Underspace
The spiritual successor to Freelancer with a Lovecraftian, sandbox RPG twist. Explore a vast handmade universe with Day 1 mod support and a planned PvP/co-op multiplayer on the Early Access roadmap. You're going to need a bigger ship.
Underspace is a early access, 3d and flight game
developed by Pastaspace Interactive
and published by Camlann Games.
Released on April 10th 2024 is available in English only on Windows.
It has received 315 reviews of which 256 were positive and 59 were negative resulting in a rating of 7.6 out of 10. 😊
The game is currently priced at 16.79€ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified Underspace into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at Underspace through various videos and screenshots.
Requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS *: Windows 7
- Processor: 2Ghz
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: GPU that supports DirectX 10.0 or higher.
- DirectX: Version 10
- Storage: 12 GB available space
Reviews
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
I played Freelancer as a kid back in the day. Underspace is NOT kidding around when they claim to be inheriting that game's legacy. So much about Underspace feels like Freelancer again. The UI is very similar, the flight is almost identical, controls are nearly the same - and it still adds new things. The exploration seems crazy, these 'storms' really creeped me out when I first saw one, this game seems to be doing everything Freelancer did and more. If you loved Freelancer as much as I did, you'll love this. However, I am going to try to refund the game for now because I want to wait and play this when it's fully released. I should have just tried the demo, but the game is in a bit of a rough state right now. I still recommend it because it has some serious potential if the devs commit to it. I'll be keeping an optimistic eye on this game! Updated review after finishing the story: Underspace has one of the most elegantly-written stories I think i've ever seen. It's not really about how original or deep the plot is, though. To me it's about how beautifully the dialogue is written, I don't see many stories, much less video games, written so maturely. The use of the english language itself throughout the story is absolutely gorgeous. All of my hats off to the developer and/or whoever wrote it all, this game is mechanically very fun, but the lore, setting, and writing of the game's main story are highlights. It felt a little bit short, but that's fine with me because the rest of the galaxy seems open, and if playing Freelancer for the last 15 years has shown me anything, it's that the true beauty of a game like this is in exploring the galaxy. I'll almost certainly be returning when the game is fully complete to replay the story again. Beautiful game. It's more than just Freelancer with cosmic horror and space fantasy.
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Underspace doesn't really hide its roots. Every Freelancer player will instantly recognize similar things between both games. Whole game feels like Freelancer spin-off and it's not a bad thing. I'm glad that this game finally managed to scratch that itch for a space voyager game that has arcade-like flying, but also big expansive universe with myriad of questlines and secrets. I've beaten the game in the first weeks of Early Access and while it was very rough in some places, it's gradually coming into a polished end product with frequent updates. Devs are very active on forums, but especially in their discord. I'm hoping that by the time it comes out of EA it will be a great successor to Freelancer without needing any crutches.
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Did you play Freelancer? Get this game. You won't regret it. Otherwise, this game is to Freelancer as Project Wingman is to Ace Combat. It's a dedicated love letter to arguably the best space game of all time, and the love is obvious.
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Freelancer meets the Warp from 40K and has a fling with Mass Effect If you're a fan of Freelancer, and a faithful recreation of its arcade mechanics married with a much weirder setting sounds good to you, then you will most likely have a fun time with Underspace. Be aware, however, that purchasing the game at this early stage is more of a statement of support for the developer and their vision – don’t go in expecting a finished product straight away. If you saw a screenshot of Underspace, HUD and all, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a weird Freelancer mod. In truth, even when playing it, you still get that feeling sometimes. For fans of the venerable 2003 title from Digital Anvil / Microsoft, the influences are clearly obvious, from the interface to the control scheme, from the world layout to the environmental chatter. Still, as you continue, these feelings are gradually replaced with an understanding that, while much of the DNA is unmistakably Freelancer, there are also changes and improvements. Equally true is the fact that, while much of the gameplay loop and mechanics are loans, the setting and story are quite different. Underspace certainly seems to cater to an audience more amenable to high-concept fiction, and it at least deserves credit for daring to abandon the comfort of retelling stories of great human empires right down to the nomenclature. Even so, Underspace doesn’t let these high-concept ideas get in the way of very “human” interactions, and it deftly avoids issues of essentialist treatment of its populations and moral absolutes through good writing and compelling characters. Even as we are bombarded by an alien culture and geography, we can’t help but admire the scenery. Space is as beautiful as ever, with painterly starscapes and nebulous backdrops punctuated by diverse planets and artificial installations, but this world treats the void much more like a landscape, or perhaps an ocean, and you will fly by strange monstrous wrecks, monuments to gods and heroes, and even structures like lighthouses and windmills – as mundane in purpose as they are titanic in stature. Although the graphical fidelity is not comparable to photorealistic UE5 masterpieces, it creates a certain aesthetic that feels natural – and one