3 HN users recommended this commentary3 months2021–2023score 4
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
HN considers it the go-to link for conveying the chaos of Space Station 13 in any related discussion.
SsethTzeentach reviews Space Station 13, the chaotic multiplayer game, by recounting absurd stories of singularities, malfunctioning AIs and plasma fires.
“No SS13 discussion is complete without linking to SsethTzeentach's infamous absurd-sounding review” (HN, 2021)
No SS13 discussion is complete without linking to SsethTzeentach's infamous absurd-sounding review[1] or MandaloreGaming's slightly less infamous but more informational review[2]. [1] [this video] [2] [link]
Reminds me of a game I used to play called Space Station 13. It's a completely unique game. Imagine a giant game of Among Us, but with the engine complexity of Dwarf Fortress. Most servers are high level roleplay, where each player has a role (doctor, janitor, captain, clown, etcetera) and the rounds play out until chaos ensues (theme changes each round, but it could anything from station terrorists to a wizard causing bedlam). This YouTuber really expresses it better than I ever could: [this video] Everyone has their goals to achieve each round, but it's general havoc. The OP animation really channels the feeling of playing the game.
Conveys the chaos of Space Station 13 better than the commenter could
I'm always surprised by lists like these that fail to mention Space Station 13, the most actively developed 10+ year old FOSS game on GitHub. There are numerous forks of it, with tgstation being the most popular one [1]. SS13 is multiplayer round-based role playing game, where players assume the role of a crewmember on a space station. Together they must keep the station running smoothly, whilst dealing with antagonistic forces who threaten to sabotage the mission. Since most stations have dozens of job roles, each with content enough to last you hundreds of hours it's no surprise why people such as myself have spent thousands of hours on it and thousands play this every day. It has systems as varied as atmospherics, fully destructible environments, surgery, genetics, science, engineering, etc etc and the amount of content and interaction possible means that no two rounds are the same. Here's a very popular review which shares stories of some of the crazy events that can happen [2]. Unfortunately it's all built on the proprietary engine BYOND. However there are fully libre successors on new FOSS engines which are in-progress to match the massive amount of content SS13 has already accumulated, such as SS14 [3] and Unitystation [4]. I'm not a hardcore FOSS enthusiast about games so I prefer the amount of content SS13 has for the time being, but in time I intend to play and contribute to one of the successors instead in the future. They both have active servers if you're interes
Popular review sharing stories of crazy events in SS13
> This YouTuber really expresses it better than I ever could: [this video] From the video: > You can try taking a painkiller instead, but, it wasn't a painkiller, it was LSD. Having a bad trip? Don't worry, there's a security officer nearby to help! But he can't respond because he was murdered and replaced by a genetically modified monkey wearing his uniform. Hallucinating? Keep calm and focus on what's real. Unfortunately for you, the supermassive black hole expanding towards you is not a hallucination. It is, in fact, very real. _ {THE EMERGENCY SHUTTLE HAS BEEN CALLED}_ Welcome to Space Station 13. Just wow.
Absurd, vivid description of Space Station 13 chaos
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