Though the years of playing games in Early Access, I’ve come across some with no promise that will almost indefinitely stay there until the end of time. Then there are the few I’ve found, like Claybook and Meeple Station, before large YouTube attention is given. Even Dead Cells hadn’t crept into my bubble before playing it. Two of those three have had some major success, either from YouTubers showing them off or Dead Cells being the equivalent of the rogue-lite drug mixed with whatever Dark Souls is made out of. I assume meth. However, Meeple Station is one outside of that large bubble of attention.

I played it back in 2018, when it was little more than a showcase of what could be. A couple of hours in, you’d almost hit a brick wall of content because it was hardly released, I don’t think it was even out for purchase at that point. Yet still, I knew where it was going: A small space station builder with limited resources, where you had to keep people (Meeple) alive. It was very similar to Spacebase DF-9, though without being abandoned by Double Fine. The focus was also to build a base out in space, mine for materials, and keep your people alive.

Though still a little rough around the edges, in the year and a half since I first played it, the game has grown. After a Kickstarter that didn’t go all that well, the developers found a publishing deal with Modularity early last year. Now, they are fully releasing Meeple Station a year and several months later. That said, there is still quite a bit of work that should be done to polish it off. The game is lacking a clear tutorial for new players, making it a little confusing to jump into. Nonetheless, Meeple Station is available on Steam for $14.99, 25 percent off the usual $19.99 until April the 17th. Alternately, you can get it DRM-free for $19.99 via Itch.io where the developer and publisher get a slightly bigger cut.

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