While the PC Gaming Show showcased what felt like hundreds of titles, there was one that stuck out to me as the highlight, and it was a pixelated preview of Space Station 14. A remake of free-to-play role play space station simulator Space Station 13, this game has the potential to bring one of the most unique gaming experiences I’ve ever played to a wider audience.
Space Station 13 was based on the BYOND platform, and originally launched in 2003. The game can still be played today, but it’s held together with spaghetti code, hopes, and dreams. There’s two or three main branches of the game, and it’s very open source. But SS14 is making the game far more accessible with a Steam port.
SS14 is developed by Space Wizards Federation, a community of volunteers, and keeps the open source roots alive by offering the game completely for free. And you can check it out on Steam in early access beta right now.
Credit: Space Wizards Federation
To explain why I’m excited for Space Station 14 it’s best to try and talk a bit about Space Station 13. SS13 is an online roleplaying game where you and a crew of other players attempt to keep the eponymous space station running for as long as possible.
In your way are nefarious Syndicate agents, deadly xenomorphs, wizards, cultists, traitors, rogue AIs, revolutionaries, and more besides depending on the type of round.
At the beginning of a round you’re randomly assigned a role depending on your preferences. There’s a few dozen from Captain, to the station’s AI computer, security, clowns, and even the janitor.
You can also randomly be assigned a traitor role, and have to carry out some secret objectives. But you have to follow your role. So if you’re the AI of the station, you end up fielding requests and opening doors. Or if you’re a cargo tech, you might spend most of the time ordering supplies and fielding requests.
These roles are important because you actually need to do them to keep the round going. If no engineers set up the reactor, power runs out in a few minutes and the round is over. If no one cooks food, everyone eventually starves.
If the engineers don’t set up the engine properly, expect a wormhole to devour the station. Credit: Space Wizards Federation
Some roles are more important than others though. The station isn’t going to fall apart immediate because you didn’t have a bartender. But those roles with less crucial needs are often the most fun. Growing plants as a botanist, cooking meals as a chef, stamping books as a librarian are great roleplay opportunities.
It’s fun because you’ll be trying to do this job, and then a group of sentient monkeys will try and take over the station. Or traitors will blow up the medbay. And suddenly you’re playing your role in the middle of a space disaster.
But most of the time, traitors or no, the station disintegrates. Whether it’s because the security forces are overzealous and unwittingly provoke a mutiny, some engineer forgets one step in setting up the reactor and a localized wormhole devours the entire station, or a rogue atmospheric tech tries to mix up a new air supply only to suffocate the entire crew, something always goes wrong. And in that case it’s time to call the emergency shuttle and get out of there. Don’t worry though, there’s always next round!
Credit: Space Wizards Federation
I spent hundreds of hours and perhaps thousands of rounds playing SS13 as a teenager and twenty something. The stories I have sound absolutely made up, but are entirely true and representative of rounds in that game.
The server I played on had a notorious scientist player who always used the alias “Cuban Pete.” If you ever annoyed the science department, an ominous broadcast of “They call me Cuban Pete. I’m the king of the rumba beat. When I play the maracas I go chick chicky boom, chick chicky boom” would play over the intercom. And then things would start exploding. Because Cuban Pete was the best bomb maker in the game, and could blow up the entire station if he wanted.
I played a lot of the cargo tech role when I played. Mainly because with only a light spot of hacking, you could order any weapon, machine, or other piece of serious hardware you wanted. As a result the Cargo Bay often declared independence from the station, and more than once I was involved in a mutiny that saw us hold the captain hostage in exchange for secession.
I also spent a lot of time trying to become “robust.” Robust was kind of a meme/joke/slang for being proficient in combat in-game, based on a quote about SS13 having a “robust combat system.” To be robust was to know the insane tricks and tips to get better at fighting in-game.
You were more likely to knock people out if you punched them the mouth. You could blind people temporarily if you targeted the eyes. Personal PDAs could be dropped on the floor to create slipping hazards. When sufficiently robust, an unarmed Assistant could take down and kill a fully riot gear-equipped Security Officer in seconds.
What’s more if you weren’t robust, you were a target. Captain for the round and you’re not robust? Watch your back. Some assistant might just jump you in the corridor and steal your gear and identity. Then they’re the captain, and you’re just some naked guy trying to convince security you’re the real captain.
One piece of common contraband was a fully ported copy of the notorious Elder Scrolls book “The Lusty Argonian Maid.” It was common to find the Clown breaking into the library to photocopy the book and leave as many copies as possible around the station.
In one of my first rounds as a Syndicate player, I spawned in with the rest of my special-ops brethren ready to take on the station and destroy it. We spent a few minutes coming up with a plan, equipping ourselves, then taking the jetpack journey to the station. Only for an asteroid storm to turn all four of us into a fine red mist on the edge of one of the solar panels. We were too embarrassed to tell admins and the game continued for another 10 minutes before anyone realised our failure.
If any of this sounds appealing, then check out SS14. If you love playing the best RPG games like GTA Online RP, Barotrauma, or any of those Garry’s Mod servers, this is definitely a game for you. And if you just want to grief, meta game, and kill people, it’s still probably for you. Just make sure you pick Clown or Head of Security.
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