Astronaut: The Best Review (PC)

Kazuma Tallxeng is good at potential and a very charming person, good qualities for an aspiring space traveler. She is also taking drugs called ragers in an effort to quickly gain strength. Unfortunately, after some intense training sessions, her stress level is high. So, she gets the day off to avoid an injury, although I consider using a charm to magically reduce all her stress.

But Ogwalford, who is specializing in piloting, Marjuoryley, who is focused on fitness, and Valenstrom, a newcomer with potential in beauty, are all heading to their respective training rooms. Two of them need to be physically capable enough to take part in a boxing match and win it at the end of the week. They all need to be ready to get to space and then return to Lustria to confirm its superpower status.

Before training, I also make a sacrifice to appease one of the five priests that lead our nation. After the sessions take place, I have to refuse Marjoryley’s request to search for treasure, a consequence of now removing her pirate trait as soon as possible. Money is running low, so I plan to give all my astronauts the next day off and I will try to gain more favor with the gods to get more funds next week.

Astronaut: The Best is developed and published by Universal Happymaker. I played the game on the PC using Steam. It mixes management, role-playing, and humor in some unique ways.

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The action takes place in a country called Lustria, a theocracy that believes in the favor of the gods but also has the tech to try and send people to space. Players become the leader of the space program, in charge of training a stable of astronauts as they prepare for the ultimate adventure. There’s no need to worry about the hardware, this is a universe where individual attributes will decide who discovers the mysteries of the cosmos.

Astronaut: The Best manages to walk a fine line between parody and earnestness and that allows it to comment on the real world while delivering some truly weird narrative moments. One of the high priests suggests making a rocket fully transparent, which is pretty insane. An astronaut-in-training talks about upgrading the simulator but only in terms of graphics. Players can choose how to solve these dilemmas, but the consequences are sometimes surprising. Not all the zaniness lands but I appreciate the effort.

A day in the life of a space program manager involves choosing training for all those preparing to explore space. Each type of session affects one of their five attributes, and the actual activity only involves pressing a button while paying attention to their level of stress. Training also reveals more about personalities and quirks, some of which can have a big impact. A market offers a variety of items that can, in turn, power magic rituals.

These will allow gamers to curry favor with the five head priests or eliminate stress for personnel, to make sure they can endure more training. Pay attention to the flow of money, which is mostly affected by the approval of the leading religious figures. To get on their good side, one sometimes has to say yes to some weird things. When a launch takes place, gamers choose their crew, and the game throws many challenges at them. Both a well-rounded group and some luck are needed to defeat gravity, achieve an objective, and then make it back with everyone alive.

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Astronaut: The Best is built on scenarios, all of them featuring space exploration, each adding a unique challenge. Players are encouraged to play through them repeatedly, gaining glory depending on how well they work toward their objectives. Glory is then converted into coins that can be used between scenarios to open up extra options to influence traits, remove them, and improve stress and reputation management.

The game creates a constant sense of tension because it’s impossible to control all variables before engaging with each scenario’s big challenge. Don’t be afraid to invest every resource and try to keep the priests as satisfied as possible. Even a well-trained astronaut with almost no stress can fail, bringing shame to Lustria and forcing players to try again. Succeeding when the odds are low is exhilarating and allows players to experience the very fun epilogue.

Despite the procedurally assured variety, the gameplay loop can become repetitive as gamers hunt for more glory to turn into coins. I also felt the game should have provided extra ways to interact with the astronauts and guide their development. But if the premise feels engaging, the game works hard to keep players immersed.

Astronaut: The Best has an interesting presentation, a chunky and cartoon-like look that’s the right fit for its alternative universe. The five priests reveal their priorities through clothing and color, the television programs evo0ke the ‘50s effortlessly, and the training sequences don’t follow any real-world logic. The interface is easy to learn and makes it simple to quickly go through a daily routine and find all info required to make the best decisions.

The sound design is a bit less successful. The game does not feature voice acting, which is not a problem by itself. But I don’t like the gibberish that characters spew during dialogue sequences. The soundtrack is a nice surprise, adding to the immersion while emphasizing the sense of discovery that feels right given the space exploration theme.

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The Good

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Conclusion