Battlestar Galactica is one of the most underrated tv shows of all time. I became obsessed with it around 10 years ago, going as far as to get a ‘so say we all’ tattoo on my left forearm. It’s a gritty space opera that delves into politics, war, and the human condition, all while providing tense and emotional scenes along with heart-racing action that plays out in exhilarating fashion. Battlestar Galactica: Shattered Hopes captures the overwhelming nature of survival perfectly, forcing you to make difficult decisions every step of the way.
Taking place alongside the beginning of the Cylon war that sees the twelve colonies all but destroyed, you must survive incoming attacks until your ship reaches Galactica. Shattered Hopes isn’t about obliterating the enemy; it’s about surviving long enough until you can charge the FTL drive and jump into an uninhabited area of deep space. Mixing tense fighting with on-board dilemmas makes up much of the gameplay, faithfully recreating what made much of the earlier seasons of the show. Oh, and there’s a Cylon on board, too!
Battlestar Galactica: Shattered Hopes is a roguelike with fundamental goals. It doesn’t break new ground, yet it’s still tense and exciting. The likelihood of failure in the early stages is high, but you learn with every new run. The most challenging part is making the right decisions in order to keep on going. In-between each tense battle, you’ll have to repair damaged vessels; upgrade ships and crew members; choose which POIs to interact with; improve civilian ships to help you’re plight; and work out who’s trying to sabotage your mission.
Acting as a game of two halves, you’ll spend time surviving in space battles and dealing with internal issues as well as sustaining the fleet. Battles rely on you controlling Vipers, Raptors, and other spacecraft to fend off Cylon attacks. Vipers are fast and are better at close-range, while Raptors are sturdier and better launching missiles from further away. Like the show, Cylon Raiders, Snipers, and heavier armoured ships spawn in, leaving you to make quick decisions throughout the two-minute duration of battle.
The ability to quickly pause and take stock of your actions is a much appreciated mechanic. Knowing whether to go after enemy ships at the risk of leaving a vessel unprotected or launching an attack from further away is a constant situation you’ll deal with. Your main ship, or Gun star, is smaller than a Battlestar, yet it can still offer some much needed artillery support from afar. A barrage of missiles can be launched into pockets of enemy ships, and nukes will cause significant damage to Cylon fleets. However, you’ll never completely wipe out the enemy.
Once your FTL drive is ready, it’s time to get away and reassess your options. These space battles are tense. While there are new ships and weapons to unlock, along with upgrades and buffs, you never feel completely capable of destroying the enemy. Going into these fights always felt stressful and overwhelming, but that’s why I enjoyed them. That’s not to say one wrong decision has the ability to wipe out your fleet. Frustration does find its way into some of your runs, but preparing as best you can does negate those annoyances.
In terms of the cinematic nature of these battles, they can be repetitive. We’ve seen many other turn-based and real-time strategy titles do a better job. That said, fans of the show will find some enjoyment of the tense nature of making sure vessels are protected and getting back to your gun star just as you’re about to jump. Battlestar Galactica: Shattered Hopes isn’t perfect in this regard, yet I couldn’t help trying my best to make sure I found my way back to Commander Adama and the crew of the Galactica.
Between battles, you have to spend resources repairing your fighter crafts and civilian vessels. Places of interest pop up, giving you opportunities to harvest more resources, but each come with their own risks. There are also Crises to solve that sometimes have multiple layers, such as fixing airlocks or healing civilians. There are also story elements that offer personal quests to solve, as well as clues that help to reveal who the Cylon is amongst your crew. These are never quite as thrilling as the show, but still offer something to fight for and keep going.
Battlestar Galactica: Shattered Hopes does a good job of recreating the themes of the show. The first season focused on survival, hope, and unity. Alt Shift has managed to provide plenty of authenticity while still offering enjoyable gameplay. Hearing that opening music was enough to pull me in. Not only that, the grittiness of the visuals matched that of the show. While each run isn’t as short and snappy as it could have been, I still enjoyed making difficult decisions and engaging in intense fights for survival.
