Basement Preview – Don’t Mind Me, Just Setting Up A Drug Empire

Basement , developed by indie developer Halfbus, is now available as an Early Access Steam game for Mac, PC, and Linux desktops.

, developed by indie developer Halfbus, is now available as an Early Access Steam game for Mac, PC, and Linux desktops. The game launched to Early Access roughly six months after the success of its Kickstarter campaign. Basement uses simple-bit graphics on a 2D layout, and it should be noted that the game is far from complete, with Halfbus estimating a 6-8 month Early Access development cycle.

The premise follows a simple concept, kicking off as the player starts manufacturing and distributing drugs to dealers for profit from the basement of a building. The gameplay is essentially a 2D RTS, granting players a perspective that allows them to see the first floor of the building, as well as subterranean floors below. Depending on the building itself, the player can use their money to expand their operation by digging out rooms and building things of great use, such as a growing room, a cabinet to hold product, a security depot to hire thugs as bodyguards, and even a generator room to power the building, or a break room to let the workers rest and heal.

The game itself, at least in its current stage, spans across one flat city, with buildings housing dealers, a few with security depots, and most of them filled with police. Police also conduct random raids on any buildings under the player’s control, which offers a little under a minute to prepare a group of bodyguards to protect the building, or to acquire enough funds to bribe them at the door. The amount needed to pay the police rises as the player progresses and takes over more buildings, as do the number of police that get sent in on a raid. Other than this, however, there’s no real difference to the consequences between bribing or effectively fighting and killing the officers within the game, which is frankly a disappointment.

I had first thought that expanding an operation would lead to contending with a rival cartel, while the police conducted random raids on both sides to keep things fair and interesting, or would at least trigger a connection with the rival cartel that would serve the story with a little intrigue, but so far this is not the case. The fighting is also pretty simple, usually dependent on simply outnumbering the other side. Only one person can get into a fight with another, leaving the rest of the thugs and police to search for another opponent within the building, or otherwise wait until the other fight ends.

Basement is pretty solid as it stands currently, but it’s certainly unfinished and no one is claiming otherwise. Halfbus is promising to add on several features that will expand the gameplay, providing story, dialogue options, loot items, power ups, the ability to research and upgrade rooms, and random events (hopefully they add a tutorial as well). The game is currently available for $8.99 on Steamwith an eventual increase in price when the game is completed. Gamers can learn more about the development progress by following the team on Twitteror visiting their Facebookpage.