The other day we had the opportunity to get acquainted with the full version of a very unusual project of the Polish studio Pixel Delusion, which tells about the harsh everyday life of a construction drone operator in communist space. “The Folk Zero Gravity Puzzle Adventure Game,” says the description Kosmokrats on Steam… And God knows, the developers abundantly stuff almost every frame with the notorious “nationality”. As soon as you press the “new game”, a full set of typically Russian stereotypes pours out on the screen: vodka, earflaps, comrades and English voice acting with such a flashy Russian accent that the letter “r” chirps no worse than a line from a Kalashnikov machine gun … In other words, cranberries bloom and smell here. Of course, there is no need to take the local scenario about space communists seriously, and the game itself does not hide its parody. The visual style is as simple and schematic as possible, and the characters are deliberately silly. And the plot, in this case, serves only as a background for a powerful game basis.
Our nameless alter ego begins its glorious journey by peeling potatoes in one of the spaceship’s cabins. Progress is progress, but some things are incorruptible – Russian conscripts peel potatoes exclusively with a knife, treat their souls with vodka, and torture spies by playing the accordion. The command urgently needs a drone operator, and while the real pilot is lost somewhere along the way, we are being hired to control the device. The curator is a certain Boris, who will joke a thousand times more about the by no means solid specialty of our hero.
Actually, this is where the acquaintance with the game part of Kosmokrats begins. We need to remotely pilot a drone in flat space. The controls are as simple as possible: there are only 4 directional keys and one pull. But an elementary layout does not at all bode well for an easy walk. Our drone, like all objects around, is subject to an honest physical model in conditions of zero gravity, we always have to reckon with inertia. As part of the assignments, we have to collect various spacecraft, the parts of which are scattered throughout the open space. The parts have multi-colored connections. For example, if there are 2 figures on the screen with a green magnet at the edges, then you just need to push one tin to another and dock the places with the green magnet, after which they will interlock. Sounds simple, which is why you might mistakenly dub the Kosmokrats a primitive arcade when teaching. But you shouldn’t make hasty conclusions, because the game accelerates quite quickly and acquires a bunch of nuances and additional conditions.
First, there can be quite a lot of details, and there are more than two compounds of the same color. It is necessary to figure out on the basis of the picture and the form, what fits with what, during the deployment stage. As soon as our drone appears on the screen, there is almost no time left for an estimate, a severe timer will force you to hastily push the figures across the screen, collecting another spaceship of a bizarre shape. Do not forget about the treacherous inertia, because you constantly run the risk of making an extra movement and pushing the desired part in the wrong place, which is why it will fly off a decent distance, forcing you to chase it for a long time, or, even worse, will be magnetized where it should not. And parts of the ships are equipped with many connections, which are highly desirable to leave intact. A variety of antennas and solar panels, bulging glass compartments with potatoes … All this is easy to rake out during the mission. As if this is not enough, in some missions comrades in spacesuits fly between the wreckage. It doesn’t matter whether they are broadcasting our exploits or are on strike with banners, the likelihood of pinching the unfortunate person between a couple of details makes the process spice up. Therefore, you need to carefully push them to safe areas if the dummies flew into the working area.
As a result, the gameplay turned out to be entertaining and by no means simple. Fortunately, the developers did not limit themselves to bare mechanics and a randomizer, because most of the missions we completed were replete with some kind of zest and an interesting additional condition. Let’s say from blows to parts we see paint peeling off. It doesn’t really matter until the assignment, when we are obliged to assemble a ship with a huge portrait of a local socialist leader. Here you already have to moderate your ardor and try not to spoil the face of the leader with powerful blows at high speed. Or, in connection with the broadcast of the Moscow-Rostov match, you have to turn off several auxiliary systems of the ship to choose from, which is why we get a serious debuff for several tasks, whether it be the absence of a deployment stage or the deprivation of the ability to attract parts with a magnet. The openly cranberry plot can be treated in different ways, but in Kosmokrats it fulfills its main function – it constantly dictates the gameplay conditions.
Moreover, the least you expect from such a project is nonlinearity, and there it is, and what it is! The game regularly puts our former potato peeler in front of elections, both moral and gameplay. Say, at a certain moment we stumble upon a ship in distress of the “damned capitalists”. The command will demand to steal a scientist from there, but in addition we can also save an engineer. The second (or rather the second) after the rescue will start appearing in the plot videos, will often screw his opinion into it, and at some point will even send a package with a video game, which is allowed to run on the local game console “Ya-BOX” between missions. However, the food of the rescued lady will also rest on your shoulders.
The game contains elements of economics and macro management, which directly affect the plot and basic gameplay with the drone. The same potatoes will become your currency. For a handful of foodstuffs, we are free to embellish our personal account: wallpaper and hang up a calendar. Of course, there is an opportunity to buy a bottle of the famous drink according to the recipe of Mendeleev’s grandfather. Even games and films approved by the Party can be bought for I-BOX. As the saying goes, any whims for yor potytos!
But to go broke on all sorts of nonsense should be done with caution. Potatoes must be consumed for their intended purpose, because a hungry hero receives serious fines on assignments, and your comrades risk starving to death while you lower your salary on some ping-pong for a console.
The inability to replay the passed episode adds spice. The decisions made will stay with you, and most of the tasks can be failed, which will not stop the locomotive of the main story, but will significantly affect its development. On the first playthrough, you will probably break a bunch of firewood, because it is not always obvious what is required of you, and the timer does not care about your sluggishness. It will be especially painful for perfectionists, because it is often hardly possible to complete the main and additional tasks without crushing a couple of cosmonauts. But this is the highlight of the game. You need to be able to correctly prioritize in space chaos, maintaining a balance between speed and accuracy.
Having a solid gameplay foundation, Kosmokrats does not dwell solely on it, and if desired, it can keep you occupied for a long time with any unnecessary nonsense. After each assignment, the panel updates the issue of a patriotic newspaper with funny headlines, some of which directly relate to us and our merits. You can admire the list of medals. Places of not yet opened achievements, by the way, may contain small spoilers for the endings. There is an opportunity to just look in the window where the starships we have assembled flaunt. Well, it’s not forbidden to play mini-games on the notorious I-BOX. Some projects can be obtained for additional tasks, sometimes terribly hardcore. However, fans of the challenge can knock over the heels of virtual glasses of fiery water, bringing the level of intoxication to the maximum. It’s incredibly difficult to fly a drone in this state, but what can’t you do for an extra medal?
The plot practically does not stagnate, we constantly watch videos, and the channel with the self-explanatory name Propaganda-4 incessantly hangs all kinds of noodles on our virtual ears. Although we never made it to the finale, it is already obvious that history can be nudged towards the political views you like most.
Many players have already dubbed the novelty a kind of space Tetris, but, in our opinion, Kosmokrats is original enough not to bear such a stigma. Tinkering with assembling metal structures in zero gravity turned out to be quite entertaining, and if the developers withstand the degree of variety set for the first hours, we will definitely get one of the best indie puzzle games this year.
Kosmokrats is developed by Pixel Delusion, a small indie studio based in Olsztyn, Poland, founded by Carl Granberg. The team develops games, prioritizing interesting storyline and gameplay, with graphic design secondary.
The game is distributed by Modern Wolf, a progressive publishing house founded in 2019 by partners Fernando Rizo and Andreas Gschwari. The publisher is based in London and works with small indie teams creating strategy games.
Kosmokrats will premiere on PC on Steam tomorrow, November 5, 2023… Now the game can be added to the desired.
Author of the material: Alexey Bezdenezhny (KOZIK).
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