Not all AIs are evil, at least, ones in fiction aren’t. In Jitter, an upcoming indie sci-fi exploration game, you play as an AI plugged into a spaceship. Tasked with taking care of your crew and your ship, it’s safe to say that you’re probably not evil. Well, maybe a little evil; we simply don’t know yet. What we do know is that Jitter has just been unveiled and it’s looking like a tasty mashup of FTL and Noita.
Nestled among the Main Asteroid Belt, Jitter sees you take over all the systems of a spaceship as you scoot about undertaking missions for the mining colony you call home. This sci-fi space game combines space exploration and combat with a pixelated physics model where every bump and bit of damage causes chunks to crumble away, melting your ship and whatever it hits. Think of it like Noita with spaceships and you won’t be far away from hitting the mark.
Created by Ukranian developer Berko Games, Jitter doesn’t limit you to just one kind of spaceship. Instead, you’ll be customizing your ship for every mission you undertake and the regions you find yourself in. Need guns? Then you can load up. Need to slim down to slip into a narrow mineshaft? Then you can re-orient your ship into something a little less chunky. Whatever your needs, from lightning-fast vessels to waddling cargo carriers, you’ll be able to attach or detach modules to best achieve your mission goals.
Your most precious cargo, however, is your human crew with each having their own personalities and abilities which will affect how you play. This is where Jitter has the most overlap with FTL, as you’ll rely on your crew to engage enemy boarders or man subsystems to keep your ship flying right. Or they can simply serve you as flotsam, should you need to jettison crew modules to make a quick getaway.
You’ll also be managing your systems, ensuring oxygen gets to your crew and everything continues to work. If something breaks down, it’ll be on your to recycle the wreckage and repurpose it into something useful, especially as there’ll be precious few places to stop and resupply when you’re heading into the vast depths of outer space. It can be lonely out in space, after all.
With a gloriously green lo-fi 1-bit monochrome art style and a huge potential for space exploration and ship customization, Jitter looks like it’s taking the next step into a universe that FTL opened the warp gate to.
There’s no release date for Jitter just yet but you can head over to Steam to add it to your wishlists and get ready to blast off.
Alternatively you can take a peek at other small bundles of joy with our guide to the best indie games you can play on PC. You can also keep your eyes firmly on the future with our guide to all the best upcoming games for 2024 and beyond.
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