I make it no secret that I am a big fan of Jump Space. I was immediately intrigued when we started first charting its development back when it was called Hyperspace, and my interest only deepened as I streamed its demo a couple of times on OPTV when it named itself Jump Ship.

Now, with its new and final name of Jump Space, my eagerness and excitement for this self-described “co-op PvE space adventure” game has hit new heights after having spent some time in the game’s early access build thanks to some press access provided by developer Keepsake Games. I can say with almost complete confidence that this is one of the few early access titles that feels feature complete right from the very beginning.

For those who aren’t familiar, Jump Space sees players cast in a sci-fi world where humanity has been widely scattered across the universe after the ravages of a deadly technological virus that has afflicted machines and turned them against people. The general objective is to find a way to join with a resistance force and to ultimately end the threat.

The opening beats of the game immediately starts with a single-player tutorial section, which does a pretty good job of both setting the scene of the game and helping you come to grips with the various plates that you have to keep spinning, such as repair and rearming a ship, flight, combat both from the ship’s cockpit and in on-foot FPS action, and transitioning between all three of these activities.

It all focuses on the finding and use of a resource known as materia, which is primarily used to craft various components from within the ship such as ammunition, repair kits, shield restoration items, and more. On top of gathering materia to build items, there are a variety of other duties while aboard the ship, such as arranging components on a power grid in a Tetris-like fashion, using a scanner station to identify targets, and manually putting out fires or repairing damaged components both within and without the ship.

As for on-foot, that’s almost entirely combat-focused, requiring you to leap from the ship and aboard derelict spacecraft, space stations, or bases on planetary surfaces, all while completing an assortment of mission objectives all through the run. Missions are often broken up into multiple parts that have some slightly branching paths, and random events like meteor storms, enemies interrupting a jump out of an area, or finishing tasks within a time limit all provide additional wrinkles.

As far as progression, the build I got to play made a few changes here. Previously you could simply level up and spend earned currency to unlock a new space suit, but that grade has gotten a little bit steeper, as now there are small NPC quests that require you to fill up some wanted material requirements to unlock things. It’s not as easy as it used to be, but it also didn’t feel quite so oppressive to make it feel like a slog, at least in the early stages.

Other additions that came to my notice from the demo build made similarly welcome impact. There were a few new mission objective types that sprang up as I made some runs. Any on-foot weapons that were found remained in my inventory, where before they would be taken away when a mission was finished. The helpful AI companion, a robot named Buddy, was also significantly improved, with better aim on turrets, the ability to better manage and gather resources, and also the ability to follow along and provide impressive combat support when I was on foot. More than before, this game does feel as if it can be played solo.

That said, the fact that Jump Space feels tailor made for multiplayer co-op is impossible to ignore. I was able to take my best friend Britarnya along on some missions together, and we almost immediately fell into our roles and worked together beautifully, even as we were faced with some all-new wrinkles to our missions. As a twosome, we felt both in control but also harried in the best way possible, with communication being incredibly important.

Furthermore, teaming up feels extremely rewarding, as mission progress and completion was automatically shared between the two of us, as were any component unlocks, ship unlocks, or currencies. All without forcing us to engage in a menu to ensure missions were synced. About the only thing that’s individualized is what ship components are upgraded, as those are specific to the host, who is designated as the captain. I can’t speak for whether this shared progress is aligned for those who are further back or forward in the general story portion and its successive feature unlocks like ship relics, so you’ll have to perhaps bear this in mind.

So yes, this game can be played solo, but in my experience, doing that can often feel a lot slower than playing with others. It’s not impossible, but I really think Jump Space needs a human crew. That’s not a big issue for me personally since I’ve got a friend group that loves this kind of stuff, but for those who don’t have that sort of good fortune, the recommendation of the game comes with that little asterisk of expectation. Solo players may be welcome, but you should probably be aware that Buddy can only do so much so swiftly.

That caveat is really about all I can point out as a mark against this game’s current early access build, honestly. It otherwise is the perfect co-op sci-fi internet spaceship game that I’ve been absolutely feral for. The gunplay feels solid without being too floaty or soft, the movement from objective to objective and ship to ground and back is so clean, and the feeling of nailing tasks is unmatched.

What’s more, the game’s proposed roadmap for updates makes me feel like Jump Space can only move from strength to strength, adding things like first-person view when piloting a ship, plans to make sensor use a bit more involved, and a lobby browser to hopefully make it easier for players to find one another and crew up, though I still have some trepidation about that considering getting known friends together really seems like the best way to enjoy this one in multiplayer to its absolute fullest.

I absolutely cannot wait for when this game starts its early access run on September 19th. I will be watching this one with great interest. As well as playing it pretty ravenously, if I’m honest. Unless this game’s initial release is a dumpster fire of server problems (which can happen because online gaming), I cannot recommend this one enough, even as an early access game. Just make certain you’ve got the right people to play with.

Early access MMOs are a minefield of underdeveloped releases and almost immediate buyer’s remorse. That’s where Massively OP’s Progress Bar comes in: It’s Chris Neal’s monthly look at developing online multiplayer early access games – and whether they’re worth your money and attention.