Ixion overview: an intricate administration sim wrapped in a stirring area opera

Ixion begins by asking the query “What if Homeworld was a administration sim?”. It then proceeds to reply that query in a complete and convincing method. Bulwark Studios’ star hopping epic takes the operatic, elegiac grandeur of Relic’s RTS traditional, however replaces the area battles with a chewy combination of stellar logistics.

Also like Homeworld, it is a darned trendy factor. The game commences with a spectacular intro cutscene whereby a futuristic space-shuttle launches from Earth, breaking via the ambiance to dock with a huge, revolving space-station like a chromed hubcap off some petrolhead’s pleasure & pleasure. The cutscene neatly transitions into the play-perspective, the place you see that very same shuttle slide into the docking bay from the chilly void outdoors. Welcome to the Tiqqun, Administrator. Your lengthy journey begins right here.

The Tiqqun (pronounced “Tycoon”) is an Ark for humanity, or alternatively, a colossal Muskian folly constructed on the idea that discovering a brand new planet to name house is a greater concept than not shitting-up the ambiance of the one we have spent hundreds of thousands of years evolving to thrive on (not that I’ve sturdy opinions on the topic). Anyway, the Tiqqun has every thing humanity wants, specifically tenements, insect-burgers, and a large engine referred to as the “VOHLE” drive, which permits the station to journey between stars in a means that I will not fake to know. Naturally, while you flip the important thing within the ignition, one thing goes incorrect. I will not spoil what, however the internet result’s the Tiqqun is left damaged and alone within the nice expanse. From right here, you may have two primary targets. Keep your crew alive, and end up a pleasant watery goldilocks planet on which you’ll be able to reboot civilisation.

In play, Ixion is cut up into three separate, but interconnected layers. The first of those, and the one you will spend probably the most time in, is the inside of the Tiqqun. This is the place Ixion most intently resembles a typical administration sim. To maintain your crew alive and blissful, you should construct them houses, guarantee a gentle provide of meals, and preserve “stability” via developing particular buildings and enacting sure insurance policies. Doing all of those would require you to determine manufacturing chains for varied sources, like alloys, electronics, and polymers.

All acquainted stuff. But Ixion’s settings provides a few wrinkles. The Tiqqun could also be enormous, however its inside remains to be finite. Before it, you will have fully crammed the primary of its six sectors, and shall be cracking open the bulkhead to Sector Two to broaden your development area. Each sector is operationally unbiased, however most will depend on different sectors to offer them with particular sources. This means you should handle the import and export of sources between completely different sectors, establishing a fancy net of logistics pipelines that run like arteries via all the station. The emphasis on spatial administration works effectively with the game’s theme, though it’s barely annoying which you could’t relocate a construction as soon as it has been constructed, as an alternative having to dismantle it and rebuild it fully.

From ringed gasoline giants to shattered moons to planet-sized shards of ice, Ixion places a variety of effort into making area tangible and dramatic

The different notable wrinkle is the crew itself. Since you are stranded in area, your workforce is initially restricted. Although you may purchase extra employees in ways in which I’ll get to, you may’t simply create extra of them everytime you need, as it might take about eighteen years too lengthy. Hence, you should be cautious about the way you distribute your workforce, migrating employees between sectors, and making certain you do not overload particular person sectors with work, as this could result in accidents and discontent.

At this layer alone, Ixion is a wonderfully respectable administration sim. Balancing the wants of your inhabitants with the area and sources obtainable to you makes for some participating plat-spinning, whereas establishing a brand new logistics route and watching all of your automated robots pour out of the relieving stockpile is at all times satisfying. The portrayal of life aboard the Tiqqun is slightly sterile, nevertheless. Buildings bear an inexpensive quantity of element, however your human employees wander aimlessly alongside pathways. It’s a far cry from the intricate, characterful animation of the Two Point sequence. This is not an excessive amount of of an issue, although, as a result of most of Ixion’s character lies elsewhere.

