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Steam Greenlight Spotlight: Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander

• Sean Flint
• March 12th, 2015

Steam Greenlight opened for submission on August 30, 2012. Ever since then, games such as McPixel, Broforce, and Frozen Cortex have achieved great success thanks to the positive (and critical) feedback from the community. Steam Greenlight Spotlight is my attempt to focus on the games that I feel are deserving of your attention. Finding a solid game to give your vote to on Greenlight can be like stepping through a minefield, and my goal is that this series will give you some specific titles to focus on and making navigating the ol’ Greenlight minefield a bit easier.

Today’s spotlight shines on Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander. This is a rogue-like strategy game developed by Massive Damage. I first saw this game pop up on Greenlight about two days ago. Although, I had reviewed dozens of games that day, something about Halcyon 6 drew me in and had me searching for more on the game. Through some further investigation, I found their Kickstarter page, and discovered the ambitious plan that they have for their game. The major gameplay experiences, according to the Kickstarter page, will consist of building bases, managing your crew, exploring, and participating in various combat encounters. Halcyon 6 has a roster of 6 unique character races that you can add to your crew. You have the humans, who can choose to specialize as tactical, engineering, or science officers. Each specialization provides different bonuses and abilities. One of the more interesting races are the Xlar-Yanthu Union, who have the ability to mutate, and are considered untrustworthy. The diversity of the various races in the game makes it seem like the crew management and recruitment will be very unique and will provide a fresh experience each time. This is extremely important in the rogue-like genre, as you are constantly restarting your progress after each death. Having a unique experience each time keeps the game fresh and keeps players engaged in the game. Although there is no playable demo as of yet, we can only hope for something to get our hands on in the near future.

After hopefully passing through the Greenlight blockade and making it onto Steam, Halcyon 6 plans to release their game in Early Access. This is good news for those who are interested in getting their hands on the game as soon as possible. The Kickstarter campaign for the game has already met its $40,000 goal after only two days, and is now sitting at over $50,000. One of the more interesting aspects of their marketing is that they have decided to go with Square Enix’s Collective program. This program allows them to receive assistance from Square Enix in marketing their game. Looking at how quickly they’ve met their goal, it may just be that Collective did a solid job in providing good marketing tools and assistance for Massive Damage. Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander looks very promising and really stands out among the other games on Greenlight. It reminds me a bit of FTL, and that is a very good thing. If they manage to pull off what they have promised so far, I feel that they will be very successful and hopefully release a fantastic product after getting through Greenlight. If you’re interested in taking a look at Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander, check it out on Greenlight and consider giving it a thumbs up. Also, take a look at their Kickstarter and consider giving a few dollars to support the development of what is looking like a very compelling game.