14 DAY TRIAL // As someone who has played NEO Scavenger many years ago, I can't wait to see what Blue Bottle Games, the studio behind the survival rogue-like game, has in store for us. Publisher Modern Wolf announced that the next game coming from the UK developer Blue Bottle Games is called Ostranauts.
Just like NEO Scavenger, this one is one hell of a strange game that promises to offer unique experiences. The publisher describes Ostranauts as a noir spaceship-life sim, set in a solar system cut-off from a ravaged Earth. The game is set in the same universe as NEO Scavenger and is scheduled to arrive on PC in early 2020.
What's interesting about Ostranauts is that players will be able to design their unique spaceships, hire a crew with physical and emotional needs, and take advantage of detailed ship control panels and interiors, as they try to manage their dysfunctional crew and ship to fend off bankruptcy or worse.
The developer explains that Ostranauts is a detailed simulation of owning and living aboard a spaceship, in a solar system where honest living is a slow death sentence. As mentioned above, the game is set in the NEO Scavenger universe, where Earth has suffered cataclysmic collapse and the rest of the System lives on in a state of capitalistic dystopia.
The gameplay mechanics might sound simple enough at first glances, as players will create their captain, build or customize their starting ship from the spoils of their career history, and find ways to keep their crew in line, fuel in their tanks, food on their plates, and the debt collectors at bay.
Every ship built in the game can be unique since players can use functioning modular parts to give their ships in shape. The parts have physical properties, interact with each other, and can wear out over time. More importantly, crew members have physiological and emotional needs, ranging from basal needs like food, water, oxygen, and temperature, to more esoteric needs like privacy, security, intimacy, and esteem.
