Sword of the Stars: The Pit Review

Of Storied Beginnings

I finally got a chance to devote some time to SotS: The Pit. The game throws you into the Sword of the Stars universe, but you won't be getting a fleet of starships. You're going right down into the dirt, and with no help from your friends, either. The game is single player only. Anything SotS is a must-take-a-look for me, as I loved the original space strategy game and was also heartbroken by my comp not running its second instalment.

The Pit started as an IndieGoGo campaign. It ended roughly half funded (despite my contribution) and things weren't looking great. Luckily Kerberos Productions took this not as a defeat but as a challenge. One to be overcome. And it was, as the game is being sold at all major digital retailers, having had very good reception, both from critics and gamers alike.

The Pit is a roguelike - meaning that it is a turn-based, dungeon crawling RPG with permanent death. Well, unless, in a neat death-cheating trick, you survive. The story behind the game says that a deadly plague is ravaging your world. Your last hope is a legendary alien facility dug deep into the Feldspar Mountains... a massive Pit, built by the ancient Suul'ka. Suul'ka, as players of Sword of the Stars series know, are Liir elders with immense psychic powers, who refuse to die. Elders, not powers. They (yes, elders again) enslaved their own younger brethren and are generally unpleasant.

If 'The Pit' really exists, there might be something left. Something that will give your doctors a fighting chance, hopefully a cure. All you know for sure is that every expedition into those mountains has failed to return...

Parting The Depths

As roguelike tradition also dictates, facility floors are randomly generated and, wandering the caves'n'corridors, opening crates (fridges, lockers, safes…) you will find loot. Very diverse loot. From weapons, ammo, chemicals, to more mysterious ingredients and even more mysterious items which modify weapons, armour or even you. And you don't know what an item will do, unless you have a scanner for just such things. Or you simply… try them out. Beware, a yellow mutation serum might make you smarter in this playthrough, but it may make you weaker in the next. Same for all modifiers. And door traps. Yep, there are those as well. Traps being traps means that in general they are a bad thing, but there is a chance one might make you faster for a limited time or even heal you. The sooner you get to know them, the better. You wouldn't want to experiment down deep, say, while clawing your way to level 30.

I mentioned mysterious ingredients, haven't I? SotS: The Pit has a very extensive list of craftable items. You found some bindings and electronic components. Walk up to a lab station and forge them together to get absolutely nothing. And you just lost some ingredients. Story of my (game) life. I tried and tried to use my imagination and mix those ingredients to no avail. So how do you actually know what to put together to get something useful? Well, every now and then you'll come across a console, with some luck or skill you'll get it up and working and you will be able to read a message it holds. And with even more luck, you'll translate it. Usually you'll need to find the same message a few times on different consoles and translate it piece by piece, though a translator works miracles. Sometimes it tells of what was happening way back when it was written and sometimes it tells you how some long dead inhabitant of the facility managed to use the ingredients in the correct combination. Needless to say, the latter is far more useful for your survival.

Foods and chemicals are mixed at the cooker, while electronic devices are built at the lab station. Crafting is not just useful. It is essential. The best armours, weapons, food, cocktails, and everything in between… are crafted.

Food plays an important role. Never throw it away. Even mouldy cheese may save your life. Try not to eat spoiled or raw food, but in times of need... hopefully you'll have a serum at the ready, too. All manners of food can be consumed 'as is', but some you can combine into a dish which is much more nutritious than the sum of its ingredients. Again, it is better to have a recipe than to go wild on a cooker.

A lot of "indigenous" animals are disease carriers, and will quite gladly infect you with a bite or a scratch, less gladly if you just happen to be eating their flesh, uncooked. Robots on the other hand will not infect you with disease. They will shoot, slash, bombard and do all sorts of niceties to you though. So carry EMP grenades, or whatever you can craft that affects them.

An Ego Trip

Hmmm, so much has been said regarding what to do and how to find it, but what about me? ME ME ME ME?!?!?!? Ok, also, what about you, yourself...

You and me can start the game as one of three classes - scout, engineer or marine. You can probably imagine how they differ in terms of stats, but they also set out with different starting gear and advancement paths. From here on in you can mould your character to your heart's content. So far so good, and good aplenty.

There is one major thing I'd change in the game though. I'd change the crafting recipes' mechanics. As it is, the recipes stay the same every time you play, and next time you play all previously discovered recipes are stored in your personal database. What this means is that the first time you play, your chances of winning are more or less zero. Through several playthroughs you'll accumulate enough crafting knowledge to actually have a chance. To make it even more complicated, at easy level you'll only have access to some of the recipes.

As a strategy player one wants a good strategy to work. Always. Unless countered, naturally. I'm all for learning how to use the tools at hand while playing, but not by simply not having the required information at all. Perhaps obtaining the recipes could be made much easier, but in this case those, too, would probably have to vary at least slightly from one playthrough to another.

The Colours of Pitch-Darkness

Unlike one might expect in a pit, The Pit is not just black screen. The game has been given pixelated graphics, cartoony style and vivid colours. The music and sound effects fit the look; they are simplistic and remind me of games long past. These are all deliberate design decisions, made to create a general retro look, but may still leave you wanting for more.

The Unsettling Closure

The Pit is a very fun game to play, especially when you're not in the mood for something overly complex. Not that you can't play it complex, mind; you can even "abuse" the game turn system. For instance, always approach everything useful-looking in the room so that you get to it mid-turn. By trying to use (open...) you will get to recognize a possible Adaptoid. But I just wouldn't be able to enjoy the game if I went into this much trouble.

What is an Adaptoid, or a Protean? Ah, guys and gals, play the game, it is worth it. Also, a "Mind Games" expansion is said to be looming in the very near future. If you want to hone your skills before the Zuul males fry your brains, better start soon.