The second layer is the station exterior, which mechanically is much easier than the inside. All you do right here is construct photo voltaic panels for further energy, and some extra particular additions that you’re going to unlock by pursuing the story. It’s value visiting sometimes, although, for its wonderful area vistas. The varied star programs you go to are totally rendered in 3D, so while you transfer the Tiqqun between planets, you get an entire new, typically spectacular sci-fi backdrop to coo at. From ringed gasoline giants to shattered moons to planet-sized shards of ice, Ixion places a variety of effort into making area tangible and dramatic. You’ll additionally see your EVA employees zipping throughout the floor of the station as they consistently patch up the hull, though the outside view does not appear to visualise your varied ships docking into the station, which is a disgrace.

“Ships, you say?” Well, fellow traveller, let me introduce you to the third layer of Ixion – the planetary layer! Here, your perspective zooms out to Mass Effect-style overview of the star system you are at the moment in, and allows you to direct the Tiqqun’s exploration of the system. You’ll launch probes to research indicators that reveal new sources and anomalies, then dispatch mining and cargo ships to amass the sources, and science ships to research the anomalies. These will reveal nuggets of narrative that, relying in your decisions, might lead to new sources, a horrible dying in your science staff, or the invention of cryopods which you’ll be able to retrieve and defrost aboard the Tiqqun to achieve new employees.

The three layers are all attention-grabbing in their very own means, nevertheless it’s in how they interrelate that Ixion actually begins to impress. If a cargo ship brings again a useful resource to the incorrect loading dock, you will want to determine an entire new logistics pipeline to get it the place it must be. Meanwhile, exterior occasions, just like the lack of a science ship, can have a dramatic impact on crew morale, resulting in unrest and even employee strikes. Moving the Tiqqun itself is at all times an enormous occasion, because the station can solely run on battery energy whereas transferring, and travelling considerably will increase the pressure on the hull. Hence, you should plan and put together for Tiqqun manoeuvres very fastidiously, making certain you may have sufficient saved energy to handle the journey, and probably doing it in phases, hopping from one planet to a different.

Meanwhile these micro-stories are taking part in out to the backdrop of the grander narrative. Your development via the varied star programs is linear, with every appearing as a chapter within the total story. Ixion’s sci-fi storytelling successfully captures the eerie, and passively hostile nature of area. The Tiqqun is not humanity’s solely manifestation of its flight from Earth both, and as you hop from star to star, your science groups will choose via the remnants of different expeditions. You’ll discover moon-bases ravaged by mutant spores, converse with AI which have been left alone for numerous years, and witness galaxy spanning penalties of the accident which left the Tiqqun stranded within the first place.

“It’s a charming story that lends your day-to-day administration of the station an actual sense of objective”

It’s a charming story that lends your day-to-day administration of the station an actual sense of objective. Moving from one chapter to the subsequent generally is a little bit of a chore, although. Key story factors will typically require you to satisfy a sure set of parameters, which might imply ferrying a set variety of sources to and from the Tiqqun. Unlike basic useful resource gathering, for which you’ll be able to assign as many cargo ships as you may help, these mission-specific deliveries can solely be finished by a single ship. This means ready for it to load up, journey, unload, return, after which re-load, often a number of occasions. It’s an annoying bottleneck that actually slows the latter phases of a chapter down, compounded by the truth that the game punishes you for staying in a single star system for too lengthy, together with your crew primarily taking psychological harm from not having a planet to name house.

This apart, nevertheless, Ixion is a correctly nice mix of administration sim and sci-fi storytelling. There are a variety of games clamouring for my consideration proper now, Darktide, The Callisto Protocol, that new God of War over on the satan’s PC to call a number of. But all through my time with Ixion, I used to be by no means tempted to sack it off for these larger, flashier games, which is a testomony to its meticulous design, and its engrossing story of humanity’s seek for a brand new celestial roof to sleep underneath.