Reassembly, a 2 dimensional space sim from developer Anisoptera Games with a load of charm. An exploration sim with building mechanics that lets you explore a procedurally generated galaxy. As you explore you collect resources and build bigger and better ships to better handle your expanding influence.
The basic premise is pretty simple. Choosing a basic starting ship and colors to stand out, you’re dropped into the galaxy near some friendly units to start your exploration. The tutorial guides you through basic game-play to get you started. From it’s top down perspective, Reassembly has you gathering resources from local meteors and strange space plants that can be returned to owned bases to be converted into more useful resources.
Damaged bases can be captured to help spawn more friendly NPC’s to assist you against the many enemy ships scattered around space. Unless a ship shares yoru colors they are enemies, and will attack on sight. More resources can be gained from combat as you destroy these enemies.
Combat in Reassembly is fast and fun. Ships fly around irradically across the screen depending on their design, firing all sorts of different weapons, from lasers to torpedoes, to chain guns and more. This fast pace is fun and frantic, and though there is little strategy here, you still have to make sure to maneuver smartly around to best take advantage of gun placements and armor. Armor is mounted all around your ship and can take a certain amount of damage. As the armor is damaged, it flies off exposing more critical components of your ship. If you can avoid getting hit long enough, your ship will slowly pull it’s pieces back together again and recover, otherwise expect to be blown up and re-spawning at a nearby friendly base.
Customization in Reassembly is not only just a visual change, it’s a necessity if you are going to survive exploring the galaxy. As you gain resources, you will also earn “C” which are used to buy new components for your ship. These can include weapons, new armor or useful components. When you enter the customization screen, you’ll find your ship layed out in closeup. Each component you can utilize has various stick points you can use to connect it to any other component. It’s very easy to add or subtract parts or weapons you want to and build pretty much whatever you like within the 2 dimensional interface.
The amount and type of parts you can use, is limited by your ship’s “P” which you can upgrade with “C” along the way. This allows you to add more weapons, armor or utilities and make larger and larger ships. It also allows you to add more ships to your fleet. These are NPC’s that will follow you around and help you in battles.
The customization screen is where the strategy really exists in Reassembly. You must carefully build your ship to take advantage of weapon range, direction, and firing means, while balancing armor around your vessel to ensure you can take some damage as you go. You can also specialize ships for resource gathering or other beneficial specs if you like, or build a jack-of-all-trades ship otherwise. Each component has multiple sticking points so you can be fairly creative within the 2D limitation. All throughout you will also need to balance your ship’s energy generation ability to power your weapons and make sure your fighting ability is not hindered by a lack of power. There are also various pre-built ships you can use as is, or as a starting point for something else.
The colorful visuals for Reassembly keep you engaged at all times. Explosions fill the screen. Thrusters burn through space, and the various weapon effects are all unique and make it easy to see what’s coming at you. The quiet, ambient music helps fill the void of space without adding more to the frantic experience. The HUD is informative without spoiling the view. In the top right hand corner you can see a live closeup of your ship, including any damage that may be accruing so that you can move to avoid death if you’re quick enough.
Reassembly does a solid job of being fairly easy to learn, but also giving enough customization that those who want to spend hours building the perfect ship can do so equally easily. It’s simple but fun graphics mean you have a smooth experience throughout with little slow down or hiccups regardless of how much is going on on the screen. The unlimited replay-ability will have you coming back often to try out new tactics or ship designs. This is definitely worth checking out if you are into space exploration sims.
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For more fun indie games with a space twist check out Cosmonautica
MicBeMac Games 