RetroSpace reminded me of the brief few hours I played of System Shock 2 when it released in 1999. One of my uncles was getting into PC gaming and had played Half-Life and loved it. System Shock 2 was one of the games he hoped would deliver a similarly engrossing experience.
But I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. It felt too involved, too complicated. Too… immersive.
What a strange thing to imagine, right? Too many options for combat and inventory and exploration ultimately overwhelmed me. Honestly, best to chalk it up as still being young. At the time my PC gaming days were fairly limited. After all, it was a bit tough to juggle numerous consoles and supply them with games when your only source comes from birthdays, Christmases, and minimal allowance. Thankfully those immature days are over and it would take a dud of a game for me not to be interested–or a sports title.
Because I never truly gave System Shock 2 a chance, it was RetroSpace‘s graphical style that truly invoked those memories for me. Developer The Wild Gentlemen transports players to that aesthetic with incredible accuracy. That fusion of polygons and pixels don’t allow for intense detail but it pleases the eyes in other ways.
Light sources bloom with two or three colors, making it obvious what is masked with shadow and what is bathed in light. Explosions pop and fizzle through guns that don’t need convoluted reload animations. Points of interest are awash in color, punctuating a lobby or a hallway. Better yet, RetroSpace‘s visual language harmonizes with the tone and sense of time The Wild Gentlemen design around. It reminded me a lot of Double Fine’s 2016 Metroidvania Headlander, or the “NASA-punk” Bethesda aimed for with Starfield, or even the retro futuristic tones of Arc Raiders.
Chewing on the presentation of RetroSpace is quite satisfying because one should immediately know what kind of game this is. Before playing, I decided to browse through the trophies. Should you so desire, you’ll get them for beating the game on the hardest difficulty. Don’t kill anything unless its with the Power Wrench or the HyperBroom. Don’t get spotted by any enemy ever. Finish the game without having a HUD. And then I took a look at the difficulty levels. Increasingly limited cash and resources, less forgiving saves. All of these optional handicaps the kind of stuff I never touch but genre enthusiasts salivate over.
This is the kind of game where a squirt bottle uses water as ammunition. The player is meant to create puddles on the floor to link electricity to power doors. Or use it to clean up blood. Because the snarling Pigmen that stalk the Aurora 5 space station are attracted to the smell of blood. So yeah, it’s that kind of game.
Those who have played Arkane’s Prey or Dishonored or Deus Ex: Human Revolution or similar games should recognize what RetroSpace offers. But The Wild Gentlemen aren’t shooting for a big-budget, high-production game like those. Even so, this game feels appropriately complex and rife with options for the player to express themselves in combat, exploration, and puzzle-solving.
As a Janitor, players are woken up by the Aurora 5’s system. Something has gone wrong and you’ve got to figure out what the hell has happened. Understanding slowly trickles out. A fire extinguisher can be grabbed to put out small fires and collect ammunition. Toxic gas pours in at a hallway that must be passed through. And yeah, you can walk right past the helmet that, when put on, acts as the game’s HUD showing off crucial stats like health and stamina.
The Aurora 5 is not only damaged but something has gone wrong with all the people in cryo sleep. Numerous ships set off from Earth on an important voyage to find a new home but now there are creatures and mutants and dead bodies all over the place. Oh, and time is not acting right. In fact, the Aurora 5 seems to be shifting in and out of different timelines.
It’s an interesting narrative that is supplemented by a significant amount of tongue-in-cheek humor and a cast of characters who are eclectic enough to keep the plot moving and engaging. The game has one of one of my most favorite pseudo-profound quotes ever: “May the tears of those left behind power our engines.” It sounds ripped out of the self-importance of Andrew Ryan’s Rapture. And many self-aggrandizing elements paint the Aurora 5 and this venture of humanity as a verbose, incredible thing. And then you see the strange posters hanging from the walls. And then something ridiculous or goofy happens. Or you go to the Janitor’s Haven, a place that seems to exist out of reality.
And soon those vibes feel less limited and more perfectly intentional.
Here is a game where the player is given moderately clear directions to go to a place and do a thing. Yet the path towards there is rarely a straight line. After the first 20 minutes I walked into the Aurora 5’s lobby which acts as a kind of hub to connect other areas of the ship. Glorious, opulent statues and a water feature are hard to ignore, even with burning vending machines and a turret that tries to kill you. But even a collectible note tells players that if something feels out of reach, why not just stack boxes and make your own path?
This logic seeps through the entirety of the game, which it should considering it’s an immersive sim. Shortcuts are made by bashing things with the wrench. Enemies can be avoided or taken out with traps and ingenuity. Secret pathways reward items or new ways around obstacles and intended paths.
Enemies are weird and inventive but, much like the combat, have limited scope. Getting a stealth kill is always going to feel great. But players have access to pistols and shotguns but also ray guns and other futuristic tech. These weapons can be upgraded but the ability to do so does take some time and by then, players will feel prepared for most encounters. Mutations are meant to be the “it” factor in RetroSpace, acting like plasmids or whatever other magical power insert. Players can jump higher, heal in bright lights with a moth mutation, or be like a Pigman and eat bodies to regain health. Upon death, players’ bodies are reconstituted but they will have a negative effect that can only be taken away by spending money or collecting DNA from your old corpse. Otherwise get comfortable having hallucinations or randomly sneezing and ruining your silent footsteps.
Rarely do I rely on bullets in a game like RetroSpace. If a more creative option–or stealthier one–exists, I’m taking it. It feels more satisfying to solve problems this way rather than getting in an outright gun battle. And as enemies begin to feel deadlier and more prominent, it does start feeling a bit repetitive. On PlayStation 5, my experience wrestling with the controls and acclimating myself to getting through the menu did cause some frustration. Quirks like having to navigate the main map by individually clicking buttons to move it around is kind of cumbersome. But the game also ran quite well and I experienced no notable bugs, which feels appropriate for a game like this.
The familiarity one may get from RetroSpace as it continues through its 10-15 hour journey is quite comforting. The Wild Gentlemen never stretch themselves too thin. And even when the pool of ideas starts to tread familiar water, the game’s aesthetics, narrative, and genuine weirdness push it through the finish line.
RetroSpace makes the case for why immersive sims are so frequently enjoyable and captivating. The Wild Gentlemen prove that even on a smaller scale, providing players with freedom, opportunity, and a bit of silliness will always result in entertainment.
