Fractured Space - Initial Thoughts

About the Game (From the Steam Store Page)

Fractured Space is an award winning free-to-play space combat game. Fight solo in PvE, in co-op Quick Play or 5-v-5 PvP. Brought to life in the stunning Unreal Engine 4, giants of interstellar conflict fight in spectacular close quarter battles for dominance.

Pick a manufacturer, choose a class and customize your weapon loadouts. Through experience you gain the right to command more ships while earning credits to add them to your fleet. Tailor your craft to your combat preferences with crew and weapon loadout options then take on your specialized role when your interstellar juggernaut warps into battle.

You captain a vessel of unmatched combat authority choosing from an ever increasing number of specialised galactic warships. Understand your own capabilities and that of your team before taking the fight to the enemy. Experience will expand your ability to choose which victories to chase and how to then leverage them. Mastery of a single ship is your first step, dominance in the war for space coming as your knowledge increases.

The composition of your team's fleet is vital to your success. Battles may be fought with firepower but they are won with wits. Your team of five will face an equally prepared, equally skilled, equally ambitious opponent in a ceaselessly transforming fight for control. Your plans will evolve, tactics will shift but as a team you will emerge triumphant. Your individual prowess may be significant but it insignificant next to well organised communication, support and teamwork.

Join us as we throw open our doors on development of a groundbreaking space combat experience. The discussion on strategy is endless; share your war stories, learn from others and become a part of the Fractured Space universe.

Previous Playtime

9 minutes

What Was I Thinking When I Bought This

Fractured Space is now a free-to-play game, but it wasn't when I first acquired it. Strangely enough, though, I got it for free. They were doing one of those "our game is free for the next 48 hours" that people sometimes do.

It's kind of funny. I didn't pay anything for this game, but I still feel a little miffed that it went from paid to free. It's like, I used to have something of measurable value that I didn't pay for, and now I have something of no measurable value that I didn't pay for. I mean, I didn't technically lose anything, but it kind of feels like I did. . .

Anyway, I snatched this game up solely because it was free, because back then I thought getting something for free was a benefit.

Expectations and Prior Experience

I played this game for about nine minutes back when it was in beta. I didn't think very much of it. There weren't very many ships and the only thing you could do with them was online multiplayer battles.

Which, okay, I like spaceships, and I like flying them, but fighting space battles has always felt like a massive chore. The three-dimensional dodging and targeting can be dizzying at its worst, and even at its best, space combat tends to devolve into a long-range slugfest. It's like they made an entire game out of my least favorite part of X3 and Eve: Online.

Then again, I just received a very powerful lesson on going into a game with a bunch of negative assumptions. Maybe I'll wind up really like it. There's always hope.