Review Fix Exclusive: Inside ‘Dreadnought’

Review Fix chats with Peter Holzapfel, Game Director at YAGER, who lets us know why the spaceship game “Dreadnought” is worth your attention.

About Dreadnaught:



Developed for the PlayStation®4 system by lead-developer YAGER and Iron Galaxy Studios under the direction of Six Foot and Grey Box, Dreadnought puts players in command of massive, powerful spaceships at the center of tactical team battles across a variety of competitive online multiplayer game modes. There are more than 50 playable vessels, each of which can be customized with a range of weapons, modules and cosmetic upgrades. There are five ship classes, specializing in vital roles like frontline assault, long-range bombardment, strategic support and more.

Dreadnought is currently in closed beta on Windows PC and will eventually fully launch as a free-to-play title on both Windows PC and the PlayStation®4 system. For additional updates as development progresses, please follow Dreadnought on Facebook, Twitter and Twitch.

Review Fix: When did the initial idea for this game come to you?

Peter Holzapfel: Mathias Wiese, one of the YAGER company owners as well as the initial Art Director for Dreadnought, had been toying with the idea of a big spaceship game for a long time, almost since the original YAGER. In late 2012, this turned into early prototypes that triggered the interest of Six Foot and Grey Box; it already showed a lot of potential. We then refocused Dreadnought and showed our first 5v5 core gameplay prototype at E3 2014 and got great feedback from the press as well as a couple of nominations, so we knew that we were on to something.

Review Fix: What games inspired this one?

Holzapfel: The main inspiration came from movies and TV shows. Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, Star Wars, Firefly, you name it. There are a lot of great shows and movies out there that feature big spaceships, but not a lot of games that do it in the same fun way, and we felt that it was about time to change that.

In terms of gameplay, Dreadnought is very unique. One of the main pillars of the game is to give it depth, but also to keep it accessible. So we looked at a lot of games that have those traits. For me personally, Team Fortress 2 served as an inspiration, just because I love the emergent gameplay that comes from the classes being very distinct, and creating matches that feel fresh every time. I also like that it caters to very different player types;, everybody can find their role, no matter if it’s tactical positioning, support or fast action. We then added the things we really like about spaceships, namely the different modules: from missiles to fighter launching bays to warp jumps, to the skills of the crew members and the energy management. And suddenly it felt really good and our team still plays Dreadnought every day…

Review Fix: What do you play for fun when you’re not developing?

Holzapfel: Although saying Dreadnought sounds cheesy, I actually do play the game for fun. Not only because its our game, but also because I like to see what players do with it, what kind of strategies they come up with that we (or at least I) had never thought about. On top of that, I like to play smaller games that have an interesting twist, like Superhot or Inside. I also still have some bigger games on my shelf that I do not dare to touch at the moment, just because I know that I will get lost in them…

Review Fix: What has development been like?

Holzapfel: I would say challenging but fun. Turning big spaceships into fun gameplay was an interesting creative challenge and it was very cool to work on it with this very talented team. Once we figured it out, it felt really good to expand on it and push the limits. But we also underestimated how much effort it is to get the game into a state where it’s ready for players to go into Open Beta and have enough content to support it – which is why we are a bit later than we initially hoped we would be.

Review Fix: With all the competition on the indies and PS4 now, how difficult was it for you guys to try and make something that stood out?

Holzapfel: This is a passion project, it´s not that we sat down and looked at what’s there already and then did something that fits. This was more of a “big spaceships are amazing, why is there no game that lets me play big spaceships so that its pure fun?” So standing out came very naturally – and we hope that players love it as much as we do.

Review Fix: Who do you think will enjoy this game the most?

Holzapfel: Players that like big spaceships. Players that like variety and customization. Players that like competitive team play. Players that like deliberate, intense and tactical gameplay and are not only focused on purely Twitch based games. Dreadnought has a lot of action, but you don’t need to play 10 hours a day to be able to compete. You can think about how you want to go into battle and which ship you want to bring. And if you coordinate as a team, it’s even better.

Review Fix: Bottom line, why must someone play this game?

Holzapfel: Big spaceships are awesome and fun – and we have them all, from Galactica-sized to Millennium Falcon-sized. Try them and you will see…

Review Fix: How do you want this game to be remembered?

Holzapfel: As the game that made spaceships cool, the game that skyrocketed into players’ minds and stayed there for a long time.

Review Fix: What are your goals for this game?

Holzapfel: The plans are stored right next to the construction plans for the Death Star….No seriously, there is still a lot of things we want to do for Dreadnought, from PvE to adding new game modes, to leagues, to things we haven’t even thought about yet…we want to keep growing the game together with our community to infinity and beyond.