I’ve never been a “car guy”, and I imagine if I lived a few thousand years in the future, I wouldn’t be a “spaceship guy” either. My time with Nimbatus – The Space Drone Constructor is all the evidence my hypothetical-future employers would need to see to all but guarantee a rescinded job offer. Ship after ship, —excuse me, drone after drone— crashing into the surface of planets all across the galaxy likely isn’t the kind of record space drone manufacturers are looking for. And those are the just the drones that made it out of testing.
Nimbatus – The Space Drone Constructor wasn’t just a wake up call for future Tom’s job prospects, but it was a lesson in humility: a few hours of sheepish chuckles, confused staring, and bouts of fruitless inspiration, all led to little progress. But you know what? I’m okay with that. I’ve learned how to setup a thruster system, albeit not one fast enough to be considered nimble, and I, after extensive first-hand research, better understand why a small weapons system is sometimes better than a battery-draining arsenal of destruction that produces a two seconds of spectacle before rendering your entire ship powerless.
Nimbatus Early Access Opinions
I was pleasantly surprised to find the game in as stable shape as it is. Apart from an odd collision issue that I imagine will be ironed out in future updates and patches, I encountered nothing that I’d consider game breaking. There seems to be plenty to do, but that could be illusionary and be more to do with my lack of understanding of how everything can fit together. I’m not exactly a veteran of these types of games, and my short time with Besiege and Robocraft only translated to a minimal understanding of how to construct a functioning vessel.
There is a tutorial in the Early Access build, but it’s currently nothing more than a sandbox mode with mini objectives to complete. The tutorial mode presents players with tasks like building a ship big enough to touch spread-apart markers all at once, or utilize a sensor system to eliminate targets without moving the drone. Completing each tutorial task was educational, but I certainly would have benefited with a little more guidance. One objective had me using a “Button” system that automatically activated thrusters. I never figured out the use for that. I’m sure there is one, but the tutorial never explained why I’d want to learn how to use this particular mechanic.
I’ll be embarrassingly honest and say that I spent a good chunk of time working toward these mini objectives. I wanted to have a firm grasp on the base mechanics before moving into the main game. While I would have liked to have a bit more understanding of some of the game’s mechanics (namely the aforementioned Button system) I eventually completed the tasks and prepared to put them all to use in the game’s first level.
Nimbatus’ store page says that the content is procedurally generated, but in my experience restarting the first level a half-dozen times due to various failures, I found the exact same level and layout every time I flew my drone down to the planet. I’m not sure where the prodecurally generated content comes in, but it’s certainly not the first level where I was tasked with clearing out some bee-like aliens from a small planet. The hives were in the same place every time I started the level. The game’s Early Access page only specifically says that the galaxies are procedurally generated, so maybe the planets/missions themselves stay the same, but they then vary from galaxy to galaxy? I have not gotten that far to verify whether or not that is the case.
Nimbatus Early Access Final Thoughts
If you’re into these types of games, Nimbatus is stable enough to warrant a buy, even this early on. There are plenty of systems to learn, ship types to construct, and if the galaxies are procedurally generated than that will only increase the replayability factor. For those of you hesitant to give Nimbatus a shot, I’d say give it a try. I’m not one for these types of games, in general, and I managed to have a fun time tinkering around with the mechanics in an effort to develop a ship that wouldn’t embarrass me with a catastrophic failure.
Also: don’t underestimate the bees.
Nimbatus – The Space Drone Constructor is available now on Steam Early Access.
A retail copy of the game was provided to Epic Brew from the game’s publisher for the purpose of this preview.
