After reporting on several Kickstarter projects that have experienced numerous delays it’s a nice surprise to see one that seems to be running right on schedule. Defect from developer Phase Three Interactive is due for a final release in May 2016 and as of 1st December 2015 is available as an Early Access title on Steam.
With Kickstarter pledges totaling AUD $43,088 ($31,357) this 2D space shooter with ship design functionality has some crisp graphics certainly looks pleasing to the eye. However its ingenious feature is in knowing after every successful mission your mutinous crew will steal your shiny new vessel, a fact you’ll you’ll need to consider when designing it so you can defeat it in the future.
There’s a lack of reviews of the Defect Early Access so far outside of the Steam page itself – and there are only 12 of those at the time of writing. However of those 11 are positive (and the one negative reviewer states he would have given a neutral rating if that was available) with praise for the combat, innovative gameplay mechanic and humour.
Most promising of all seems to be the fact that Defect is more complete than most Early Access titles leaving the next six months primed for bug fixing, balancing, doubling the number of levels and introducing further components for your shipbuilding needs.