The upcoming Space Siege seems to lean more closely toward the no-frills approach of the original Dungeon Siege, though the narrative trappings, however sparse, seem to be suitably upgraded to suit our new age -- in other words, in place of lore tomes you'll dump on your donkey and never read, you'll come across datapads that you will not begrudge a click, especially since you can listen to the contents as you continue to click on alien monsters to make them explode.
In any case, after a brief demo of Space Siege at the recent Games for Windows event in San Francisco, it's clear that Gas Powered has not forgotten how to compel us keep on clicking. Frankly, the backdrop doesn't matter; 10 minutes into a game like this, it's all about ones, zeros, health, and mana. Or in this case, their sci-fi equivalents.
Junk Collector
Most action RPGs rely heavily on your desire to play pack rat for a large part of their appeal. Space Siege deserves props for not mincing words -- in place of loot, vanquished enemies and ravaged environmental bits drop actually drop junk, or "parts," a generic currency that you can use to upgrade your weapons, build consumables like grenades and health packs, and customize your robot companion. It's ironic that you're actually rewarded for savaging the space craft that's essentially humanity's last habitat, but apparently, when it comes to saving the species, some measure of scorching the Earth counts as an acceptable casualty. It also looks kind of cool -- physics factor into the click 'n blast action nominally by means of gas canisters that take flight when ignited by gunfire. Think of them as explosive barrels that can fly.
Too Human
For space commando Seth Walker, no sacrifice is too large for the salvation of his species -- including the luxury of friendly dialogue when he encounters them in adventure hubs. Apparently, the human survivors in Space Siege have a thing against robots, even though it's Halo-looking aliens that have driven them to the brink of extermination. Unfortunately for them, their savior might have to engage in a little bit of transhumanism in order to tip the scales in mankind's favor.
Throughout Space Siege, you'll come across various opportunities to augment your fleshy bits with all manner of cybernetic implants. Every major part, even: your eyes, hands, head, torso, legs, and spine. Doing so confers substantial stat bonuses, but at the cost of your humanity -- measured by the eponymous statistic on your character sheet. Deciding which way to go is meant to be one of the bigger decisions you'll field; get upgrade happy, and you'll have access to a bunch of implant-dependent talents on top of the stats bonuses. Stay human, and not only will people like you more, but you'll also have access to a couple of marquee talents only available to characters above a certain humanity threshold.
My Buddy
Where Dungeon Siege had a donkey that carried your unwanted broadswords and breastplates, Space Siege will feature a robot that actually fights things (but who nonetheless serves as a resource sponge -- in his case, in regards to how many parts you'll spend upgrading him). His name is HRV, and apart from his aversion to the janitorbots that inhabit the ship (they're apparently on his kill-on-site list), he's remarkably cooperative. He has weapon slots just like you, which fit all manner of upgradable munitions, and you guide him via simple commands mapped right above your action bar. Though he can die if you let him take too damage, you'll only be alone until you run into a respawn chamber where, for the modest fee of parts, you can rebuild your robot buddy, with all upgrades intact. He also has a self-repair routine that you can activate on the fly when he's taking too much fire.
On top of the single-player game, there will also be a multiplayer campaign in which four players can tackle an entirely-different ship online, via Gas Powered Games' matching service. Further, upon finishing the single-player campaign, you'll get to run through multiplayer ship with your high-end character.Space Siege is set for release in August, so expect a more definitive look soon.
