Zozer Games' Hostile
Why?
A science fiction roleplaying game set in a world very much like that of the 1979 movie Alien.
A universe of hostilities - human pitted against human, human versus the environment, and of course humans versus a myriad of deadly xenos out of the imagination of HR Giger.
I can’t get into it, at all. The ambience of the game is grim, claustrophobic, smelly, terrifying. Your characters are expected to die, horribly. Your paycheck is insignificant, considering what it costs you.
Space is not a place for tourists or fortune-hunters; it is a hostile and brutal frontier, where men and women work hard, rely on nobody but themselves, risk death every day and face the Unknown. And out here the Unknown is real – it is horrific: there are rumors of the disturbing side-effects of hyperspace, of ancient horrors entombed on icy moons, and of monsters – killer aliens, perfectly evolved to survive the hostile wastes of space – at any cost.
— from Hostile
I am sorry, but while the life of a corporate roughneck, company Marine or working Joe living from paycheck to paycheck might appeal to some, I have always had the option of applying for real world jobs. The idea of playing a game where I am counting the pennies from the comfort of a bunk on board a stinking ship in the middle of nowhere, covered in grime from my shift, is something I could never truly enjoy.
Gritty and brutal are out the fashion door. Cut the throats of the edgelords; their time has come and gone. I think I’ll be looking for more uplifting settings, where the games aren’t about listing your characters’ powers, skills, and abilities in combat, but rather about who you are - your connections, your friendships, your found family. The place you call home.