Review: RymdResa

Picture this. A giant meteor has blown up Earth, and you, the lone survivor, are floating through space in your tiny spaceship, exploring the quiet atmosphere. That is basically what RymdResa is all about! This game is very calm and not at all violent, but it’s pretty challenging!

The premise of this roguelike space quest seems quite simple; the player floats through space, locating checkpoints, fuel and other resources while avoiding asteroids, suns, and little gravity pulls. With the soft, relaxing music and simplistic pixelated graphics, one might think this title could be an easy replacement for Solitaire. However, after playing only 5 minutes of this game, I realized how difficult it was to progress and further my travels into space. Players are given coordinates and have to follow them within the allocated time; if you run out of time, your ship explodes, and you have to start all over again. And don’t get me started on those asteroids! It is really difficult trying to avoid debris floating in space, but that’s what makes this game interesting, and it does push you to keep going, death after death. And the world is different every time you play; new coordinates and objectives keep it fresh and a little more challenging each time out.

Players can also upgrade their ships and astronauts using Space Points and resources that can be found floating in space. There are over 100 text-based quests, all with outcomes reflecting the player’s choices, and they also give a little more insight into the world of RymdResa. An attractive feature to the game is the little audio logs from the astronaut that pop up occasionally… usually his confessions of not wanting to die.

It is really easy to die in this game, so if you get easily frustrated, this game might not be your cup of tea. But if you are up for the challenge and appreciate fun, artistic indie games, RymdResa is for you!

RymdResa is available now on Steam for the PC and Mac!