Piloting drones to assemble space station modules can be a very frustrating job.
The puzzle genre is often subject to various biases. Often reviled as games with no depth beyond the puzzles themselves, we have lofty titles that have shown that it is possible to challenge our minds while offering us an engaging story and immersion. Portal is a benchmark that integrates puzzle solving into an exciting narrative, and that is why it is used as an example in many videogame design schools. For its part, Professor Layton’s saga takes us on an educational detective adventure with riddles for all audiences: adults, children, expert gamers and lay people in the field. Today at FreeGameTips we analyze Kosmokrats, a Windows PC title that aims to achieve a good balance between narrative, setting and ingenious gameplay, but disappointing in this last part.
Pure immersion in the Soviet space race
The Polish studio Pixel Delusion makes its debut with a work that, as you would expect from an indie, bets on its own personality and an originality in its design that stands out above the limitations of its budget. Kosmokrats is immersive from the first minute, with a sober audiovisual section that has every intention of setting us in the space race of the USSR during the Cold War. Cartoon characters whose split heads evoke the Canadians of South Park, typeface that imitates Soviet posters, a discreet soundtrack with slight distortions that makes us think of an aged record. And, above all, vintage technology that transcends the cosmetic section and moves to the game interface and gameplay, as we will see later. Its perfect Castilian localization shows a setting that is cared for down to the smallest detail. The finishing touch to this work is a keen sense of humor behind which lies a tragic story accompanied by acid political-social criticism. Thus, Soviet communism is presented to us from a satire that ridicules its errors and fondly contemplates its contributions to astronomy.
In Kosmokrats, we play a potato peeler accustomed to the constant scorn of his superiors and one day an unexpected job change falls into his lap: we will be the pilot of a drone dedicated to assembling the space station modules. Thus, our workday will consist of sitting in front of the monitor and from there controlling the assembly robot and placing the pieces correctly, a task in which all the gameplay is concentrated.
Routine and surprises of a drone pilot
With the arrows or the WASD + Intro we control the drone through space, and we will push the pieces until the inertia brings them together. Added to this are complications, such as connectors that can only be attached to those of their color, a magnet with a limited battery and the time limit for the mission, since if we exceed it we will start to go out of orbit and we will lose the game. Thus, each phase will last a maximum of about 5 minutes, so the succession between puzzles and narrative sequences will take place in a very dynamic way. It is also worth mentioning the transitions between mission and mission, where not only will cinematics take place: in our workplace, we are the ones who decide when to start the mission. Whether we want to spend 10 minutes looking out the window or playing a computer game —and we emphasize the joke of playing a game within a game—, until we press “start mission”, we will not continue with our journey.
In addition, in each phase we will have a series of conditions that will give each mission freshness. Assemble the puzzle while avoiding the cosmonauts, assemble the module and kidnap an engineer, try not to damage the potato reserves, etc. The additional conditions to each mission will not only serve as an incentive for an extra score, but will also form part of a very interesting decision system that, instead of choosing dialogues, will be given in our commitment to work and excellence in our fulfillment. of homework.
At the end of each mission, we will be given a summary of our performance, and neglect of optional objectives will result in punishments such as reduced food rations or suspension of pay for a few weeks. These consequences have a certain logic within the decision making implicit in the way we play: or can we expect a generous supply of potatoes when we have destroyed all the reserves?
The problems of gamifying zero gravity
With our pay, we can buy supplements for our work corner, or the food ration with which to keep hunger at bay without sabotaging our performance. Likewise, the progress of the story will lead us to decisions that alter events and lead us to new conditions during the assembly of modules. There will also be events that will force us to choose a sacrifice in favor of the regime and that will add a handicap to our game or, on the other hand, we will opt for an improvement that will make the day more bearable.
In addition, there is a difficulty selector that allows you to adapt the game to veterans of the puzzle genre and not so experienced players. Thus, Kosmokrats has all the ingredients that would make it a very special game: an interesting narrative, an excellent immersion, a decision system that involves the player without falling into explicit dialogue choices, a fresh level design, a humor that we It will make you think from laughter … But its great defect is the design of the mechanics itself.
We understand Kosmokrats intention to offer a realistic experience of what it is like to work in outer space. We understand that Pixel Delusion wants to offer a fair challenge, which forces the player to react quickly without losing caution. We also understand that perhaps the intention of the creators is to convey the feeling of dissatisfaction of an employee who has not received adequate training for an unsatisfactory job. Nonetheless, Kosmokrats would work infinitely better if the gameplay weren’t so frustrating.
Of course we are in space, and that zero gravity is a stumbling block that we must constantly deal with, and without this the title would lose all its charm. When we push a piece, we must bear in mind that it will not stay where we estimate, much less where we calculate. And sometimes you will be left in a very uncooperative position for our project. This is where the problem lies: in a constant sense of clumsiness and uncontrol that will drive us crazy until we complete the task, because even after getting used to zero gravity, dealing with it will always be a pain. Regardless, every mission is doable, even if we want to meet the extra requirements. But the process is so thankless that we will only feel like ending the game with each phase. It also does not help, in addition, that we cannot unhook the pieces, so if we have made an irreparable error we must wait until the counter reaches zero. After approximately 10 hours of play, and despite having enjoyed a video comedy that explores communism with affection and criticism, we will firmly press “Yes” each time the game asks us: “Do you really really want to go out?” ? ” when wanting to close session.
CONCLUSION
Kosmokrats is a puzzle made up of several pieces and one of them is defective. Its narrative is a delight: a story that tells the tragedy of the Soviet space race in a humorous way, an acid humor that criticizes the mistakes of the USSR and contemplates with affection its advances in astronomy. His immersion cared for in the smallest detail makes us feel inside the anodyne and dangerous life of the potato peeler who has been promoted to drone pilot. His decision making, integrated into our form of place, seems to us an intelligent proposal, as well as the originality of his puzzles in zero gravity. However, the gameplay is precisely what detracts from the whole set by being so unsatisfactory.
THE BEST
- An excellent dive.
- A decision system very well integrated into the way we play.
WORST
- Zero gravity, while well-intentioned, makes gameplay frustrating.
- Not being able to unhook the pieces once they are in place.
Improvable
It may have acceptable elements and be entertaining, but overall it’s an experience that won’t leave a mark.
