Ixion Review: a complex management sim wrapped in a stirring space opera

Ixion Begin by asking the question “What if home world Is it a management simulation?” It then proceeds to answer that question in a comprehensive and convincing manner. of Relic, but replaces space battles with a mixture of brilliant logistics. .

Just like Homeworld, it’s something very stylish. The game begins with a spectacular intro, in which a futuristic space shuttle launches from Earth, through the atmosphere to dock with a giant, rotating space station resembling a plated shaft. chromium from the pride and joy of some gasoline enthusiasts. The cutscene neatly transitions to a game perspective, where you see that space shuttle slide into the docking bay from the icy void outside. Welcome to Tiqqun, Administrator. Your long journey starts here.

Tiqqun (pronounced “Tycoon”) is an Ark for humanity, or in other words, a Muskian giant built on the belief that finding a new planet to call home is a challenge. better idea is not to destroy the atmosphere of the planet on which we live. has gone through millions of years of development to evolve (not that I have a strong opinion on the subject). Either way, Tiqqun has everything humanity needs, namely housing, insect burgers, and a giant engine called a “VOHLE” drive, which allows the station to travel interstellarly in such a way. that I won’t pretend to understand. Of course, when you turn the key in the ignition, something goes wrong. I won’t reveal what, but the end result is that Tiqqun is left alone in the vast space. From here, you have two basic goals. Keep your crew alive and find yourself a beautiful watery goldilocks planet so you can restart civilization.

In play, Ixion is divided into three separate but interconnected classes. The first of these, and the one you’ll spend the most time with, is the Tiqqun interior. This is where Ixion most closely resembles a standard management sim. To keep your crew alive and happy, you need to build them houses, ensure a steady food supply, and maintain “stability” through the construction of specific buildings. and enact certain policies. Doing all of this will require you to set up production chains for different resources, like alloys, electronics, and polymers.

All the familiar stuff. But Ixion’s settings add a few wrinkles. Tiqqun may be huge, but its interior is still finite. Before you know it, you will completely fill the first of its six zones and will open the partition to Area Two to expand your build space. Each sector operates independently, but most will rely on the others to provide them with specific resources. This means you need to manage the import and export of resources between different sectors, setting up a complex network of logistics pipelines that run like arteries through the entire station. The emphasis on space management works well with the game’s theme, although it’s a bit annoying that you can’t relocate a structure after it’s been built, having to dismantle and rebuild instead. completely.

From gas giants with rings to crumbling moons to shards of ice the size of a planet, Ixion has gone to great lengths to make space visible and dramatic.

Another noticeable wrinkle is the crew. Since you’re stuck in space, your workforce is initially limited. While you can get more workers in the ways that I will, you can’t create more workers whenever you want, because that would take about eighteen years too long. Therefore, you must be careful about how you distribute your workforce, move workers between industries, and make sure you don’t overload each industry, as this can lead to accidents and irregularities. satisfied.

In this class alone, Ixion is a perfect management sim. Balancing the needs of the population with the space and resources available to you will make for some fascinating spinning operations, while establishing a new logistics route and seeing all your automated robots pouring out of the offloading stockpile always leaves you satisfied. However, the description of life on board the Tiqqun is a bit dry. The buildings have a fair amount of detail, but your workers wander aimlessly along the roads. It’s a far cry from the complex, characteristic animation of the Two Point series. However, this is not too much of a problem as much of Ixion’s personality lies elsewhere.

The second layer is the outside of the station, which is mechanically much simpler than the inside. All you do here is build solar panels for more power and a few more specific additions that you’ll unlock by following the story. However, it is also worth a visit from time to time for its glorious spatial setting. The various star systems you visit are rendered entirely in 3D, so as you move Tiqqun between planets, you get a whole new, often breathtaking, sci-fi setting. to chat. From gas giants with rings to shattered moons to pieces of ice the size of a planet, Ixion has gone to great lengths to make space visible and dramatic. You’ll also see your EVA workers skimming the surface of the station as they continually patch the hull, although the outside view doesn’t seem to picture your various ships docked, which is what you’ll see. this is regrettable.

“Ship, you say?” Well, companions, let me introduce you to Ixion’s third class – the planetary class! Here, your perspective zooms out to Block effect-style overview of the star system you are currently in and allows you to direct Tiqqun’s system exploration. You’ll launch probes to investigate new resource and anomalies revealing signals, and then dispatch mining and cargo ships to gather resources and science ships to investigate the anomaly. These will reveal narratives that, depending on your choices, could lead to new resources, a gruesome death for your science team, or the discovery of arthropods that you can Grab and defrost on board Tiqqun to get new workers.

The three classes are all interesting in their own right, but it’s in the way they link together that Ixion really starts to impress. If a cargo ship brings resources to the wrong loading dock, you’ll need to set up a whole new logistics system to get the resources to where they need to be. Meanwhile, external events, such as the loss of a science vessel, can severely affect crew morale, leading to unrest and even worker strikes. Moving Tiqqun in itself is always a big event, as the station can only run on battery power while traveling, and the move significantly increases the strain on the hull. Therefore, you need to plan and prepare for Tiqqun maneuvers very carefully, make sure you have enough energy in reserve to manage the trip and can make it in stages, jumping from planet to planet. other planet.

Meanwhile, these small stories are taking place in the context of the larger story. Your process through the various star systems is linear, with each acting like a chapter in the entire story. Ixion’s sci-fi storytelling effectively captures the eerie and passive hostile nature of space. Tiqqun isn’t the only human manifestation of flight from Earth, either, and as you jump from star to star, your science teams will scavenge the remnants of other expeditions. You’ll explore lunar bases ravaged by mutant spores, chat with AI that has been neglected for countless years, and witness the galactic aftermath of the crash that made Tiqqun stuck in the first place.

“It’s a compelling story that gives your day-to-day station manager a real sense of purpose”

It’s a compelling story that gives your day-to-day station manager a real sense of purpose. However, moving from one chapter to the next can be a chore. The main points of the story will often require you to meet a certain set of parameters, which could mean transporting a certain number of resources to and from Tiqqun. Unlike general resource gathering, where you can specify how many cargo ships you can support, this mission-specific delivery can only be performed by a single ship. This means waiting for it to upload, move, unload, roll back, and then reload, often multiple times. It’s a nasty bottleneck that really slows down the later stages of a chapter, plus the fact that the game punishes you for being in a star system for so long, with your crew basically having to suffered psychological trauma from having no planet to call home.

That aside, though, Ixion is a great mix of management simulation and sci-fi storytelling. There are a lot of games that are catching my attention right now, Black tide, Callisto . protocol, that new God of War on Devil’s PC to name a few. But in all my time working with Ixion, I never wanted to give it up in pursuit of bigger, flashier games, which are testament to its meticulous design and compelling story of the journey. looking for a new celestial home for humanity.