Steam Deck Status Unknown!Astronaut: The Best is a management game where you become the director of a space academy. It’s not for those who shy away from challenges, that’s for sure. As soon as you start playing, you will notice that this game’s world values eccentricity over competence. What’s there not to love about that?
The game’s unique nature both intrigued and frustrated me as I worked to train a diverse group of aspiring astronauts. But in a world where I don’t need to be competent, where everything looks pretty wild, and I just have to act like I know what I’m doing (like our own parliament), there’s an awful lot to love.
Space Academy Council of Weird
Getting told you will be running a space academy is an exciting and unique experience. As the director of the Royal Space Academy, players must train astronauts for space travel. Sure, it’ll be challenging at times, but that’s what you get for being the boss. And to help make it challenging, you also have a council who wants to run the place without actually running the place. You know, so that when the shit hits the fan, it’s not on them because they’re not actually in charge.
Every task is complicated by the fact that the council of five eccentric characters supervises the training process. Each has their own views on how the academy should be run. They’re not always right, they’re not always helpful, and they’re regularly in your way.
Each astronaut’s training contributes to the overall challenge, and pleasing the council members requires balancing their individual preferences. Sadly, you can’t just go full dictator and fire them all and run the place yourself. That’d just be too easy.
Are you prepared to train astronauts?
The main focus of the game is to gather a diverse team of astronauts that are randomly generated, each with their own unique and often amusing characteristics. These traits can greatly affect the outcome of missions and tasks, adding an element of unpredictability that keeps the gameplay interesting.
From encountering space pirates to dealing with mischievous members of royalty, every recruit brings something unexpected to the table. And I’m fairly certain that a lot of them aren’t actually qualified to be an astronaut, but what do I know? I’m only the space academy director.
As you progress through the story in the academy, your role becomes more complex. You’ll need to train, grovel, lie (you’re a director; did you expect anything different?), and even use witchcraft to succeed in the game. It’s not all easy, as the game relies heavily on chance. And like with us real people, you might be trained to do a particular task, but mistakes can still happen, causing tasks to fail. It can be frustrating, but I quite liked that element, as you can’t just train someone up to be perfect.
After a few runs, you’ll have a good idea of what to expect each day and how to react to the most challenging events. Each cadet has five stats associated with the five gods: Piloting, Procedure, Fitness, Charm, and Beauty. By improving these stats, you can trigger related events at the end of the day, and each one is delightfully absurd in its own unique way.
Choice-driven storytelling and strategic decision-making
This is a game that combines storytelling and strategic decision-making mechanics. The game’s management and training features are seamlessly integrated into the chaotic world, offering a satisfactory experience. The game also includes witchcraft, which adds a layer of whimsy and strategy to the gameplay.
The controls are simple and easy to use. Players can navigate their astronauts through various missions with ease. You’ll encounter challenges such as ravenous tabloids, magical upper management, and mysterious metaverse-spanning mysteries.
It has style and humour. I’m not entirely sure the roguelite aspect needs to exist, but I’m also not mad that it does exist. The writing in the story is interesting and features exciting plot twists, but the game requires players to use a currency to access additional items and modifiers. The cadets enhance their charisma by sipping tea at a lengthy, unoccupied table. Their spacesuits feature a large oval compartment designed for holding their equipment.
Additionally, the game features an overarching TV show, which is rather amusing. Television presenters appear to be a collection of abstract shapes of people.
The entire experience is filled with twisted and peculiar elements that make it truly unique and enjoyable. It’s full of laughs – some of the time, it’s down to how ridiculous the whole situation is. You’re training astronauts, and there’s magic. Things are going to get pretty wild.
Conclusion
Astronaut: The Best is a delightful space adventure game with quirky management mechanics that encourage players to embrace the absurd. If you’re not ready for that, then I don’t know what to tell you other than you should be.
Creating Heroes is not an easy task, and this example is no exception. The training involves individuals with skills in flying, murder, and addiction. It should be noted, too, that this is not a game that is suitable for children. There are a few references that I had to re-read because I did not expect what was said. It can be quite shocking, but it’s fun and does add some humour to it if you like a bit of dark humour. It’s an edgy kind of storytelling that I appreciate.
Although it might not appeal to everyone’s taste, I believe players will find a lot of entertainment in the absurd humour of this game. And if fortune smiles upon you, you will embark on a quest to launch a rocket filled with unconventional astronauts into space and have a good laugh along the way. What more could you want?
I rate Astronaught: The Best a respectable 8/10. Now go buy it on Steam. You know you want to.
A code was kindly provided for us to review this.
