Hellion has a systems problem, in that its in-game systems are just too darn functional and well-maintained. That would be terrific news if you were a homeowner or a sane spaceship captain, but for a survival sandbox, it makes the “surviving” part insultingly easy.
This is why the team announced that it will be doing a full systems rebalance in the near future in order to gum up the works somewhat. “One of the problems at the moment is that most systems are something that you just switch on and then forget about,” the team said. “We aim to change this in a meaningful way. We want players to feel the difference between a ‘fully working’ and a ‘barely operational’ system, as well as how multiple systems function together and how problems with one system can cause a cascade that affects multiple parts of the ships and stations.”
The trick for the team is to have things decay and break down enough so that maintenance is a challenge and not a chore. Other projects on the team’s list include a UI revamp, making station modules feel more useful, and programming items to respawn in logical (and not random) locations.
