My biggest problem with this game is that I expected a step forward in comparison with the studio’s previous game (Age of Decadence).
Unfortunately, game failed badly in this aspect. What I see is 1 step forward in some areas/mechanics, which is immediately hampered by 3 or more steps backwards to accidentally avoid delivering a better production.
I’m disappointed. AoD already proved their ability to deliver a hard but fair RPG in a unique setting. So I don't quite understand, how they managed to fail so badly here.

✅

• One-of-the kind type of setting. You’re on generational ship flying towards Proxima Centauri.
  
  
• Worldbuilding. They left Earth to build their own paradise, but with them came human flaws.
  
  
• Story is decent. Some hidden facts about our ships mission adds additional layer to our quests.
  
  
• Notes providing lore, history etc.
  
  
• Several interesting concepts.
  
  
• Soundtrack is good and fits well the overall theme.
  
  
• Interesting concept of learning some skills via uploading them directly into the brain on special (rare) stations. Very sci-fi and quite original.

😐
Lot of backtracking. Companions stories are average - not bad, but not very good either.

❌

• Location size. Starting maps are decently complex and provide opportunities for exploration. Unfortunately the further you go, the smaller maps get. Habitat (which should be the biggest “city” in the game) is one massive disappointment.
  
  
• You’re aboard massive generation ship, yet you can’t explore it freely. Only go from point A to B via C.
  
  
• You can’t reset your build. Either replay or using external guides.
  
  
• No dialogue history, so you can’t take longer break from game – otherwise you simply won’t remember who-is-who and where to go.
  
  
• In terms of possible gameplay options, game seems to be a clear step back in comparison to its indirect predecessor. After the initial delight comes disappointment at the artificial limitation of available options.
  
  
• Charisma-based build is viable for most of the game. When it stops becoming viable you hit wall or follow that one path provided by game devs where your build is still possible. Is it against your in-game choices etc.? Yes it is but it’s also your only option without restarting the game.
  
  
• Main factions looks way too similar to each other. It’s really like different shades of same viewpoint instead of different ideologies.
  
  
• Some game locations auto-teleports you out, when you finish their associated quest. No further exploration possible.
  
  
• Combat is boring and badly designed. Way too much RNG, without taking stats into account.
  
  
• In 9 cases out of 10, the enemies have better fighting positions and you really can't prepare in advance. You can't hide one character under a cloak or throw a grenade in advance.
  
  
• Enemies are combat oriented sock-puppets. Exists solely for their combat encounter and nothing else.
  
  
• No matter how good your build will be, there is always at least 1 enemy which will have higher initiative than you/your party. Going by their equipment, it’s obvious that AI has different rules than you.
  
  
• Stealth mechanics is plain weird. Good concept but quality left much to be desired.
  
  
• Psionics is basically uncounterable mechanic. The only way to counter it effectively is with drugs.
  So where does the problem lie? Well drugs lasts only 2 in-game rounds and give you a significant combat debuff ( -2 to perception so your hit rate lowers) when it expires. In some fights, you have to take multiple doses to keep the team sane.

A refreshing take on the CRPG genre! The story is mature and grim, but multi-facetted. There are many choices to be made and sides to be taken, and most of them mean wanted and unwanted consequences .., sometimes many hours later. The atmosphere is bleak, and where Fallout abated a similar post-apocalyptic scenario with tongue-in-cheek humor, you'll find only sarcarsm here.

What I found most impressive is how this game this game is balanced around totally different aproaches you can take for all the challenges it throws at you: play a dump but powerful fighter, and you'll miss lots of locations and loot which helps a build where you can hack computers. Convince people to join your mission, or play as a sneaky assassin to avoid or ease tough fights, Make up to three characters join your cause, or go solo. All of this and much more is viable, and even a combination of these approaches (if you know what you're doing). Even the combat itself allows quite a number of different builds and styles to approach it. The whole games invites experimentation and multiple playthroughs - you can test other builds or other party compositions while exploring other choices with new narratives and questlines.

Tthe game is not easy, especially in - "this is how it's meant to be played" (tm) - Underdog difficulty. But yet it is not totally unforgiving! I ended up with a rather unbalanced party and missed quite some opportunities for loot and xp, and I still had more than enough firing power and assets at hand to take even the toughest encounters eventually. Yes, bombs, stims and energy cells are expensive, but you'll always find enough of them to get going. Yes, my char and another party member had hard times to hit until the very end, but with another member crippling the enemies first they managed. And if nothing helps, you can often go with other, easier choices (which not necessarily mean worse outcomes, just different ones). The only negative here is that the game starts harder than it ends - in act 1, you're lacking both, the game knowlege and the options, and I almost found myself in a dead-end at one point.

I rarely enjoy difficult games, but here, after some initial frustration and a somewhat steep learning curve, I really enjoyed the challenges and the adrenaline kicking in when you finally find the proper approach for an encounter!

If you liked Age of Decadence, you'll problable enjoy Colony Ship as well. The feel of mystery and wonder a bit lacking in comparison, but most other aspects are fairly polished.
Recommended if you're tired of fighting the evil once again and are interested in experiencing a more authentic narrative instead, or if you enjoy complex and challenging turn-based combat, or if you're looking a high replay-value!

I was really looking for that old-school Fallout feel with this game. While it gets someway there it just feels like an inferior version but 30 years later.

A lot of it feels like a puzzle game more than an RPG and while it plays at being open world, you are forced into somewhat of a linear progression because you will get limited by your skill levels, until you train them up somewhere else. The combat is also pretty basic with not much really interesting going on here.

While I think part of my issue with games is that I'm not really jiving with RPGs anymore (Couldn't even finish Baldurs Gate 3) I was hoping this would rekindle those feelings I had playing Fallout, Arcanum, Wizardry, etc, but it falls well short of those.

Excellent Choices and Consequences RPG with challenging combat.

Satisfying CRPG.

The game has really good writing and rewarding exploration and character progression. The combat can be very difficult if you play on the intended difficulty but to me that´s a good thing. Given how the skills work you won´t have access to all areas and options so there´s plenty of room for multiple playthroughs, I ended up missing out on quite a few things due to not having the necessary skill level to access them.

overall a really enjoyable game and definitely worth picking it up even at full price imo.

Its a fun game. It took a few tries for me to find a build that works. Once i did that everything in the game opened up quite nicely. If you like crpgs, give this one a try. The setting is fantastic. The combat has a learning curve.