RELATED: Sci-Fi Video Games That Could Make Screen Adaptations Work
Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a sci-fi sim about salvaging ships, and while cutting a derelict vessel into scrap to throw into a furnace may not seem thrilling, doing the job efficiently in space while avoiding an explosive or otherwise messy death is no small feat. One of the most basic but concerning issues when scrapping a ship is depressurization: releasing the air trapped within the ship without ripping the ship to pieces or causing a catastrophic meltdown in the process. Here’s everything the player needs to know about how to depressurize.
Depressurization Basics
One reason that Hardspace: Shipbreaker can be so cinematic is the level of detail and realism it brings to salvaging. Improperly breaching the pressure seal on a spaceship has a few consequences, none of which are desirable. The sudden loss of pressure will rip the contents out of the newly depressurized area, jettisoning it into space in an undifferentiated cloud of twisted scrap metal. This makes sorting, collecting, and salvaging the jettisoned ship components far more time-consuming and frustrating than it would otherwise have been.
RELATED: Underrated Sci-Fi Races In Video Games
Improper depressurization is also costly. The player won’t be able to get as good a return on their salvage if many of their most desirable components were just ripped into the vacuum of space and smashed against one another. Depressurization can also launch the player away from the ship, with potentially deadly consequences, if they were near the breach site, unintentionally turning the game into a sci-fi comedy. Last, if the ship’s core or volatile contents were damaged by depressurization, the result can be death, so it pays to get depressurization right.
How To Depressurize
Hardspace: Shipbreaker is no sci-fi utopia, and the player will have to work hard and take risks to make money. The first step is checking whether a given section of the ship is pressurized in the first place. The player can do so by using their Scanner. The green boxes that appear indicate pressurized zones, giving the player a good idea of where they can and can’t safely cut. Red zones, conversely, indicate areas that aren’t pressurized. If the ship is pressurized, the player should always enter the ship via its airlock. A glowing blue indicator indicates that the airlock is pressurized. The player can open and close the door using the interaction button.
RELATED: Best Free Sci-Fi Games
Once inside, it’s time to locate the Atmospheric Regulator and deactivate it using the interaction button. Unfortunately, the Regulator will only depressurize one area. In some cases, the ship won’t have an Atmospheric Regulator or the Regulator will be damaged, making depressurization more complicated. The only option then is a controlled (unsafe) depressurization. Before executing a controlled depressurization, use either the character’s hand or the Grappler to remove loose parts from inside the ship to prevent an incident when depressurization occurs.
The player can now execute a controlled depressurization by putting a hole in the cockpit or otherwise opening the ship. The same realism that makes this sci-fi game so great also makes it dangerous, so take it slow. It’s generally safer to execute a controlled depressurization from the outside, and it’s important to avoid cutting into the ship in places with explosives, coolant, or radiation, lest the player suffers their fallout. Either use brakes or stabilize against the ship using one’s hand to avoid being shoved away by the air draft. The smaller the pocket of air that is being depressurized, the less violent the reaction can be, so depressurizing three spaces individually rather than one large space all at once is typically the safer option.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker is available now for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE: Sim Games That Have Amazing Lore
