectorate and the brotherhood. But yes... that chapter, like Faythe herself said, was about choosing the lesser evil.
GREAT GAME
GOTY of 2023 for me, not even a question. Colony ship improves on everything AoD was and adds more to it. Always simple and efficient.
Character creation?
No 100 and 1 of classes from pathfinder and characters actually play different, there are no ten colored versions of fire arrow or something. Instead we have limited number of stats and skills that work with each other and allow you to make unique character.
Story and NPC?
This is no yet another fantasy that we saw millions of times. I was actually interesting in exploration of the world both gameplay- and storywise. People don't throw at you their history or their own motavation like drons but actually act like people.
Combat?
BEST combat in recent RPGs, second only to Underrail. When I played for the first time there wasn't a battle where I wouldn't use some consumable, but as I learned more about game's system, I started to stand more and more on my own feet.
I have only two issues.
1 Game needs more replay value (the only thing AoD did better). We have same backstory and same main quest for all factions which really hurts the joy of replaying this game outside of combat builds.
2 The Habbitat is the weakest part of the game despite all hype it gets from the act 1 and act 2. It's still good, but it's much worse then the Pit, even the Heart and Factory are better, despite how small they are.
Agree with almost everything here, especially your take o The Habitat being weaker than previous areas. I still would rather play Colony Ship again than TAoD, but this is just a personal preference.
@@YeOldEntertainment I prefer Colony Ship to AoD too. But I remember when I first visited Maadoran as a legioner and then as an assassin, I felt like I was playing new game when it come to main quest. Meanwhile in Colony ship we have the same quests for Protectors, Brotherhood and Church. I wish main quest would mirror factions ways of handling things like it was with side quests (Proctectors were more combat heavy, church tried to handle things peacefully and brotherhood was more in the middle).
@@pantonearqm2791True.
@34.50 you can compare to your secondary, you just have to use scroll wheel (it says on the screen) fyi
Finally! I loved CS since beta and have a bro-gamedev-crush on Vince since AoD. I've just started watching, I'm only at character creation part, but I want to say that "Heroic Feats" which you can only take at the start and only if you have a corresponding stat at 10 ARE ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL, and they're also a great example of opportunity cost, you have to specialize and be worse at something else just to take the Heroic. Also these Heroics really make the builds work in unique ways, now I can't even imagine playing without a specialized build without one of these heroics, I did four playthroughs already, all with different builds with different H-feat, and after tackling Rogue Trader I plan to do other playthroughs to try out all the specialization builds with other Heroics.
EDIT:
BTW:
Same as in AoD, I love writing/dialogues behind two skills the most -> Streetwise and Critical Strike (not only for crit chance, but for in-dialogue takedowns). My first full playthrough was a tough and gritty (also witty) Pit-boy with Dodge This! heroic feat, Rifles, Critical Strike, Streetwise and Biotech (I had to pump Int a bit and take Educated feat), I roleplayed him as a streetwise boy who grew up in the ship's slumms, who'd learned how to take care of himself on the streets, how to deal with dumb-fucks, and who is worthy of our trust (basically no one) and when to lunge to someone's throat before he does the same thing, hence Streetwise and Critical Strike skills. He got his more practical skills during odd "security" and scavenging jobs on which he quickly learned that it's easier to run away with something small and valuable (implants scavenged from mummified as well as fresh bodies), being patched up and dealing with fuckers who want to take your life and your bounty from the safe distance, hence Biotech and Rifles (plus Dodge This! heroic), and the game did let me roleplay this char quite succesfully. Sure, I wasn't very persuasive in a normal, diplomatic way, but in a ship full of sociopaths and bandits, it's fitting to use intimidation and wit via Streetwise. I also made a fortune (and made my retinue more powerful) with my Biotech scavenging exp, and when I honed my ranged skills a bit, I was a very good combatant landing good crit shots every other pew-pew. I gathered a few Pit-born friends, because surviving alone is hard, same goes for "getting rich or dying trying", so I had my thief/security expert Faythe, tanky bruiser with a heart of gold Jed, and my half-brother in freedom and rifles Evans, we really thought that the ship will be ours and our ideals are the only correct ones, the truth was brutal, we had to deal with people we really didn't want to, but we managed to keep our little Pit free, and we figured that we may surpass the main power-maxers and help to achieve the ship's actual, OG mission, betraying all the Habitat big-shots in the end. I loved that char and that roleplay, and even if my other chars were quite different, this is my canon playthrough. LOVE LOVE LOVE VINCE
Don't even think of breaking my balls... I'm dead serious...
@@YeOldEntertainment Dear Sir Old Fuck, I WOULD NEVER!
But in all seriousness, I'm a dumbfuque today, I absolutely don't get what you're referring to. Did you miss something in the game, that I've mentioned? All things I said here are from the game. When it comes to missing stuff and opportunity cost, it's kinda like with AoD and also Underrail to some extent. If you want the best endings and to find out all the secrets, you want to quickly get your exploration skills like Computers, Lockpick, and Electronics to 9-10 (when you come back to The Pit again, you should be close, if your skill monkey is Faythe, she's super easy to lvl), same goes for either Streetwise (very noice stuff there) or Persausion, high sneaky skills (also doable on Faythe, she can be both a skill monkey and a sneaky thief) will open some extra areas and there are some sneak-only quests (or quest-branches at least), Biotech isn't checked all that often in dialogues/computers, but having it maxed out or nearly maxed out will let you uncover some extra bits too. The game very much rewards specialization and sticking to your path (plus thinking on your build), but thanks to having a party, you can do much more in one playthrough than in the previously mentioned games, it's both fun and a little less hardcore at the same time. That's why I do what Vince always tell people not to do at the beggining, and I try to make hybrid characters work, it's possible with my "build" from the other comment, with it I can uncover the secrets and hold my own in a fight, but I'm never fully safe or fully sure that I will manage to deal with everything, that's a nice feeling, especially on Underdog. Since early access and beta I've got 700-800 hours played, so if I broke your balls somewhere (or even scared you with the prospect), ask away!
From what I've heard, AoD heavily incentivized save-scumming, particularly in dialogue, which kind of killed my interest in it.
Would you say that's accurate, and is Colony Ship different in that regard?
Colony ship has hard skill checks, it's not RNG based. When there's a persuasion check for example, you have in parenthesis the skill needed and below the dialogue box, you have your current skill. So you either pass or don't pass. If you go for a dialogue option for which you don't have the skill, you will fail it with 100% certainty. The outcome isn't necessarily bad though. I didn't save-scum a single dialogue (I did do that with a couple of combat sequences though because they are really tough in the intended difficulty level)
Only 2 genders? You mean its not doing "body type1" and "body type2"? Based
This gives hope for the future. #thefutureisindie
we are so back
But girls don't exist
@@YeOldEntertainmentwe know what the problem is, sweet baby inc, translators for japanesse games that are woke and hr departments who add that stuff late ind envelopment eg baldurs gate 3.
dexterity + charisma...nothing else you need, "great balance", the second half of the game is also very unpolished and feels unfinished
The game is absolute garbage