ZeroSpace Blends StarCraft, Mass Effect, and Helldivers 2 – But There’s a Catch!

Pakistani gamers, we know the drill. A new Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game pops up, promising the moon, and we get cautiously excited. After all, the RTS landscape has seen its fair share of ups and downs. But then a game like ZeroSpace comes along, and suddenly, that caution turns into a hopeful curiosity. This upcoming title is trying to do *a lot*, merging classic RTS mechanics with deep RPG elements and even a dynamic, Helldivers 2-inspired multiplayer component.

Imagine the strategic base-building and intense unit management of a StarCraft 2, complete with powerful hero units leading your forces. Now, sprinkle in an expansive RPG campaign, reminiscent of Mass Effect, featuring dialogue choices, loyalty missions with your crew, and character progression. Sounds pretty epic, right? That’s ZeroSpace in a nutshell, aiming to deliver a genre-blending experience that’s truly unique.

We’ve had a look at the early access build, and the campaign is already showing plenty of promise, even if it’s currently limited to the first act. While the initial setup of ‘humans need a rare resource protected by aliens’ feels familiar, the game quickly dives into intriguing crew dynamics and a complex political web that makes you question everyone, especially your superiors. The writing and voice acting are decent, setting a solid foundation for what could become a captivating story. Between missions, you can chat with your diverse alien crew, level up their abilities, and upgrade your troops and buildings, adding a nice layer of depth to the strategic gameplay.

The campaign missions themselves feel like a streamlined version of StarCraft 2, offering varied objectives and seamlessly integrating story beats. Micro-managing your units and economy feels effortless, letting you focus on the action. And here’s a cool feature we absolutely loved: the ability to draw a ‘battle line’ when selecting units. It’s a genius way to quickly get your troops into formation, evolving the cover systems we’ve seen in other strategy titles.

Visually, ZeroSpace is a mixed bag at the moment. The user interface could definitely use some work; it’s functional but not very appealing, and battles can sometimes feel chaotic and hard to read. While the developers are working on an art overhaul led by Aaron Kambeitz (who worked on Homeworld!), the aesthetics currently feel like a blend of Mass Effect and StarCraft 2, but on a tighter budget. However, the ship and vehicle designs are already quite noteworthy.

Beyond the campaign, ZeroSpace’s early access isn’t short on modes. You can jump into comp-stomps against AI, intense co-op survival matches, classic 1v1 and 2v2 PvP brawls, or even create custom games. The sheer variety here is commendable, even for an early access title. But the real game-changer, and what could be ZeroSpace’s biggest draw, is the Galactic War.

Inspired by Helldivers 2, the Galactic War takes dynamic, community-driven campaigns and makes them competitive. Each season, players will battle across different worlds, vying for control of the galaxy for their chosen faction and earning rewards. It’s an incredibly cool concept for players who want to contribute to a larger conflict without being solely focused on competitive ladders. The idea of fighting for a cause and seeing your efforts shape the galaxy is fantastic.

However, this is where things get a bit… complicated. The rewards for participating in the Galactic War are currently limited to titles and portraits, which honestly, don’t scream “fight till your last breath.” We’d love to see some Helldivers 2-style cosmetic rewards to truly motivate players. But the bigger issue, and one that might rub many gamers the wrong way, is the direct integration of streamers into the core gameplay loop. When you pick a faction in the Galactic War, you’re not just choosing an in-game ideology; you’re essentially picking a specific streamer like Winter, Neo, or uThermal. And frankly, for many of us, that doesn’t mean much.

It feels like we, the everyday players, are just cannon fodder, fighting to crown a streamer as the “Galactic Emperor.” What do *we* get out of it, beyond a generic title? This streamer focus extends to the “ZeroSpace: First Contact Invitational,” a tournament featuring streamers and RTS pros competing for a $13,000 prize pool. While inviting pros isn’t unusual, launching a game by prioritizing enriching streamers over its actual player base can be a significant turn-off for the community.

Let’s be real, many RTS developers seem to believe that competitive multiplayer is the be-all and end-all, but a huge chunk of the player base prefers campaigns, co-op, and skirmishes. While competitive scenes can give a game incredible longevity (just look at StarCraft!), pushing streamers this heavily, especially those unknown to a large portion of the potential audience, feels like a misstep. We’ve seen too many games prioritize competitive scenes and streamers, only to neglect the single-player and casual multiplayer experiences that most players crave.

To ZeroSpace’s credit, it’s clear the developers are putting a lot of love into its single-player and co-op elements. This doesn’t feel like a game that’s *only* about competitive play. Still, it’s unfortunate that resources are being diverted to streamer integration when they could be polishing the UI, enhancing visuals, or adding more substantial rewards to the Galactic War. ZeroSpace has immense potential, combining some of the best elements from beloved genres. It recently climbed out of a “Mixed” rating on Steam, with most complaints revolving around it being an early access title still in development. It’s definitely one to keep an eye on, but for now, we recommend waiting a bit longer to see how it evolves.