No one can hear you scream in space, but your company overseers can exploit you for profit. Here are our full hands-on impressions of Space Salvage from EGX London 2022.
Not to be confused with Deep Space Rescue Crew VR, Fruity Systems Debut Game opts for space exploration over a roguelike FPS. Space Salvage takes you to an ultra-capitalist future and joins the Space Salvage Corporation as the newest straw man on a zero-hour contract. Make no mistake, you are expendable, a fact regularly reinforced by our cold-blooded AI companion. I couldn’t help but laugh at this over-the-top satire.
By keeping us firmly in the cockpit during the demo, your goal as an apprentice pilot is to recover cargo from crashed ships with your Space Pod. Charting your course using a mini-map usually makes collecting cargo easy. Grab a flight stick on the left and the throttle on the right, simply approach the floating payload and a tractor beam is automatically activated. Be careful though, if you travel too fast – indicated by that bar turning red – you will damage your ship in a collision. Your Space Pod has a fuel gauge, which was never short enough to cause problems, but I think this is more noticeable in later missions.
It soon becomes apparent that this ship has been attacked on purpose and that you will need careful coordination to avoid active proximity mines. That would be easier if the accelerator didn’t feel a bit awkward. Move it a little too far and suddenly you’re halfway to the next asteroid. This is admittedly not a major problem, just one that requires a deft touch. I ended up unlocking the Pod’s laser weapon to eliminate this threat, allowing me to destroy mines at a distance.
Finally, the mysterious attacker revealed himself and threatened to kill me for claiming “his” charge, leading to a fight. I wouldn’t call this a dogfight though. Even though I was in one spaceship attacking another, the latter’s engine was burned. making him an easy target. He could still attack, but could not move. I’d love to have more space battles like we’ve seen in Star Wars: Squadrons or EVE: Valkyrie but for now, the demo provided a nice warm-up for battles. The exploration of Space Salvage was also entertaining. Traversal feels smooth, changing course is easy and I never collided with objects despite that acceleration problem.
Once you’ve completed your tasks for a particular mission, you can mark it as complete by pressing the shiny red button above you. At this point in my demo, I discovered that I had missed a lot of hidden optional pay during the level. Overall, it was a promising start for Space Salvage and I’m eager to explore the world further. If you want to try it yourself, the demo is available for free for Quest 2 via App Lab.
Space Salvage launches later this year Meta Quest platforms and PC VR via Steam.