There are a lot of things that are reasonable to fight against, from small beasts to natural disasters, but as a rule it’s probably a good idea not to pick a fight with the sun. The best one can do is survive when it’s angry, and even that’s going to be an iffy proposition at best. Earth’s sun is 93 million miles away and still manages to not only provide the energy for all life on the planet but also hold the entire solar system in its delicate orbit. It wouldn’t take much for the sun to wipe out everything all at once, which, to be absolutely clear, will inevitably happen some day millions of years in the future. The sun is both the source of life and its end, so when exploring space it’s important to only choose systems that have a stable one at the center. Or be like StarRupture and see how badly that goes.
When The Sun Hits Your Eye Like An Atomic Pie That’s Amore
StarRupture is a base builder taking place on a planet where regular solar disasters scour the surface clean, initiating a cycle of death and rebirth that really should have prevented monstrous creatures from evolving in the brutality of its environment. As a citizen who’s been thrown away after being arrested for an undisclosed but petty reason (my money’s on malicious jaywalking) you’ve been sent to develop a planet orbiting the appropriately-named star Ruptura. The options are survive and build a factory to ship items home or die, and home doesn’t really care which seeing as there are plenty more people to take your place. Everyone thinks they’re safe under authoritarian rule until it notices they exist, at which point it’s too late to do anything but become free labor for the state.
Review: Satisfactory
In a game with the scope and polish of Satisfactory one hundred hours can be just the beginning of building the industrial powerhouse of your dreams.
Not dying is better than the alternative, though, so getting to work setting up a base that can survive the coming storm is the first order of business. This involves mining resources, setting up production lines, constructing shelter, and setting out defenses against the kind of hostile creatures who survive on a planet that wants every scrap of life burned away. Enemies can attack while out exploring or in waves at home base, so gun turrets and other defenses are as important as logistics and environmental protection. Most planets kill by indifference, simply not caring if anyone survives its challenges, but the one orbiting Ruptura is out for blood.
While there’s no release window for StarRupture yet beyond Early Access sometime this year, it’s got a new trailer to go over its gameplay systems. The base-building and automation looks like good fun and throwing a bit of Earth Defense Force into the mix should help make all that automation work for its survival. Defending against waves of displeased alien wildlife promises to be a bit easier with multiplayer, as will exploring the planet’s surface for ruins, artifacts, and caverns while they hunt you down. It’s a vicious universe out there that’s not really designed to support life, but good tech and big weapons can make even a cataclysmic sun a survivable experience.
