I move a cartoony astronaut around a space station, floating outside, walking inside. I press digital panels to open doors and pressurise chambers. I fiddle with valves and control panels to alter mixtures of gasses, put a rock on a conveyer belt leading to a furnace and turn it into an iron bar. I burn hydrogen in a 'burn room' at ridiculous temperatures to make water. I even wave at the one or two other astronauts I see around. But I don't feel like I'm playing a game.
I feel like I'm touring someone else's creation, like I would in Minecraft, except in Minecraft I know what I'm looking at, know how it was made. Here, it's lost on me. I don't see a castle or a palace just a basic, bland space station.
This is Stationeers, the new game from Dean Hall's studio RocketWerkz, a small project with a hardcore niche in mind. It's in very early shape at EGX Rezzed and is still "a matter of months" away from an Early Access release. A lot of the bigger picture cannot be seen yet. But as Dean Hall explains it to me I start to see.
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