Ostranauts

As someone who had previously played and enjoyed Neo Scavenger, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what I was in for with this. I was wrong. [Story Time] After happening my first peon into existence I joking said "I'd probably lose them in like 5 minutes". I then spent the next 40ish minutes reading through all of the Ostraka in hopes of understanding the mechanics of the game (I didn't but with a bit more play I'm still glad I read it all) and thinking it would prepare me. I started the tutorial, wandered around the station, stole a few things, and eventually got myself to my ship and managed to undocked and began heading towards the starting derelict. My trajectory was fixed and I was on my way and suddenly my poor pilot is gasping for air in a compromised cabin with a wounded leg. Almost as if to welcome me to the game, 5 minutes after reading through the entire starter manual, a micro meteorite crashed into my ship, breaking my Nav computer and my crew's leg. I knew immediately I was going to like this game. In 160 hours since I have yet to encounter another micro meteorite but I will never forget my first one, ever.

con, #1 this game uses pronouns which shold not exist in games since you are born either an guy or woman period. apart from the one con being pronouns in game, if thats too much avoid the game. if not the game plays like project zomboid, but in space and is rather hard core by default settings so make sure you save before every disembark. over all the game has an mod work shop so in theory if you do not like the pronouns make an mod to remove them. this game is sill good enouh to play i give it an 6 out of 10 from what i have played so far. note 10 is perfect an i uslaly never give games an 10 so an 6 is decent if you think about it that way.

Scrapping ship

NASS dock and send me to straight into the shadow realm 10/10

Very niche game . Have very high learning curve to learn how to play.

Tl;DR at bottom. Is this game perfect? No. Is it bug free? No. Is it fun? It really is. Do I recommend it? I absolutely do, but understand the game you're buying. Game dev is often a race against the clock. The clock is measured in dollars and losing often means a bunch of people out of jobs. You can use money to purchase goods and services, like the salaries of developers, engineers, artists, community managers, etc. Investors are not an infinite money faucet, they'll eventually want a return. Early Access is a great way to slow down that clock. But at a certain point, you have to launch. To get the influx of cash and new eyeballs (who will file more bug tickets [TANSTAAFL] that a studio needs to stay in business. Bankrupt companies rarely release patches. Did BBG pull the trigger at the wrong time? Dunno, I dont know their financials or contractual obligations. I do know that this game and NEO Scavenger are obviously labors of love, built with very strong vision and dedication. These aren't asset flips. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they made the best decision they could, balancing the needs of the community and the company. I have 758 items in my library at this moment. I guarantee you, not one of them launched with a bug backlog of zero, unless they just closed them all as Will Not Do. I'd even go far to say that all of them still have bug backlogs in the dozens or hundreds, filled with Jira tickets that will never, ever be resolved. That's a fact of software development. Is the game perfectly tuned? No, there are some things I don't really like how they're implemented (fire), but it seems to be pretty easily moddable. And matters of taste like that are the perfect area for mods to cover. But, unlike most of those 758 games, Ostranauts sticks with me. It won't forever, but it's doing it hard now. I think about the game when I'm not playing it. How should I expand my ship? What am I not getting about crew? I saw that juicy derelict on my way back to OKLG, I should hit that first thing. What new mods are out? Should I build a couple mods? That sticking power is really my biggest indicator if this is a great game for me. Note, not a great game, in my opinion. But a game that is aimed well at how I engage with games. This is not a mass market appeal game. Before you buy, watch some YouTubes, take a look at their previous game NEO Scavenger, where dying while trying to stab an insane hobo with a sharpened stick is pretty much guaranteed. Also an experience in this game, but a little less common. This is a good game. It's has a strong authorial vision and direction, an engaging gameplay loop and sparks the imagination. It's got a nonzero amount of jank. If you want hyper polished, you'll probably need to skip it. It's not quite in the pantheon of Dwarf Fortress, ONI, Rimworld, etc (a genre I call 'Tragic Story Generators), but is a strong, scrappy newcomer. And I think it could really make a mark in the genre and be the type of game that really defines a genre/subgenre. TL:DR: It's a good game with some flaws and bugs, with a game play and visual style that will not click with everyone. But for those it doest, it'll be a very, very solid click. Recommend.

Really enjoying the game apart from when I notice it's gone 1am and I should have gone to sleep hours ago. Hopeful the future will bring expansion of and improvements to the game, but I've already had my money's worth from the game so just a thank you to the Dev team before signing off <3

asphyxiate to the random fire on the space station