Though nothing is ever absolute, even the simplest overview of video games reveals a reliance on particular themes within certain genres. FPS games are typically modern or futuristic, with only rare instances of a fantasy theme used to any degree of success. On the other hand, action-RPGs often favor fantasy rather than science fiction.

Space Siege, the latest Gas-Powered Games title designed by Chris Taylor, looks to fill a void for action-RPG fans who prefer guns, grenades and aliens to bows, spells and dragons. But whether you prefer fireballs or flaming gas canisters, snarling aliens or slobbering orcs, Space Siege is a click-fest at its core, and it is that tried-and-true mechanic that should entice all breeds of action-RPG players to Space Siege.

As we loaded the first stage of the game at the recent Games for Windows: The Big Picture press event in San Francisco, a representative from SEGA, publisher of Space Siege, hovered nearby to articulate the game's incredibly deep, extraordinarily complex plot.

"The premise of Space Siege is, you've pissed off some aliens," he said.

Hey, that's deep enough for us.

"They came over and destroyed the entire planet [Earth]," he continued. "You were on the only escape ship that survived. In essence you're the last remnant of humanity. Unfortunately, some aliens climbed on board along the way, so you're fighting them off."


'You' are Seth Walker, a combat engineer with a hankering toward revenge against the alien threat that eradicated your home world. Seth begins his adventure on a metal platform occasionally painted red from the flashing alarm beacons spinning overhead. Hostility reveals itself in the forms of hulking beasts that arrive through a wide door across the room. Too vicious for preamble, the aliens quickly and easily tear through the room's terrified inhabitants immediately upon crossing the threshold.

The SMG clutched in your hands appoints you as the best man to handle this deadly situation. We slid our mouse across its plush pad, leaving our cursor dangling over the biggest of the brutes, and clamped a finger onto our left mouse button. Seth let forth a steady spray of bullets, cutting through his would-be attackers before they could turn their attention toward him. As their bodies came to rest, a spray of cogs, bolts, and other goodies showered the ground around them.

"Parts are the game's currency," explained the SEGA rep. "You use parts to upgrade weapons, your character, armor, make grenades, turrets, stuff like that."

Rather than having to manually scoop up your loot via techniques such as holding Alt and clicking each individual item, everything can be gathered at once with a quick press of the Z key. Acting like an item magnet, all the treasure littering the ground shot toward Seth even as we moved toward the open door to continue exploring our vessel.


In typical action-RPG fashion, swarms of enemies hurtled toward us from either end of a corridor as we stepped into the room. The SEGA rep advised us to mash on the 2 and 3 keys, which were mapped to area-of-effect skills. One key issued a stream of electricity that stunned some members of one mob, while another temporarily surrounded Seth with a blue pulse that quickly dispatched our adversaries.

Using these skills required a significant dose of energy, and while H was mapped to a health packs, a quick scan of the interface didn't reveal any conventional form of energy restoration.

"You regain energy by fighting enemies or by visiting a health station," the SEGA rep told us. "We wanted to avoid situations where people have to constantly stock up on energy. It's for balance, and honestly you'll end up having energy most of the time. Any time you shoot something you get energy back."

Retreating a few steps in order to force the enemies to file through the entrance rather than attack us from both sides, we again relied on our trusted left mouse button to bust a few caps. Sure enough, Seth's energy bar began to climb toward maximum capacity. Alternating between our powerful skills and gunfire to regain energy, we made quick work of the enemies before again proceeding through the entryway.

After several additional battles, we made our way to an engine room in need of some repair. Our current quest -- or assignment, if you want to stick to sci-fi-esque lingo -- involved finding three computer terminals stationed within the room. Easy enough, we though -- until a green haze settled over the screen, causing Seth's health bar to slowly sink. Holding a key to sprint allowed us to complete our task faster, and we quickly exited the vicinity after completing our task.


Venturing further down the corridor revealed a small room hidden behind sliding glass doors. Haphazardly stacked crates bordered a medical terminal that not only refilled our health and energy, but saved our progress as well.

Our demonstration reached its conclusion, but the SEGA representative volunteered to take us deeper into the game in order to showcase two additional mechanics that play pivotal roles in Space Siege: HR-V, or "Harvey," your robot companion, and cybernetic enhancements.

Our esteemed tour guide loaded a saved game that transported Seth into a medical station. Nearby was a tool bench covered with various parts and, of course, tools.

"The interesting part of the story is, you're trying to save humanity, but to do that, you might have to sacrifice your own humanity," said the SEGA rep. "You're constantly tempted with cybernetic abilities. Stuff like, 'Oh, here's a cybernetic eye. By installing this you'll have much better range.' Cybernetic arms allow you to pick up and hold certain guns. There are lots of parts you can install onto yourself along the way."

Navigating Seth toward the bench, our guide activated a panel that showed a current portrait of Seth along with a red bar at its very top. The bar, currently filled to 100, was labeled Humanity. With each cybernetic part Seth chooses to adopt, the percentage of your remaining humanity will decrease.

"When modifying cybernetics, you'll see a Humanity bar, which keeps track of how much humanity you decide to give up," explained the SEGA representative. "Early on, you get an eye, no big deal, you'll give up maybe four per cent of your humanity. Not too bad. Oh, a hand, an arm, cybernetic lungs -- those would be nice. Fix up my spine -- no more back problems! With new legs I could run faster. Hmm, it wouldn't be so bad to have a cybernetic brain. Oops, now I have only five per cent humanity remaining."


The juxtaposition of the story's emphasis on being one of the last humans in existence, but possibly needing to sacrifice that humanity in order to survive and triumph is a fascinating concept, and one that will be important not only to the game's narrative, but its gameplay as well.

"Looking at your skill tree, you'll notice you need cybernetics for certain skills," said our SEGA guide. "There are certain weapons you can't have unless you have cybernetic arms and legs because they're so heavy. The game definitely tries to push you toward cybernetics, but at the same time we don't want to be too heavy-handed about things. We give [players] a chance to dabble a bit, to try a few cybernetics."

After revamping Seth to look more like the Terminator than a flesh-and-blood mortal, our attention turned to the cyborg marching back and forth some distance away, as if protecting his master from any and all intruders. Meet HR-V, Seth's steadfast mechanical companion who gleefully shoots first and asks questions never.

The parts scattered throughout the game and dropped by enemies can not only be used to upgrade Seth's arsenal, but HR-V as well. Powerful weaponry, better armor, an inventory to call his own... HR-V is certainly useful, but his power also makes him quite an attractive target.

"If HR-V dies, there are stations scattered throughout the game where you can resurrect him," assured the SEGA rep.

Space Siege may have chosen science fiction over fantasy for its theme, but any fan of the action-RPG genre will find a lot to enjoy here. Our play session was brief, but left us eager to explore the skill tree and, especially, the game's interesting use of character enhancements.

Space Siege docks onto PC this August.