Hellion is a first person multiplayer space survival game.
It is a fusion of survival and space simulation genres that pits players against the deadly environment and one another. Survive in the harsh conditions of space and scavenge for air, fuel and other items necessary for survival. But keep in mind, you are not the only one out there. There are others, but will they help, or will they throw you to the void without a second thought? Remember, no matter how brutal space may seem, it cannot hold a candle to man.
Was just checking stuff out on YT, and came across this and it looks very promising.
Looks gorgeous and extremely detailed, the physics seem to be spot on. I might buy it in a couple months, but looking at LPs, it's very much worth a look at least.
EDIT: sod it, bought it...
Last edited by zmed on Sun, 30th Jul 2017 22:04; edited 1 time in total
A shame that it's multiplayer-only, I would have liked to wander into space alone with a wilson, facing unknown alien beasts, as it should be
Me too. But I've heard you can host your own server, then maybe when they add some AI elements, you could have some form of PvE survival experience, perhaps with friends as well. Though I don't think there will be any aliens beasts, only humans I believe.
After playing a bit last night, I can say that it's still very much in alpha, but rather well optimised. Encountered a couple glitches, but the performance was buttery smooth all the way.
So far this one seems like a space-nerd's version of Ark. Same basic idea, multiple persistent servers with a handful of players. But it's rather realistic which tickles me in ways I didn't expect.
For example, normally in other games, you'd get a jetpack to move about, which has limited bursts of use, but quickly regenerate, a la Halo shield regen. Here, you have to refill your pack with O2, fuel, and recharge it once the battery goes dead.
Stations and ships (and players...) are handled with accurate Newtonian physics. If you don't vent your airlock properly before opening the outer door, you'll be sucked out into space and have to waste precious fuel to correct your speed.
Also, it's not just close encounters that are accurate in this regard. The whole "map" is basically a bunch of accurately simulated orbital stations, asteroids, ships, wrecks, etc, all over the system.
I learned orbital mechanics from an old indie game called Orbiter (ah, the memories...), but if you ever managed to at least make it to the Mun in KerbalSP, you'd feel right at home.
Now, given the distances involved, of course there's FTL, but it's used to move the ship from one orbital path to another, matching direction and speed with other objects in space you see on your nav screen.
So far I love it, but given that it's still very much in early alpha with bugs and server issues, I'd say wait, but keep an eye on it.
I just hope they'd make a VR option somewhere down the line. It would lend itself so naturally to the idea, especially with motion controls.
So far I noticed:
- New ship. Much smaller, but faster. If not weighted down by a module, it can pretty much go wherever.
- You now start with the new ship instead of the bigger old one.
- System components are now tiered, 1-to-3 AFAIK. Yet to find anything better than T1, but I hear T3 warp thingies are wicked fast.
- You can haul more than one module at once. Makes it a lot easier to move the starting outpost to a safe orbit, no need to detach the crew quarters and/or airlock.
- Navigation UI is much better, but functionally still the same. Good thing it's already as good as it needs to be.
- Module spawns seem to be much more rare.
- Colliding with planets is more forgiving in warp. I used to slam into them often in older versions, now I can skim the surface quite close (according to the map at least, hard to tell while in the warp tunnel).
They added Single Player mode in the last update. No longer need to deal with running your local server to avoid the horrendous lag. Thankfully dealing with people was never a problem, it's piss easy to make things safe, and the server pop-cap was always low enough to barely ever run into anyone. But their net code left something to be desired, and the only real thing you give up in SP is the sparse chat interactions. And for coop there are private servers.
It's very much in alpha. Lag, bugs, random deaths, etc. But it's also full of potential. Realistic physics, orbital mechanics, etc. I enjoy it quite a bit in small doses, but it has major technical problems.
I'd say avoid for now, wait for full release. Development is kinda slow, but constant.
It's very much in alpha. Lag, bugs, random deaths, etc. But it's also full of potential. Realistic physics, orbital mechanics, etc. I enjoy it quite a bit in small doses, but it has major technical problems.
I'd say avoid for now, wait for full release. Development is kinda slow, but constant.
Seems they bit off more than they can chew. Issues with the engine, fixing their bad code, not enough people bought it, etc. So they stopped development, will release it as is, with a decreased price ($15 instead of $20) to keep the servers running for a little more.
Hardly surprising, it was INCREDIBLY niche to begin with, so it is understandable. Real shame, the visuals were pretty great, the Newtonian physics worked very well.
Just another EA title that didn't make it. Real shame, was so promising.
Seems they bit off more than they can chew. Issues with the engine, fixing their bad code, not enough people bought it, etc. So they stopped development, will release it as is, with a decreased price ($15 instead of $20) to keep the servers running for a little more.
Hardly surprising, it was INCREDIBLY niche to begin with, so it is understandable. Real shame, the visuals were pretty great, the Newtonian physics worked very well.
Just another EA title that didn't make it. Real shame, was so promising.
The game was doomed from the start as it was so far away from being ready for an early access release on steam.
This is the last official announcement by Zero Gravity, since the team has already been disbanded. This is what happens with Hellion:
The game will be free for download on Steam from March 27, 10AM (PT) until March 30, 10 AM (PT).
After that, it will be no longer available for purchase.
You will still be able to play Hellion.
We’ll keep the main server online.
We’ll keep official servers EU West and US West online (two instances of each).
Community servers will stay alive, and the new ones can be added at any time in the future.
Single player mode will stay available.
We have received a lot of support from players during the past couple of months. And we want to thank you all. These measures are meant for Hellion to stay alive since you enjoy playing it.
We’d like to give a huge shoutout to Hellion moderators who have been volunteering in managing the Hellion community and the official servers. Thank you so much team!
Big thanks to Nitrado for providing us with official Hellion servers!
And to you all out there in space - thank you for these wonderful years trying together with us to make a super special space experience that still can’t be found anywhere else. It was a blast!
Stay safe,
Zero Gravity
So, this is pretty much it. Get this while you can.
It's free until 30 of March, and will be removed from the store after that. For zero investment it's not a gamble, and I still think it's a neat little space survival game.
Happened to me once, the game didn't load everything correctly, so I reloaded and then it was fine. Was the same. No suit, no life support aboard, died, reloaded, then it was ok.
If it's MP, then it's supposedly a server-side issue, so it's borked for good. That's why I never play online any more, the game is fun if you don't mind slow paced scavenging parts and station modules, but way too unstable to go without qucksave/quickload.
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Well shhhiittt... Ode to a Lost Space Colony... 
