Goofy builder-crafter Space for Sale is about developing 'prime real estate on unexplored worlds'

YouTube

A new indie will send you to space to explore new worlds and then plop down little housing developments on them. Space for Sale is a humorous take on the survival crafting base builder from developer Mirage Game Studios. Your job is to explore and develop little worlds, either solo or in two-player cooperative mode, by figuring out where the resources are, what's the best home site to work on, and which of the locals are dangerous.

The dangerous locals are what provide friction for your little comedic adventure in space real estate. Some of the plants explode, weird little monkeys steal from you, or significantly worse, but you have to deal with it because your job is to hunt down useful resource sites to make into amenities—whether that's a mine for raw materials, an algae-skimming device for food, or a hot spring for a water park.

Mirage Game Studios previously made Little Big Workshop, a game where you grow a small garage manufacturing business into a full-on fabrication factory-for-hire. That was published by HandyGames, but Mirage is self-publishing Space for Sale.

The developers note that the current early access release is a bit limited on breadth of stuff to do, focusing instead on the core gameplay. "Throughout the Early Access period we expect to add a lot of content; such as planets, biomes, creatures, projects and new clients. Beyond that, we also expect to improve the game balance and polish the game in general," they said.

The short demo, out now, establishes the very basics of how Space for Sale works. You get plopped down on a planet, establish a few little settlement centers, and bring in your first colonists. From there you have to find resources to exploit with development sites, all the while scanning the local flora and fauna for bonuses and rare crafting bits. It's a bit slow but I found it charming enough—the weird aliens that move into your residences especially so.

One of the little tenants promised to kill me last when its species conquers the galaxy. "You are a good realtor," it says. Thanks buddy! I think!

You can find Space for Sale on Steam for $20, though it's 20% off until August 13. The developers intend for it to stay in Early Access for at least six months.

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.