Living in area appears like a claustrophobic nightmare, and Ostranauts isn’t doing a lot to alter my opinion on the matter. Billed as a “noir spaceship-life sim”, it’s the following from Neo Scavenger studio Blue Bottle Games, and set in the identical universe. Earth is totally screwed by forces each man-made and cosmic, so gamers get to handle a small ship, attempting to make ends meet in a photo voltaic system within the throes of (very) late capitalism. The game’s full nature continues to be a thriller, nevertheless it’s reminding me of The Sims, Duskers and Space Station 13. Take a peek on the teaser trailer beneath.
Ostranauts seems to be a game of equal elements mechanical, monetary and social administration. You’ve obtained practical management panels to get your ship from A to B, dock safely or handle its methods, however what goes on contained in the ship appears simply as essential. The few screenshots on its retailer and official pages are nonetheless filled with debug textual content, however attention-grabbing reams of character flavour, too. One display even reveals a drop-down menu that includes social interactions as different as ‘Dark Joke’ ‘Offer Smoke’ ‘Flirt’ and ‘Commiserate’. Ostranauts is to small-talk as Neo Scavenger was to stock administration.
As with Neo Scavenger, there will likely be a fragmented story to reassemble, however solely if you wish to. There’s bizarre issues occurring within the photo voltaic system – the form of stuff you waded by means of in Neo Scavenger – however past that the game is ruled by ‘hard-ish’ science. No FTL journey or drive fields, nevertheless it’s set far sufficient sooner or later for the remnants of mankind to reside in scattered colonies on different worlds, even when it’s a meagre existence. Ships are apparently totally modular, letting you tweak and customise their hulls, whilst you’ve simply obtained to reside with the character quirks and wishes of your AI-driven human crew.
It all sounds horribly intense, however apparently the game provides a variable time-scale with pause. You can fast-forward by means of the lengthy quiet occasions, or pause to difficulty exact instructions in the midst of a disaster. Whether it’ll be as low-stress because the builders intend (principally simply ex-Bioware man Daniel Fedor) is but to be seen. Honestly, I’m anticipating a whole lot of failure, demise and chapter earlier than I work out what’s occurring, however perhaps I’m just a bit scarred by my many Neo Scavenger deaths. The game is due out late this 12 months, though no person’s placing any form of agency date on it. Still, this one’s intriguing – I’ll be retaining shut eye on it.
You can see a bit extra of Ostranauts on Steam, or its official page here.
