Space Pirates and Zombies 2
In SPAZ 2 you must survive in an evolving post apocalyptic Galaxy. The zombie threat is defeated, infrastructure has collapsed, fuel is scarce, and scavenging means survival. Initially the Galaxy contains hundreds of fleets, each trying to survive. AI captains do everything the player can. The player is not special and is not the center of the Galaxy. As resource scarcity becomes critical, ships come into conflict just to survive. Factions may form for protection or split due to starvation. Old friends must become fodder. Stronger factions establish and defend territories, set up resource hubs, and establish star bases. Weaker factions may resort to banditry. Each captain is unique, persistent, and shapes the Galaxy. When factions meet, combat is usually the result. While the strategic side of SPAZ 2 is about exploration, territorial control, and faction building, the action side of SPAZ 2 is about ship construction, tactics, and salvage.
Game Discussion
Steam User 20
This game cheats to make itself as powerful as you are.
Why gain power when the whole galaxy gains power with you? Where's the fun in that? Oh look, I destroyed a star base ... that you rebuild the instant I leave for another area. I crush orange down to 2 stars, and five minutes later they have five star bases?
This is fun until you realize it's not.
I still keep wanting to play it though...
Steam User 10
SPAZ2 is described in many ways: an experiment... a mistake... a departure... monotonous... and boring.
But I personally think its a really charming game that made the supposed mistake of experimenting. It takes some features of SPAZ1, but creates an entirely new gameplay cycle. One filled with explosions, fighting, alliances, wars, factions, and of course... zombies. While I'll agree it can get repetitive at times, the shipbuilding, lore, and fighting all make up for it. Every fight is different, dynamic, and way too satisfying for my own good. I just can't get over watching these ships and starbases exploding. You can also change your ship design for different playstyles. Like range? There's weapons for that. Like ramming? You can build a ship for that. Like strategy? There is a synergy system. Finally, there is lore. It's interesting and delivered unobtrusively. All nicely tied up with a sandbox for replayability.
Now I love both SPAZ1 and 2, and it shows, but whats bad?
Well, a couple of things:
1. The campaign is pretty skeletal. Definitely relies on the gameplay.
2. Modding is terrible. The game has very little support and while mods exist, they are few and far between.
3. As I said before, the game can get repetitive outside of combat.
P.S. This game is very different from SPAZ1, don't expect it to be the same. Also didn't mention the galaxy, which actually kinda does feel like its moving without you (even though it literally moves when you do). Also when SPAZ3?
Tl;Dr:
Fighting is super fun, lore is good, moving parts but campaign mid and repetitious,
Steam User 3
For an indy game with a small dev team, this game is awesome. Versatile, fun, replayable (I've got 85 hours and keep coming back to it). It doesn't take itself too seriously and is addictive. Definitely worth the price.
Steam User 3
A different feel from the first game, but similar enough to grasp. To be honest, I beat the game by relying purely on escorts, without knowing what I was doing. Could easily be described as more grindy than the first, with some new mechanics and the loss of some old ones. Decent enough.
Steam User 1
A different experience from the first game, but I still enjoyed it a lot. I particularly like getting to build my own modular mothership, and carve out an empire in sandbox mode.
Steam User 2
As someone that hasn't played the first game (yet) I can say that this is an extremely fun and passionately developed game. The story, voice acting, lore, whatever is a bit silly bit the actual core mechanics are super fun and everything is interconnected in a way I've not seen in anything else.
The customisation and ship-building is fun, combat is enjoyable, the politics/management is great. You play in a living economy of parts and people.
Solid recommend for what is a very underrated game in my opinion
Steam User 0
Fun game that feels like a natural iteration on the first one. It can become tedious at the end when fighting battles against much weaker opponents and expanding your faction, although beating the campaign does not require building a large faction.
Very easy to switch between VR and flatscreen.