Helium Electric
A brief introduction
The story is set in the Cold War of the 1980s, in which humanity was blindly drawn into the Cold War without realizing that this insane endeavor was causing a shortage of resources. Until it came to a near standstill.
Corporations took control of the action and found new ways to supply the world with necessities. The Cold War became more and more a corporate struggle. Over time, one company proved particularly successful.
Helium Electric had found a way to mine helium on the moon and convert it to electricity on Earth. Earth’s future seemed assured, but at a very high price….Content
Helium Electric is a hard strategy game in which the player finds himself alone in a Moon station and has the mission to extract helium.
The goal is to achieve the highest possible helium mining rate and you are free to decide how to manage the station.
Depending on the amount of helium extracted, you get a daily payment to support your family and friends on Earth.
If you don’t, your relatives will suffer, your stress level will increase, and your mental health will decrease.
Once the player has reached a total helium mining amount of 25 tons, the contract with the Helium Electric corporation has been fulfilled and you can count on a position in the corporation if you perform well.
However, in order to achieve this goal, the player’s physical and mental health must be kept in mind. You are alone in the station and no one can help you.Gameplay
The technology at your command is the latest from 1986.
The game is controlled with the dashboard by either entering commands with the mouse or keyboard. Several unmanned vehicles are coordinated and you only have a certain amount of time per day before the daily dose of radioactive radiation becomes too high.
There are:
- 6 harvesters – Extraction of raw helium from Moon dust
- 1 drone – Scan helium concentration, vehicles and the station
- 1 recovery vehicle – Tow surface vehicles in the event of a failure
- 2 satellites – Scan Moon surface and vehicle movement
After a work day you have the possibility to retreat to a recovery room below the lunar surface. Furthermore there is a communication system at your command. Of course all extra expenses will be charged.
It is up to you to complete the mission successfully.
Game Discussion
Steam User 12
Well what about this than...?
Im looking at my discovery queue when I spotted this game Helium Electric.
I thought..`Thats a strange name...wonder what its about..?` well dear reader let me tell you.
Its a game set in an alternate history in the 80s.
For some reason you have to mine Helium on the moon as it is an abundant energy source.
You accomplish this by giving orders to your various robotic units such as harvesters, drones and recovery vehicles.
You use the drone to scan for deposits of Helium and when its done its bit you then send in the Harvesters to...er...harvest.
This is all done under the watchful eye of the company who own everything. So if you mess up by not making enough profit. Bad things start happening.
You also have a wife and child and parents to feed and rent to pay.
If you dont pay your rent you become homeless...if you dont buy food....yep you guessed it...you starve.
The trouble is you dont earn enough money at the start to keep on funding your lifestyle.
You can only mine for a limited amount of time on the moon due to radiation and every now and again you have to go to recover till the next day.
I think this game has great potential and I found it addictive as you send out your harvesters monitoring their fuel and condition and deciding whether to bring them back in for repairs or run them into the ground for profit.
Of course its a fine balancing act between profit and not having enough money to pay the bills.
Of course I do have a couple of gripes. One of them being some of the grammar feeling wrong so maybe english is not the devs 1st language. But then again what do I know..Im not exactly a grammar teacher. Still it really is a minor gripe as I find on the whole is truly a gem and I think it could only improve with the odd update.
As it stands its very stable and the interface is decent....well it is set in the 80`s remember ?
Also the game needs more publicity cos I discovered it by accident.
I had not heard of it before today. But im real glad I did.
A truly excellent game which is original. I hope it does well to encourage the dev to update and maybe even do more games like this.
Cheers for reading this my fellow Steam gamers.
So what ya waiting for buy this its only £5.99...about the price of a burger and chips in a well known fast food restaurant.
Lotsa love x.
Steam User 2
You load 0.4 tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
Steam User 1
This is a very strategic game. It has a cool 80s PC and feel cold war like