Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor

There are many reviews for this game and all of them seem to struggle with adequately explaining it or making a convincing argument about what it all means. This is understandable because nothing in the game really means anything. There's no such point like "obtain the chalice of resolution!"; it's not that simple. Spaceport Janitor is, largely, a representation of life and, in that regard, it's what you make of it. You take on the role of a service industry employee, charged with maintaining the grounds of the spaceport in which they live. While there is a small degree of UBI, your pay is semi-performance based. However, even if you work from dawn till dusk and exhaust the capacity of your tools at the highest speed, you will struggle to even pay for your food in this largely hyper-capitalist airport city. Needing to resort to eating chalk or what you find on the ground, your money is further stretched by having some degree of gender dysphoria and being routinely shaken down by the cops. The world-building is surprisingly thought-out. There's the surface-level items like a pantheon of gods to pray and light incense to (who are all aspects of specific concepts and events). There's the mid-level items, like the city being both culturally consistent and distinct with its architecture, inhabitants, festivals and superstitions. The music is also generally enjoyable, but with this kind of under-layer of being just slightly off or dysfunctional, the same way that the city itself seems exhibit those traits. But there's also another layer that you can't really get until you spend time really analysing items. For instance: You are Alaensee, and it seems like though various item descriptions that the Alaensee are stereotypically grand warriors fighting the monsters of the universe, richly rewarded for doing so. Therefore, you are a complete anomaly for being the very antithesis of your people and not wanting to have anything to do with that. There's a number of subtle storytelling fragments that are well considered and, I'm sure, overlooked by the majority of players who just wonder why you keep getting cussed out for being a janitor -- which is pretty representative of the custodial trade. Objectively, the game is about the fact that you get cursed and are passively working on a way to get uncursed, but subjectively the game is about surviving in what is a generally inhospitable, self-interested society and seeing what general fortunes or misfortunes can be had each day. It's worth it for the vibe and general experience, especially on sale. And while some of the achievements sure are annoying, it's a doable 25 hours to perfect if that's the kind of thing that interests you. My recommendation is positive.