This is a game that's been showing up in my YouTube feed for a while now, so I decided to check it out. And since it's so simple I decided to do some achievement videos for it. It's basically a cosmic game of bumper cars, where you start as a lowly meteorite trying to grow into larger and larger astronomical bodies, eventually becoming one of the largest stars in the universe.
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Relationship to reality was not a design priority. |
The rules are simple: pick on smaller astronomical bodies to absorb their mass while avoiding larger ones that can destroy you. When you collide with another object, you take damage (reducing your mass) but also deal damage. Bodies smaller than you are generally destroyed in a single collision, and the mass you absorb from their leftover debris usually results in a net gain despite the mass you lose from the collision. Bodies the same size as you may have to be hit multiple times to destroy them, and often the mass gain ends up being a wash. And then at every stage of evolution there will be some larger entities from the next category up that you really want to avoid.
Once you gain enough mass you evolve to the next stage. The various evolution stages are meteorite, asteroid, dwarf planet, rocky planet, gas giant, dwarf star, star, giant star, supergiant star, neutron star, and black hole. When you evolve you get to choose from one of three different special powers - or you can forgo a power if you think you're badass enough (or are trying to get the related achievement). From rocky planet through giant star you also have the ability to capture smaller bodies and have them orbit you. You can then use them strategically to collide into and damage other bodies, saving you the mass loss of colliding yourself. Several of the evolution powers deal with this mechanic.
So let's deal with the elephant in the room right off - the game is short, and replayability is limited. It's not out of the question that you might complete the game on your first try, and a full run generally takes 30 minutes or less. After completing it once you'll probably go back and play it again a handful of times - trying out different evolution powers, different strategies, or trying to get some of the achievements. But it honestly won't take long before you've exhausted the game's charms. After that it becomes the kind of game that you'll pull out once in a blue moon when you're in the mood for some mindless arcade fun.
The mechanics of the game are fine if a bit wonky. Gravity does exist, but unlike the real world it is neither reliable nor predictable. Bodies will tend to be drawn towards one another, but often they don't automatically collide or orbit each other like you would expect (they way they usually behave would have Newton spinning in his grave). The worst part though is that just because you're the closest object to some debris doesn't mean that you'll absorb it. Sometimes you'll do the work of colliding with and destroying an object, but even though you're right in the middle of the resulting debris it will make a beeline for another body nearby. At least it works both ways, and sometimes you can snake debris from other bodies in return.
As mentioned above, the final evolution is a black hole. Once you absorb enough mass in this stage you get one of the endings for the game. I'm a little disappointed they didn't take this concept further. Instead of ending with black hole, I would have liked to see you move from a star to larger astronomical features - nebulas, globular clusters, dwarf galaxies, spiral galaxies, galaxy clusters, superclusters, and so forth, with perhaps the goal being to build the observable universe. An alternate choice could still lead you down the black hole path, perhaps progressing to supermassive black hole and then with the goal of causing the Big Crunch and destroying the universe. Alas, I'm not holding out hope for that. Although the title screen does say "beta" on it, I'm not holding my breath that there will be any substantive updates to the game in the future. It's obviously the work of an independent developer. It is what it is and that's fine.
What of the production values? The graphics are quite competent and do their job well. While there is only a single background track that plays during the game, I will say it is excellent and somehow perfectly sets the mood. In particular though I love the black holes that appear at the end of the game. When they absorb another object there is an understated but satisfying "thud" sound that plays. There's also a visual distortion effect that I assume is a representation of gravity waves, which is a nice touch. My only complaint is that black holes can't absorb one another, so usually once two of them appear they will eventually get stuck together. It would have been nice if they combined and formed a larger black hole with more powerful gravity that became a bigger threat, suitable for the final stages of the game.
Is the game ultimately worth it? As always measures of value are subjective. As I write this the game is selling for $3.99 on Steam. If the game sounds interesting to you and that amount, being less than a coffee these days, means nothing to you, then sure, go ahead and get it. As it is I would honestly wait until it's on sale. I feel $1.99 is a little more in line with what it actually has to offer. Remember that Vampire Survivors was originally $2.99, and it had far more content and replayability even at launch. But again, maybe quibbling over two dollars is not worth it.
There are only five achievements for the game and I've put together a playlist of how to get all of them. Three of the achievements involve playing the game all the way through, so I felt a separate walkthrough video was redundant:
