Out There: Ω Edition 4+

A pretty choose-your-own-adventure type Resource management game. My favorite aspects of this game include: the flavor (it has a a good lost in space vibe), The aesthetic (cool comic are style with lovely coloring), The sound track (this is the best part of the game imo. Barnhoorn did a great job), and the variety of outcomes. Some of my gripes include: The RNG gods are brutal in this game so it may take you several tries to find the only thing that will allow you to beat the game, an upgraded ship. I played this game initially thinking it was a puzzle i was going to solve, that kept me interested for a while, but i eventually discovered that the difficultly primarily exists due to RNG (random number generator, aka luck/chance). You are so reliant on luck in this game that beating it will be a matter of making a run with right series of dice rolls. There’s very little one can do to improve their chance of survival. Resource burn is too aggressive imo. The devs might consider creating a normal/easy mode with slightly less severe resource burn. Though the difficultly (chance of not dying) does reflect the likelihood of the character making it back to his home-world, and maybe this is inline with the theme of game. It also very well replicates the feel of those old pulp choose-your-own-adventure books, which always seemed to kill me from what seemed to be the most innocuous decision.

It’s easy to write this game off as being too dependent on random chance. But that's completely overlooking that the game gives you many tools to manage the risk of bad things happening, and upside of random good things, which is where the deep strategy and fun comes in. The tricks take patience to learn/discover, but it’s rewarding when you do, and you’ll consistently be pushing deep into the game if not beating it each time.

Aside from the gameplay, I liked the illustrated style, and the atmospheric music was nice as ambiance, though not too memorable. There are a few neat ideas here too like learning the language as you progress. The game works well in the mobile format - you can stop and start playing quickly, though it has that “One more jump...” addictive property, so maybe it will still be hard!

My only criticism is that a decent amount of time spent in the early/mid game (basically until you get a better ship) is centered on doing the same things - drilling/probing. I wish there was a little more variety to break that up. But ultimately I think the deep strategy and accessibility as a mobile game make this a game worth playing if you appreciate that.

The only reason I'm writing this, is quite literally because reviewers say dumb things like, "c'mon, I paid a whole dollar for this!" As if paying 99c gives you the right to act like a child. A pack of gum costs more than this piece of software that someone lovingly made, poured their passion into and continued to support it with updates both graphically and gameplay-wise. If you don't like something, that's your prerogative, but could we stop pretending that paying 99c for something is akin to losing your savings, or is a crime on humanity? C'mon people, we can do better than this. For the record it's worth it a full price. 99c sale is a steal. As far as the game goes, is takes a certain appetite to appreciate it, but if it's your thing,it is a really good example of a resource strategy game that has a unique perspective with a great melancholic ambience.