Let's play Spacebase DF-9: building a space station isn't as fun as you'd think

This post is the fifth in our Early Access Experiments series, which will look at a bunch of Steam early access games before pitting them head-to-head and asking whether these games are good for consumers, and whether this is a monetization model that should be adopted by more Asian developers.

I loved Star Trek: Deep Space 9, I love games that let you build things, and I tend to love Double Fine games (like the excellent Broken Age, which just came out yesterday). So in theory, Spacebase DF-9 is right in my wheelhouse: a Double Fine game that lets you build your own DS9-style space station (albeit one with a bit more humor and, thankfully, fewer Ferengi). But as you’ll see in this let’s play video, the theory hasn’t quite been put into practice just yet.

In a nutshell, my complaint is that the game is kind of inscrutable. There’s no real tutorial, and players are left to feel their way along, leading to a very frustrating trial-and-error experience where things happen and you can’t understand why. Why is my astronaut sitting outside the airlock suffocating when there’s a room full of oxygen right there? Why is my builder not building when things need to be built?

If you allow a lot of time for failure—or want to put time into researching the game online—I’m sure there’s a lot of fun to be had here. But right now I’m not sure at all that what it offers is worth the time it’ll take you to get there—I’ve started at least four or five different bases in the game by now, and I can’t say I’m particularly eager to revisit any one of them just yet.

It’s still a promising concept, but the execution leaves something to be desired. If you want to give it a try, though, you can find it on Steam early access for $20. Looking for another early access game to play? Try one of the others we’ve taken a look at:

Previous early access games:

Let's play Nether: surviving the alien invasion
Tmall on 11-11 sales day
Let's play Rust: surviving the zombie apocalypse in a dead world
Let's play Starforge Alpha: building your future on an alien planet