In the before time, in the long long ago, when I was more itinerant than I am today there was a ritual I’d go through every time we moved. Given we were always moving with not a lot of notice (well, probably enough, we just weren’t great at planning for it as we were in our early 20s and all) the place we were moving to wouldn’t have internet set up before we got there. That could also take some time too, usually a week or more, and with mobile internet being nowhere near usable you were left to fend on your own, offline. I would always find myself in this situation, staring at my game library and instantly clicking back on Freelancer to start up another playthrough. So when my mates hit me up to play Jump Space which, for all intents and purposes, looks and feels like the multiplayer mode that Freelancer always needed I was sold instantly.
That being said there’s a whole lot more to Jump Space than just the co-op space sim aspect. The core game loop is a mixture of space exploration, FPS shootouts, ship management and a bunch of other things that make sure there’s always something for you to do, if you want it. This being an Early Access title, even one that’s been out for a year at this stage, means that it’s still not exactly a seamless experience with many of the mechanics lacking proper introductions and explanations but, given there’s quite a vibrant community around it, most of that is a Google search or two away. That being said though the core game loop, with all it’s various different pieces, is surprisingly seamless and is one of the reasons that my crew and I spent over 2 hours with it on the first night.
Visually Jump Space feels very similar feel to the original Subnautica, with some great visuals that also seem to have that distinct Unity feel to them. That’s also possibly the aesthetic they’ve chosen too as I’ve found that “Unity-vibe” seems to feel more present in games that choose a clean, sci-fi art style. Saying that though it’s clear that going in that direction has also enabled them to optimise the experience as even in our more…creative interactions with the game none of the crew experienced any lag, stutter or slowdowns. For a game that’ll be leaving Early Access sometime next year it’s a good sign that they’re on the right track.
The opening moments of Jump Space are spent in a mandatory tutorial to get your familiar with the base mechanics of both the ship and your character. It’s thankfully pretty short, meaning that you won’t be waiting long to get everyone ready to join up, but that does also mean that the complexities that come later can’t be included. For a game that’s absolutely designed as a co-op adventure (single is available, although the one person on our squad who did it said that it was nowhere near as enjoyable) it’s an easy thing to forgive. That is until half your ship is on fire and you don’t have enough material to make an extinguisher.
The core game loop is pretty straightforward: travel to a sector, explore the various areas with your ship until you find somewhere to dock/land, explore/shoot/loot on foot, jump back on the ship, do maintenance/upgrades, possibly engage in space combat then rinse and repeat. If that sounds like a long loop it is, but none of it really feels out of place. That’s also where having a crew to play this with makes the game shine as you can have 1 or 2 people off looting and shotting whilst others engage in space combat or explore, giving everyone something to do rather than having to sit around and wait.
Unlike similar games where our crew usually ends up falling into specific roles for the entire duration of the game we often found ourselves jumping in and out jobs more often than not. This is especially true when shit goes completely south on you and a single pair of hands can’t handle all the repairs on the ship or someone accidentally untethers themselves and ends up too far away to grapple back onto the ship. I think this is because most of the different “jobs” in the game are easy enough to understand so picking them up in a hurry isn’t hard and most of them are, most importantly, somewhat fun.
What finally killed the session for us was when we found ourselves in a mission that, unbeknownst to us, had infinitely spawning robots. Now in most games this is fine as there’s usually other mechanics there to make up for that fact, but Jump Space is a resource limited game and so after 15 or so minutes of figting wave after wave of robots, finding our reserves running on empty, we decided to call it. Now part of this is most definitely on us, we weren’t exactly reading the missions in-depth before kicking them off, but it never feels good to go up against an unlimited number of enemies when your own resources are finite. I’m sure this, and many of the other small issues will be fixed over the coming year.
Whilst Jump Space doesn’t sit with the other friendslop games the crew and I have been playing of late it’s certainly right up there as another one that’s much better with friends. The core game loop, with it’s multiple different mechanics to engage with, ensures that you never find yourself staring off into space wondering when it’ll be your turn to have some fun. Like most Early Access titles there’s still work to be done in things like introducing mechanics, balancing missions and the like but even in it’s current state it’s very much worth the cost of admission. It’s one I hope to go back to, hopefully before 1.0 given the steady pace the devs seem to be keeping with it.
Rating: 8/10
Jump Space is available on PC and Xbox Series X/S right now for $29.50. Game was played on the PC with 2.4 hours playtime and 6% of the achievements unlocked.
