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Title: Astronaut : The Best
Developer: Universal Happymaker
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What type of game is it?
Text Based Choose-Your-Own Adventure Game. Management Sim?
What’s the 30 second elevator pitch?
Lead your nation’s space race while juggling the team’s flawed personalities and appeasing the five living gods; throw the boxing match for profit from the god of gold, but risk being put to death for dissolving your nations honour.
What do we like most about it?
I actually played the demo for this (which you can find on the game’s Kickstarter page) before I wrote up this post – as I had a few moments spare. While the actions/decisions being played out through a small rocket diagram did a vastly weaker job than simply having the narration present, the vast majority of the demo was rapturous.
For each playthrough the astronauts have different statistics and traits – which can change and be revealed as you play. Each event in the game tests against a certain statistic, with a chance probability and a reward probability. For example, on Tuesday you send two astronauts to the fairground, three tests are then rolled which will run a probability against their stats and traits, all faux televised and entertainingly narrated.
It’s the textual flair, and the lack of repetition that really bring the game together. On my first playthrough -at said fairground- one of my astronauts got a boost to success because of the disgusting appearance of my other astronaut, meanwhile the ugly one developed a trait that made them think they were a werewolf, and so got a massive boost themselves. The latter still failed a test however, as another trait of his was tied to him being exceptionally short – and the sight of the rollercoaster filled him with remorse and resentment at never being able to ride it.
I highly recommend anyone with an interest in game narrative, or choose-your-own adventure games give this quirky gem’s demo a look in, and possibly even back it on Kickstarter too.
When’s it due?
Astronauts: The Best is currently listed for launch in late 2017, with the Kickstarter indicating fullfillment in November of that year. It’s planned to launch on Windows PC, Mac, and Linux.
