RetroSpace Launches Into Space Horror and Apparently HR Has Already Died
RetroSpace launched today, October 1, and there is enough here already to make it worth paying attention to.
It is a first-person horror immersive sim set aboard Aurora 5, a gigantic retro-futuristic space station currently having what I believe engineers call a fairly serious afternoon after being swallowed by a sentient black hole. You play a janitor trying to survive mutants, temporal anomalies, broken systems and whatever management meeting ended with, “Yes, enormous experimental city in space. What could go wrong?”
Quite a lot, apparently.
The interesting part is that RetroSpace doesn't seem to be using “immersive sim” because there is a keypad somewhere. You can sneak, fight, hack systems, manipulate the environment, take alternative routes, use gadgets, mutate yourself and generally treat Aurora 5 as something to interfere with rather than merely walk through.
And judging by the early reviews, Aurora 5 itself may be the best thing about the game.
If Aurora 5 has put you in the mood for another place where opening a door feels like signing a liability waiver, Rehaunted is waiting. Different nightmare, same excellent decision to investigate absolutely everything that looks hostile.
Aurora 5 seems to understand why immersive sims are fun
A good immersive sim slowly destroys your ability to look at ordinary objects normally.
A puddle stops being water. It becomes electricity waiting for paperwork.
A gas pipe is no longer a gas pipe. It is something you stare at while wondering how many enemies you can persuade to stand beside it without the whole plan turning into an obituary.
Crates become cover. Security systems become suggestions. Lights become negotiable.
That seems to be where RetroSpace is at its best. Aurora 5 is interconnected, full of hidden routes, environmental opportunities and places you can approach in different ways. You're not simply moving from room to room until something horrible jumps out and the shotgun department opens for business.
You are actually poking at the place.
That is important because there is a difference between a horror game giving you options and a game making you think in options. If I see a mutant and immediately think “shoot mutant”, fine. We have invented Doom again.
If I see the mutant, notice the water on the floor, remember I can manipulate something nearby and suddenly spend thirty seconds constructing the world's least responsible electrical installation, now we're getting somewhere.
Early impressions suggest RetroSpace does enough of that to justify the immersive-sim label.
Whether it keeps doing enough of it for twenty hours is another question.
Death sounds considerably more inconvenient than usual
The cloning system is probably the mechanic I find most interesting so far.
When you die, you are cloned. But the replacement can return with a random defect, and removing that defect may require retrieving genetic material from your previous corpse.
Which means death can create a side job where you go and collect yourself.
There is something beautifully horrible about that.
You arrive at work. You die. The company prints another you. The new you is slightly defective. Human Resources informs you that the solution is to locate Employee You No. 1 and scrape enough usable genetic material off the remains to fix Employee You No. 2.
I refuse to believe there isn't a laminated procedure for this somewhere on Aurora 5.
FORM 7C: SELF-RECOVERY AFTER FATAL INCIDENT
Please return all previous versions of yourself before the end of your shift.
That's the kind of mechanic I want from this setting because it isn't only mechanically useful. It belongs there. The game is already about body horror, mutation, broken technology and a station where reality appears to have called in sick. Cloning you badly and making the replacement clean up the biological admin from your previous death fits perfectly.
The Mutamod system pushes that further by letting you alter yourself using animal-derived mutations. Add weapon upgrades and gadgets, and there appears to be enough going on with builds that different approaches could genuinely matter.
Could.
That word is doing some work because the game released today.
The developers have talked about multiple endings and significant freedom, but that doesn't automatically mean the full game supports wildly different playthroughs. Eight endings can mean eight dramatically different journeys. It can also mean you press a different button shortly before the credits while the game looks very pleased with itself.
We don't know yet.
RetroSpace has space mutants. The Crimson Maid has its own particular method of making somewhere you definitely should leave immediately become somewhere you inexplicably keep exploring.
The problem is that we've seen many of these tools before
This is where RetroSpace becomes more interesting to me than a simple “looks good” launch story.
A lot of the individual machinery is familiar.
Hacking. Stealth. Environmental hazards. Alternative routes. Guns. Security systems. Upgrades.
If you've played System Shock, Prey, BioShock or enough games descended from the same increasingly complicated family tree, none of this sounds particularly alien.
That doesn't bother me by itself.
Nobody complains that another rock band has discovered guitars.
The question is what you do with them.
And some early criticism already points toward the possible problem: Aurora 5 might be more inventive than the tools you use inside it.
If shooting something is consistently quicker and easier than arranging an elaborate environmental solution, eventually players stop being creative and start being efficient. That's just what people do.
At first you're moving crates, disabling systems, opening alternative paths and setting up clever traps.
Ten hours later you're walking into a room with a gun because Dave the Mutant has already wasted enough of your evening.
Then all those wonderful systemic options become things you technically could do, which is one of gaming's more dangerous phrases. I technically could reorganise my kitchen cupboards alphabetically. I am still going to throw the pasta wherever there is space.
That's probably the biggest thing we needs to watch.
Not whether RetroSpace has systems.
Whether the systems stay worth using.
I'm interested. I'm not ready to call it brilliant.
The early response is encouraging. Aurora 5 is getting praise, the atmosphere appears to work, the cloning system has actual consequences and the game clearly has more going on than corridors, monsters and somebody whispering into an audio log about how everything went terribly wrong.
There are warning signs too.
Some reviewers have raised performance problems, bugs, awkward navigation and controller-menu issues. It is far too early to know how widespread those are, particularly across different platforms.
And there simply isn't enough full-game player evidence yet to pretend we've reached a mature verdict.
So yes, RetroSpace looks worth caring about.
What I want to know now is whether Aurora 5 is still fascinating after players understand it.
Because weird stations are easy to admire.
The difficult part is building one that remains interesting after we've found the switches.
If an armed janitor recovering DNA from his previous corpse somehow improved your evening, you are probably already beyond conventional help. You can keep CRIMENET’s particular flavour of bad judgement alive through Ko-fi.
RetroSpace FAQ
Is RetroSpace a horror game?
Yes. Horror is central to RetroSpace, with mutants, body horror, oppressive environments, temporal weirdness and a space station that appears to have fired workplace safety directly into the black hole.
Is RetroSpace an immersive sim?
Yes. You can use stealth, combat, hacking, environmental hazards, alternative routes, gadgets and character upgrades to solve problems in different ways.
What happens when you die in RetroSpace?
You are cloned, but the replacement can return with a negative defect. Fixing it may require recovering genetic material from your previous corpse, because apparently even death now comes with admin.
Can you customise your character?
Yes. Mutamods let you alter your character with animal-derived mutations, alongside weapon and gadget upgrades.
Is RetroSpace worth playing right now?
Early impressions are promising, especially around Aurora 5, its atmosphere and systemic freedom, but the game has only just launched. It is worth watching, though a proper long-term verdict needs more full-game evidence.
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