After finding out that one of the "Narrative Designers" for this game is a guy i find obnoxious on twitter, it made me think more about the biggest failure of this game's plot. (not saying it was his fault or that he had any hand in this, though)
I really didn't like how in a story about the loss of agency and freedom at the claws of capitalism, labor exploitation and the dystopic future, the choice to join the unionization efforts is made for you. You don't get to talk it out with Lou, show interest and a willingness in fighting for better working conditions and a dignified living, she simply adds you to the Union Newsletter on like, your second day on the job, which apart from being a gross violation of operational security, ironically takes away your agency and any sort of weight this represents. I get that this is because you're a blank slate silent protagonist, and the only choices you get to make is your savegame name and the kind of pain grunt sounds you make, but it just makes this sort of plot all the more alienating.
I find that the games that have you doing meaningful acts, for better and for worse, are more powerful if you have the capacity to do the opposite. I find that, for example, becoming a communist in Disco Elysium is made more meaningful because you can just as easily be a neolib, a fascist or simply wallow in your own insanity, but you carved your way into class consciousness and infighting, and enjoy the kind of character you made.
This is not the case in Hardspace.
Another thing that really irked me was how at the end, after having fought the corporation through Industrial Action and the Union reps having gotten to the bargaining table, instead of fighting in any way for safer working conditions for the shipbreakers (take care of the active fusion reactors on the ships before processing, make sure the rooms are not pressurized, no fuel or coolant on board, etc.) they simply demand that they be exempted from the ban on the human cloning scheme, which is being outlawed for "human rights violations". And YES, I get that this is because there's an endgame with you paying off your contract and flying away on your fixer upper ship that you need to work towards, but it's putting the gameplay before the plot, in a game that already has an endless mode. I really do consider that this plot is so bad it actively detracts from the experience, moreso than the unexplicably unskippable audio calls, in a relatively mindless gameplay loop kind of game.
I really didn't like how in a story about the loss of agency and freedom at the claws of capitalism, labor exploitation and the dystopic future, the choice to join the unionization efforts is made for you. You don't get to talk it out with Lou, show interest and a willingness in fighting for better working conditions and a dignified living, she simply adds you to the Union Newsletter on like, your second day on the job, which apart from being a gross violation of operational security, ironically takes away your agency and any sort of weight this represents. I get that this is because you're a blank slate silent protagonist, and the only choices you get to make is your savegame name and the kind of pain grunt sounds you make, but it just makes this sort of plot all the more alienating.
I find that the games that have you doing meaningful acts, for better and for worse, are more powerful if you have the capacity to do the opposite. I find that, for example, becoming a communist in Disco Elysium is made more meaningful because you can just as easily be a neolib, a fascist or simply wallow in your own insanity, but you carved your way into class consciousness and infighting, and enjoy the kind of character you made.
This is not the case in Hardspace.
Another thing that really irked me was how at the end, after having fought the corporation through Industrial Action and the Union reps having gotten to the bargaining table, instead of fighting in any way for safer working conditions for the shipbreakers (take care of the active fusion reactors on the ships before processing, make sure the rooms are not pressurized, no fuel or coolant on board, etc.) they simply demand that they be exempted from the ban on the human cloning scheme, which is being outlawed for "human rights violations". And YES, I get that this is because there's an endgame with you paying off your contract and flying away on your fixer upper ship that you need to work towards, but it's putting the gameplay before the plot, in a game that already has an endless mode. I really do consider that this plot is so bad it actively detracts from the experience, moreso than the unexplicably unskippable audio calls, in a relatively mindless gameplay loop kind of game.