An expansion that focuses on fixing the holes the main game had
Released: Steam
Type: Single-player
Genre: RPG, Strategy
Developer: Snowhound Games
Publisher: 1C Entertainment
Release Date: 12 Dec, 2019
Overview
Deep Sky Derelicts: Station Life is a DLC aimed at patching up the holes left by the base game when talking about the station. The station is the hub where, between missions, you can heal, buy equipment and receive new missions. Normally, it was functional but incredibly barebones, making it a boring sell junk, heal party, leave routine, because there was nothing of real interest to do. In this review, we’ll see the additions to each of the station’s building and additional encounters that have been implemented.
One implant for me
Implants are the main addition the infirmary: these are basically installable perks for the team members. Each implant uses a slot and, in the case more powerful perks arrive, they can be swapped or installed in additional slots, which can be acquired via research. These increase the stats of the character they are installed on, but sometimes come with a tradeoff.
Besides that, two non-dlc-exclusive features were added to the game, namely the Neural Retraining and the Reconstruction, with the first one being particularly important. Neural retraining is particularly useful after getting a new mercenary, since it comes generated by the game and thus not necessarily the way you want it. Reconstruction changes only the appearance of the character and is thus a very small, unnecessary, addition (but still welcomed).
True recycling
In a game where you control a team of scrappers it’s limiting that you can’t build new equipment out of the parts you’ve gathered: luckily Station Life fixes this by adding a (very) basic form of crafting. Basically the whole system works by disassembling an existing piece of equipment, allowing you to then generate a new piece of the same category of the disassembled one. The new equipment piece will have random stats and will also give you random new cards.
In this regard, I was really hoping on something at least a bit more complex, since this is basically a form of stats re-roll instead of proper crafting, which could’ve been a great addition to the base game.
Enemies, encounters and inventors
Station Life’s additions do not stop at the two new facilities but also add new enemies and encounter types: six new enemies got added to the roster and can appear in brand new station-attack encounters, while others, like enemy scrappers teams, can be found during the exploration of derelicts. Bounty contracts are a juicy new addition: they offer ten different though encounters against elite teams, but also offer good rewards compensating for the risks you’re taking, while the new side missions are welcome, but nothing too fancy.
The new inventor class is incredibly melee-focused and uses an energy blade along with a power glove. While it lacks shields, it makes up for it with a good health pool and the ability to regenerate it. The inventor is often able to reach the enemy for damage and heal himself, thanks to its leeching strike, or purge the team of all negative effects, making him a valuable asset in a good amount of situations.
Verdict
Deep Space Derelicts: Station Life adds needed features to the base game, while also patching up holes. For its price, I say that the new class, mission and encounters alone are worth it, but a proper crafting system would’ve greatly benefited the game.
