Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes - All This Has Happened Before, But Never This Well
- Antal Bokor
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
When the Battlestar Galactica reboot aired, it was a cultural phenomenon of a sort we don’t see as much these days. While (in my opinion) the show fell off a bit towards the end, its exciting first few episodes are some of the best sci-fi ever put on TV. The crew of the Galactica leads a ragtag group of civilian ships away from Cylon danger, forced to jump every 33 minutes as their enemies remain in hot pursuit. Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes takes that exact premise and makes it the foundation of its rogue-lite loop.
Developed by Alt Shift, Scattered Hopes shares a lot of DNA with the studio's previous game, Crying Suns. Both feature iterative roguelite narratives, real-time combat with a tactical pause, officer management, and away missions to points of interest. There is even a constant pressure to keep moving forward, mirroring the relentless pace of that aforementioned first episode, "33." Scattered Hopes manages to expand the lore of Battlestar Galactica in a way that, while not strictly canon, is thematically and tonally spot-on.
The developers are obviously massive fans of the franchise, and a lot of love and attention to detail has gone into the game. The visuals utilize a low-res, stylized aesthetic that remains faithful to the reboot series—complete with a recreation of the show’s iconic intro that perfectly sets the tone for the gameplay. If you’re a fan of Battlestar Galactica, this game was made with you in mind.
In Scattered Hopes you play as the commander of an older-tech Gunstar, on the run after the destruction of the Twelve Colonies. Having received a vague but hopeful message from Commander Adama, your goal is to guide your own small fleet of ragtag ships to a rendezvous with the Galactica. You’ll have to make hard decisions to save your fleet. The Cylons are relentless, and you will be destroyed. But "all of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again," as the oft-quoted phrase is aptly applied to the roguelite mechanics here.
Every decision you make can lead to failure. And as such: most of the gameplay in Scattered Hopes revolves around resource management. The main currencies that keep your fleet flying and fighting are your main cast of officers (which changes every run), as well as fuel, supplies, scrap, and nukes. Nukes both serve as battlefield trump cards and currencies in certain situations.
Keep your crew happy, your civilian ships running (and bomb free) and as long as you keep yourself from total destruction by the time the Cylons inevitably catch up, you will live to jump to another sector to do it all over again. Fail, and you get the chance for a few upgrades using a meta currency (called Fate) gained on runs that bestow permanent upgrades. You can also unlock more potential upgrades by completing trials, or meeting up with Galactica with each of the four different Gunstar archetypes.
There are also multiple human factions to manage. Doing favors for one might earn their loyalty but anger another. Sometimes, you have to make choices with little context beyond knowing it will shift these progress bars. It’s best to keep everyone as content as possible; getting on a faction's bad side means dealing with stolen supplies, acts of sabotage, and other issues that can easily sink a run.
In each sector you jump to, you’re often limited in what you can accomplish. Every action takes time and/or resources, both of which get harder to come by as a run progresses.There are various points of interest, each yielding needed resources or a chance at a new ship, weapon, or crew member. Just like in the TV show, your officers can take on whatever role you need, bestowing bonuses if you send them out to resolve a crisis—sometimes at their own peril. However, after playing for a dozen hours or so, I felt like I had seen every type of sector there was to see, and they started to feel a bit same-y.
The absolute highlight of Scattered Hopes is the combat. It’s my favorite depiction of Battlestar Galactica ship-to-ship fighting we’ve ever gotten in a video game. Your Gunstar and two selected civilian ships sit on the opposite end of the field from the Cylon mothership, and your sole objective is to minimize the incoming damage the Cylon forces are trying to dish out. You’re not trying to destroy the enemy Basestar, however. Winning fights isn’t about fielding the best units to overwhelm the enemy; it’s entirely about survival. Your goal is simply to run away and live another day.
But until your FTL drives finish spooling up, you’ll need to fight.
You can return fire with your Gunstar's equipped weapons and launch a multitude of fighter types to intercept threats. Finding better ships, leveling up heroes, and upgrading civilian ships gives you powerful abilities that shift the odds in your favor, which is vital since every tactical mistake cascades into failure down the line. A single wrecked Viper squadron can mean essential resources are siphoned away from other crucial projects.
Battles are explosive and incredibly busy. You will need to use the pause function frequently as you deal with multiple ship types and incoming nukes and other missles, all while directing flak fire and coordinating your attack squadrons. It can feel overwhelming, but the game encourages you to pause and take in the tactical battlefield—something Bill Adama surely wishes he could do.
The civilian vessels in your convoy are just as important as your guns and fighters. Not only do they serve as a first line of defense (essentially meat shields), but they can also come equipped with defensive or offensive capabilities. You might get lucky and find a civilian ship that can shoot down missiles or fire back at their assailants, relieving a bit of pressure during high-stakes encounters.
Scattered Hopes also does a good job touching on the paranoia of the show, particularly when it comes to surprise Cylon reveals. Yes, there will likely be a Cylon hiding among your key crew members, and you’ll have to weed them out. Even though your roster changes every run, you can still get attached to them—right up until they reveal themselves as the frakking toasters they are. And you even have the option to imprison and interrogate them, mirroring some of the darker moments from the show.
While I appreciated how much of the world Alt Shift got right, the experience never felt quite as harrowing as its premise promised. So much of the pressure and drama in Scattered Hopes comes from management systems that feel very sterile, while the combat is the only part that feels tense and decisive in a satisfying way. There were a few times when I jumped out right as the missiles came screaming in, followed by waves of Cylons, though I’m fairly certain the game’s AI pushes those units out at the last second specifically to manufacture those close calls. Still, Scattered Hopes is at its best during only a fraction of its game time, and that’s a bummer.
However, it’s the closest a game has come to capturing the feeling I got from FTL since, well, Crying Suns. Scattered Hopes can sometimes feel like a ten-pound game stuffed into a five-pound sack, but there is major love poured into it, easily making it the best Battlestar Galactica game out there.