6 July 2025
Ever wonder what Asteroids would be like if you were working for a back-breaking corporation? The answer is Deep Space Exploitation which, also blending in elements of Hardspace: Shipbreaker, makes you pay for every shot.
I’m not just underlining the importance of accuracy in this top-down asteroid-mining game. Your employers literally charge you to buy bullets, as you blast away at chunks of floating rock. Fortunately, you’ve got an asteroid scanner on hand so you can determine which asteroids contain valuable resources, but when you’re starting out it’s a genuine trial.
The good news is that your mining ship at least has side-jets, so you have more control over your vessel than in Asteroids. You’ll be tip-tapping the keyboard, attempting to achieve the optimum angle to loose one of the precious crystals.
On top of that, any damage to your ship also comes out of your balance. Tackling Deep Space Exploitation’s demo, we ended up precariously puttering around with 20% hull damage, just because we couldn’t afford the repairs.
There are, mercifully, upgrades to be had, but again that’s a matter of money. And the bullets that miss? They fly off the side of the screen, to emerge on the other, so if you are too ‘generous’ with your ammo, you can accidentally blow up your own ship.
Deep Space Exploitation isn’t short on challenge, which is rather the point. We had a real blast dabbling in its demo, and demonstrated zero solidarity in reporting a fellow worker for damaging our ship. We’re absolutely ashamed about it now, and we’re eager to see if the full game lets you fight the man.
Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long, since solo dev JuhrJuhr has the game pencilled in for a 2025 release. In the meantime, you can download Deep Space Exploitation’s demo from Steam.
