Desperately repair your failing spacecraft in Tin Can

Do you really like diagnosing tech support issues and failed hardware components while your life is on the line? Do you also really, really enjoy the 1995 Tom Hanks movie Apollo 13? Because I enjoy both and developer William Burke has pretty much tailor-made Tin Can specifically for me.

Tin Can is a survival simulation game, but instead of placing you in a vast open world it puts you in a very small one. There has been some kind of disaster during your space travel, and you find yourself in a hopelessly outdated "Medusa Class escape pod" with "nothing more than your skills and limited knowledge of technology." You quickly have to break out the pod's manual, which exists both in-game and out of game, in order to learn how the pod's systems work—like figuring how to change out the storage tanks on the atmosphere regulation for fresh ones from the CO2 scrubber.

An image from video game Tin Can.

(Image credit: Tin Can Studio)

Then stuff starts breaking. You start cannibalizing parts from one system to another just to stay alive. The reactor core temperature dips and you cut the lights to save power, then the computers, so you don't even notice when the atmosphere processor breaks down. Then you're dead, and you start all over again. It's a glorious representation of the heart-gripping terror that accompanies any technical malfunction in space.

"I spent the last ten years dreaming about a space game that would have a more micro approach," Burke told PC Gamer in an email exchange, "Something that would make me feel like I do when I watch the movie Apollo 13. We didn't want to have the player press a key to fix an entire system, but rather open panels and start taking parts apart. This is what we are going for."

An image from video game Tin Can.

(Image credit: Tin Can Studio)

Tin Can released into Early Access on October 29th after a year and a half of development and has had positive reception from players so far. It's fairly basic at the moment: Though understanding the systems and their parts is complex, the only goal is to survive as long as you can on either Normal or Hardcore difficulty. For reference, it usually takes me about 20 minutes to die.

"Now that the concept is set, we are hoping to have enough success to push it further," said Burke, "Have people join me to build a bigger team, and add major updates every month." Coming updates will bring more to Tin Can, like a way to get rescued and a tutorial. (It's easiest to just learn the game by reading the manual and going into the immortal Sandbox mode.)

You can find Tin Can on Steam in Early Access for $15, as well as on its official website, tincanthegame.com.

Contributor

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.

Latest in Sim
An ancient, angry stone mech from No Man's Sky's new Relics update
No Man’s Sky lets you unearth ancient, angry mechs in the astro-archaeology filled Relics update
Dwarf Fortress adventure mode art
After 23 years of making Dwarf Fortress, even its creator is still 'terrified' of drowning all his dwarves with aquifers: 'Part of the problem is we are just not good at videogames'
Tarn Adams, who cofounded Bay 12 Games with his brother Zach, talks about their single-player simulation game "Dwarf Fortress" during an interview at their home office in Poulsbo, Washington, west of Seattle, on December 9, 2022. - A cult favorite among indie game fans, "Dwarf Fortress" has been available for purchase on the Steam online store since December 6, a first for this title that has been distributed for free since its debut in 2006. The real-time management game, set in a medieval-fantasy world and involving overseeing a group of dwarves seeking to build a mighty fortress, has climbed to the fourth best-selling weekly title on Steam. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP) (Photo by JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)
Dwarf Fortress' creator is so tired of hearing about AI: 'Press a button and it writes a really sh*tty, wrong essay about something—and they still take your job'
Decorations in TCG Card Shop Simulator
TCG Card Shop Simulator finally adds the ability to decorate our stores, and suddenly all my profits are being spent on adorable Pigni posters
A person on a snowmobile riding a track in the forest in game Sledders.
Powder enthusiasts seem pretty pleased with new physics-based realistic snowmobile sim Sledders
Dean Hall at GDC 2025.
Outer space inspired DayZ's Dean Hall to become a modder and game developer, and now he's making a Kerbal successor called Kitten Space Agency
Latest in News
Collection of products to illustrate potential Amazon Prime Day deals
I'm collecting the best Amazon Spring Prime Day PC gaming deals like a bargain-hunting treasure goblin
A screenshot from SaGa Frontier 2, showing one of the protagonists wandering through a quaint fantasy village
One of Square Enix' most underrated PlayStation-era JRPGs just shadow dropped on Steam
The titular character from Princess Mononoke is depicted riding the wolf goddess Moro and carrying a spear.
Studio Ghibli AI image trend floods social media, cheered on by OpenAI and denounced by critics as an insult to Hayao Miyazaki
Marvel Rivals tier list - Wolverine
Marvel Rivals director says a future patch will reduce the shooter's insatiable hunger for RAM: 'It's a very big problem'
Hogwarts Legacy potions professor holding a potion
An unannounced Hogwarts Legacy expansion and 'definitive edition' have reportedly been cancelled
Story of Seasons - A cahacter in a purple tuxedo stands outside in a town square talking to the player
Story of Seasons is doing another Harvest Moon remake and it might be the best the series has ever looked