Airlock Arena: Profit or Perish

Airlock Arena is an arcade style game of crisis management and physics-based mayhem where you'll have to weigh how long to linger at each stop to haul in treasures against ever escalating danger. At first it might seem that the only influence you have over each round is choosing which of three contracts to take, but there's more under the surface. At the start of each mission, you have time to reposition your starting cargo, create your own paths between areas of the ship for faster traversal when things get hectic later, and even blast open the forward walls of the ship to transform them into salvage scoops that accumulate whatever space junk you come across to sell later for extra cash. While it's more fun with other players to share laughs with as the action and carnage unfolds, it's perfectly playable solo. Most threats seem reasonably telegraphed in advance; lights flicker to warn of pending malfunctions, danger symbols are drawn where off screen threats will soon arrive, and you know in advance what major issues you'll run into from the contract preview of your flight path. The game makes good use of audio and visuals. Most sound cues are distinct enough that you can quickly learn what's happening even if it's somewhere off screen, and helpful voice cues warn you of impending dangers. The graphics aren't overly busy, which works great when tons of stuff is happening on the screen, allowing you to still make sense of what you're seeing. After 18 hours of play, I'd say it's a pretty solid and bug free first release from a small studio! All the major parts of the game work well. There are a few minor user interface and volume balance type issues I only noticed after many hours that I won't detail because they'll probably be ironed out quickly in a patch. That said, I really hope to see an update soon that adds a save/load feature between contracts for when I'm on a roll and don't have time to play until all respawns are exhausted, and I wish I could specifically select more than just my character's color. My high school friends and I used to get together for couch gaming on consoles (I won't say which because I don't want to start a console war debate!), and this would have been right at home among the games we played with and against each other. What else can I say? I'm a huge fan of free demos and this game has one, so if you're not sure about it, give it a try. edit: 100%'d it on March 27th. So all the objectives are definitely possible, even if it might take a few tries!

Fantastic party game. FTL vibes combo'd with the chaos of Overcooked.

This game is awesome! It's super easy to figure out in the first couple of missions, and once you figure it out, you'll be hooked. Someone perfectly described it as "with the chaos of Overcooked" and I couldn't agree more! I mostly played solo, but I look forward to getting some friends together and playing it with them. AND it's at a really good price!

If you like action, high stakes, and the thrill of trying to be the best smuggler in the galaxy, this is the game for you! The game is challenging, but with friends is the best kind of chaos. Watching your ship get torn to pieces while trying to put out fires and secure cargo keeps you on your toes!

I kept playing out of anger because I died for trying to fly out and get an air hockey table lol, I cant wait to play it with some friends and load up on air hockey tables!

Really fun to play on your own, even more fun in multiplayer with friends. Requires a lot of logic and strategy, so the game is challenging but in a way that makes it really fun and dynamic to play over and over. A lot more depth to the game than I would've expected. Definitely can see myself playing this a lot with friends

This is a really great couch co-op game, which there really aren't enough of - very easy to help or hinder your fellow smugglers. Main focus on PVE but the PVP mode is great too, there's a lot of systems that make Airlock Arena's gameplay really chaotic and fun! Also, who would have thought that Arina Arlock would be a strong contender for WOTY25 (waifu of the year 2025)

I first played Airlock Arena with a couple friends and it was great to play death match together. I played the single player version and it was just as much fun. Although I did immediately murder all the scientists and destroy the cargo I was supposed to transport on accident lol. Ended up playing for 2 hours straight trying to unlock all the achievements you can get. It definitely took me a second to get all the controls down, but once I did I really liked some of the mechanics. This game is addicting and extremely fun to play with friends or by yourself. Would definitely recommend Airlock Arena, it's the kind of game you can play over and over again and have just as much fun as the first time you played

I played several games with my boyfriend and had a blast! I mean that literally as we watched the goods we worked so hard to grab from a burning space station while our ship was under attack all get blown into space twelve seconds later through a hull breach before we could save any of it! I think I found every possible way to die though so he started sacrificing scientists on the respawn platform, calling them 'organically sourced extra lives' lol I felt bad :( But also strangely grateful! I would totally recommend this as a fun couch game! Oh and the game over song 'Treasure in the Stars' has no right to be that good, I haven't had anything stuck in my head like that since Down By The River from BG3!

Came out retirement to play this game - masterpiece.