A close encounter of the tourist kind
Spacebase Startopia is a 2021 Simulation Game developed by Realmforge Studios and published by Kalypso Media, where the player is tasked with the administration of several toroidal space stations. It serves as a "re-imagining" of the 2001 game Startopia.
Spacebase Startopia contains examples of the following tropes:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: VAL, unsurprisingly, turns out to be evil.
- Adaptational Villainy: VAL was a snarky but helpful character in the original Startopia. This one is a sincerely malevolent villain who wants machines to take over.
- Awesome, but Impractical: The mechs (giant battle robots) are varied, powerful and interesting to look at. They are also slow, cumbersome, expensive, require lots of material to make and require a special lift to move between floors.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: Vermin, that appear when there is too much garbage on the station.
- Chest Burster: A certain illness results in a creature killing its host and attacking your station.
- Comically Small Bribe: The polite pirates, who want to attack your station offer to pay you between 1000 and 1900 energy, enough to get you three plant pots.
- Crapsaccharine World: Your stations seem like colourful and cheery places, but it doesn't take too long to see the problems underneath: technology producing huge amounts of toxic waste, an entire planet covered in garbage, dangerous AI, chest burster disease and the drinks often have less than 5% real liquid in them.
- Cute Machines: Your bunny eared security robots and worker fuzzies.
- Cyberspace: Several tutorial levels take place in these before you move on to real stations. Except you don't even actually leave the simulation.
- Downer Ending: Using the data you have collected from your missions, VAL prepares to start a campaign to take over the universe. With your purpose fulfilled, VAL then deletes the player character.
- Energy Economy: The energy that the base runs on is used as a medium to buy, sell, pay for services, charge your robots and so on.
- Exposed Extraterrestrials: Many alien races walk around naked or nearly naked. Employing them causes them to put on uniforms and more wealthy guests wear clothes. Although, in some cases it's not clear if the clothes visitors wear are in fact part of their bodies.
- French Maid Outfit: Your fuzzy drones will wear one in cleaning mode.
- Future Food Is Artificial: Several food outlets run on food crates, which are harvested from plants. There is sushi, which is made from plants. And molecular food, which is made from plants and medical supplies.
- The Greys: The Gresulurians. The only 'returning' race and required to run your medical stations.
- Hover Mecha: Level three fuzzies hover.
- Incredibly Obvious Bomb: The bombs planted by saboteurs. Just as well, considering you have to find them quickly.
- Insectoid Aliens: The Bugrathorians, who resemble gaint beatles.
- Matter Replicator: You can create buildings and objects from energy. Some buildings can use energy or resources to create consumables.
- No Biochemical Barriers: All aliens appear to breath the same air and eat the same food.
- Nobody Poops: All aliens have a hygiene need but nobody appears to use a toilet.
- No Recycling: Averted, recycling is necessary or you'll end up drowning in litter.
- Planet of Hats: Each race can only be employed to work in one building type.
- Plant Person: The Drayds, who can harvest plants without destroying them, unlike the player. They also get a bit upset if you harvest plants.
- Platonic Cave: You (The player character) are actually a computer program created by VAL. You live in a simulation.
- Real-Time with Pause: A reduced version, real time with slow motion.
- Single-Biome Planet: The garden-like Biodeck has one soil type for each of the visitor races and one more, this can also lead to a Patchwork Map where a scorching desert is right next to freezing polar snow.
- Starfish Aliens: Two of them.The Hem’ Netjer have only two limbs that can function as both arms and legs, a single eye, no distinct head and something hanging from beneath their faces. The Eu’reker are brains with faces in floating mechanical bodies.
- Stupid Crooks: Criminals often post about their criminal activities on social media, making it really easy to see who is just in a bad mood or who needs to be kicked off the station.
- Telepathic Spacemen: The Bugrathorians have to talk all the time to avoid broadcasting their thoughts to everyone around them.
- Teleporters and Transporters: You can store things in a pattern buffer, traders can teleport things to and from your base,the mech transporter teleports mechs between floors and even the bins can teleport at higher levels.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: When your character is no longer needed, they are simply deleted.
