NEO Scavenger is a roguelike survival RPG set in a post-apocalyptic science fiction universe. It has typical post-disaster elements such as infected zombie-like people, but also several weird beasts and monsters. At one point you'll reach a walled-off cyberpunk city, Detroit Megacity, that you can get access to, and there's a whole storyline around it. It's a really unique setting, which I hoped to see more of. Yesterday, Blue Bottle Games announced a game set in the same universe, Ostranauts, a noir spaceship-life sim.
You'll be the captain of this ship, able to design and customize your own one-of-a-kind spacecraft, as well as your player character. You'll be cut-off from the ravaged NEO Scavenger Earth as the post-cataclysm world settles. You'll be able to hire your own crew, and each crewmember will have different physical and emotional needs. The screenshots show highly detailed and complex control panels and interiors. The gameplay consists of the management of your dysfunctional crew and your functional ship, as you try to fend off bankruptcy... or worse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDUn08QFhNs
Honest living is considered a slow death sentence in this solar system. While most of Earth collapsed, the off-world colonies live on in a state of capitalistic dystopia, probably not unlike what you'd find in Detroit Megacity. As you struggle to keep fuel in your tank, food on your plate, and debt collectors at bay, your crewmembers will have their own relationships, reacting to one another. Daniel Fedor, the lead developer, had a few more details about how it compares with NEO Scavenger on Reddit:
...probably a lot more systemic/emergent than NEO Scavenger. It's not built around a prescribed character this time, but rather a fully-customizable character. And the goals will depend on that character's contacts, skills, employment history, and ship. So more sandbox/systemic/emergent focus this time.You can wishlist Ostranauts on Steam if it sounds like your thing. More information is available in Blue Bottle Games' website.
What do you think of Ostranauts? Have you played NEO Scavenger before? What do you think of this kind of science fiction setting? Let us know in the comments below.