that is made all the more engrossing when you see the eldritch appendages and things beyond alien that lurk in the chaos of underspatial storms. Although I had seen trailers, and played the demos multiple times, after entering my first storm and seeing the outline of a tentacle that must have stretched for hundreds of miles – one that was moving, to boot – a sort of primal fear and trepidation took over me. It’s certainly not a horror game, and you do get a little more used to this “terror from beyond” aspect of the world, but so far, the nature of these interstellar cataclysms and the things they dredge up from beyond still makes you feel that anxiety of “what’s waiting for me this time”. Echoing the way the setting paints its alien races, the campaign – and the protagonist's personal story – is just as much about great cosmic calamities as it is about an individual going against expectations and the “destiny” he is apparently meant to fulfil. He is complex and imperfect, with his own shortcomings and prejudices, and he grows from a place where things happen to him to one where he takes charge of his destiny. The plot never feels too gratuitous in the turns it takes, and while some of them are not wholly unexpected, others leave you surprised without feeling like you were being asked to believe something too improbable or outlandish. It is definitely to Underspace’s credit that the most notable drawback is not even a drawback in itself – it is simply the fact that it is still a work in progress. There is little to no voice acting, some interiors are platforms floating in the void bereft of walls or collisions, every ship in each manufacturer’s line-up looks essentially the same, the “Records” area remains sadly static even as great revelations occur during the campaign, and some gameplay systems are merely foundations for future content (like ship customization, crafting, and bars). There are certainly other nitpicks. It’s unfortunate that the starter region’s soundtrack is so fantastically whimsical and in-your-face; the campaign is great fun to play through, but it becomes difficult to play through the rest of the content in a demigod ship; there is also a slight tonal disconnect – despite the generally serious tone of the storytelling and worldbuilding, some of its features fit better into a Douglas Adams sort of world. But I am heartened to see that this foundation can eventually give rise to a very impressive product. Unlike many Early Access titles, Underspace has had a lively community of early testers and a responsive (and responsible) developer keeping the player base apprised of changes and roadmaps. It is a personal highlight for me that modding is given a special place as a first-class feature in the game – after all, modding is what has given Freelancer its longevity. In summary, Underspace is a weird and wonderful game, created by an enthusiastic developer, that is for better or worse forever going to be compared to Freelancer, even as its own additions shine by themselves. It is every paying customer’s prerogative to judge the worth of Early Access titles for themselves, but this reviewer is glad to have given his support to the product and eager to see what it grows into in the future.
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Some might say it's TOO close to Freelancer, I say it's just right, barring things like missing voice acting and general polish. It nails the visuals, if a bit of a different palette. It's sorta there with the audio, although a lot of that is simply a matter of audio mastering or stylistic choice. It nails the weirdly lively yet empty universe, the small scale but big, and the unique tranquility of travelling towards an obscured wreck or going through a jump lane. Underspace adds some of it's own flair, of a certainty. Some new equipment types, a leveling up system, the ability to walk around stations that they never got the chance to implement in Freelancer itself, and entire underlayer of cosmic horror... It's also got a spirit of the unknown, of looking around the next corner with both trepidation and hope. But the awkward exposition is the same too... As for the minor elephant in the room... it does look aged. But from my perspective, that just hones in better on the unique appeal of the niche it's trying to fill. I don't know if you could really pull an atmosphere like this off by going for anything other than an early 2000s 3D look, it's iconic in it's own way and massively impacts how the universe is presented. I like it, but then I still play 90s DOOM so I'm tolerant of older graphics as long as the artistic style is solid - and Underspace manages a good visual appeal pretty well for all it's clunky models and low res textures, making great use of the sort of fog obscurement popular at the time and leaning into the limitations of a low poly, low distance style to get the best out of a close, almost claustrophobic kind of deep space. On controls and interface... game feels intuitive for a Freelancer vet, but I do recommend poking around the tutorials. It's clunky, for all it's faithful to it's inspiration. And perhaps because of it. If all you really wanted from Chris Roberts was Freelancer 2 and not the Icarus style dream project that is Star Citizen, this should scratch the itch. Underspace is a strong callback to it's origins, with it's own setting, and a few twists in mechanics. If you are a fan of more arcade semi-RPG spacesims, and can enjoy the aesthetic of mid-2000s style of 3D graphics, and don't mind the patchy audio... you should enjoy this. If you, like me, are a big fan of the original Freelancer... you should almost certainly enjoy this. I recommend it regardless, but it's probably not for everyone. Or for most who don't find Freelancer itself to still be appealing to play. TL;DR: A true love letter to a great, if flawed, space sim. Feels almost like an expansion pack in another setting.
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Last Updates
| Steam data | 13 December 2024 00:42 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 18 January 2025 16:42 |
| Steam price | 22 January 2025 20:50 |
| Steam reviews | 21 January 2025 18:06 |
Online players
2
Developer
Pastaspace Interactive
Publisher
Camlann Games
Release
10 Apr 2024
Platforms