Post-apocalyptic roguelike Neo Scavenger is one of my favorite games, but its space-themed sequel Ostranauts, currently in Early Access, is too convoluted and complicated for me. Here’s some good news: Kitfox, masters of making impenetrable roguelikes more palatable, have joined the project as publisher ahead of its planned 1.0 release in 2025.
Ostranauts is a “hardcore noir space-sim” in which you collect shipwrecks to upgrade and customize your own ship. Every system on board your ship can be interacted with via its own panel of buttons and displays, and it is inevitable that you will die due to your own incompetence or carelessness. The only hope is that death is compelling.
I’d love to create a captain, hire a crew, build a ship, and die in space, but as soon as I see a UI with 18 buttons and have no idea what they do, I’m out. Even though, aside from these quality of life issues, Nate had a lot of kind words for Ostranauts around its first launch.
Hopefully Kitfox can aid. They’re the publisher behind the recent Steam release of Dwarf Fortress, and have helped take that game from ASCII graphics and boring keyboard controls to something much friendlier without compromising the spirit or depth of the simulation. They’re also currently working on Caves Of Qud 1.0, due out later this year, a similarly unfathomable roguelike that’s been in development for the past fifteen years.
Or maybe it’s just my wishful thinking. Ostranauts is already more visual and readable than Dwarf Fortress and Caves Of Qud, and there’s no specific mention of work on making the game understandable in the announcement of the partnership with Kitfox.
In any case, I can’t wait to give Ostranauts another go after its full release. Neo Scavenger is truly brilliant: a roguelike set in a hand-crafted world where you’re just as likely to die from eating the wrong mushrooms as you are from a brutal fistfight with an alien. It has the best combat of any game released in 2014.
