Welp, there it is... Logged 7.2 hours on my first playthrough, but during part of that the pause menu was left on for a while, so you can figure a first playthrough as less than that (can't remember how long). BUT, this game does seem to have replay value... a lot of games, I don't care to go back and go through again, but something about this one has me thinking about trying another playthrough and maybe a higher difficulty.
What a weird, silly game. You honestly can't ever tell if it's designed for kids, with the big, silly, droopy-eyed animated characters.... or designed for adults, when people get shot directly in the brain, hook up with BDSM references on the reg, and start cannibalizing each other. Is this supposed to be silly and innocent or brutal and real? Well, the beauty of it is that it's both, and it interjects randomly, so you often don't know what to expect.
The concept is simple. You're a potato peeler who has 'temporarily' been re-assigned as a drone pilot in space. You're a part of the "Reds" (obviously Russia) and are in a constant struggle against the Capitalists (obviously USA). Your job as a drone pilot is to assemble ships. You fly out in a field filled with weird Tetris-like pieces that have connectors on them and connect the pieces to form ships.
So you'd think that in such a far, futuristic setting, there would be all kinds of high tech ways to... uh, nope. You fly. You bump into things and push them.. or use your magnet to pull on connectors. THAT is how you assemble your ships - pushing and/or pulling the pieces around.
In the meantime, there are ALWAYS hazards on the playfield. First of all, your comrades apparently just spend a lot of time space-walking for no real reason. Don't hit them, smash them, or anything else. Also the asteroids... which can bump pieces out of place JUST as you're about to connect them. Second, each of the later worlds have other hazards, such as mysterious green goo, ice formations, mines, and more. So it's not just a matter of moving things around... it's doing it with increasing challenges.
Also you've got to make sure you're not breaking delicate components, damaging potato storage units, and other things like that. Because if you run out of potatoes, bad things happen...
The story, which I won't give too much away of, is basically the preparation and execution of an epic journey through space, always trying to stay ahead of the Capitalists. Although I have only done one playthrough so far, there are many branching stories I see I could have experienced - one of the several reasons I want to play again. The storyline I went down was fun, engaging, weird, and easy to digest (eg. not one of those games where there's like 74 minutes of story to every 2 minutes of actual gameplay). I'm kinda curious to go back through and see what the other stories are.
In the meantime, there are little weird things you can do in between each round. You can buy... potatoes (there are a LOT of potatoes in this game) to keep yourself from hunger, video games for your desk, 'motivational posters,' and more. You can read the newspaper, check the paper coming out of the printer.. a lot of pointless things to get the feel of the life of the "Kosmokrats."
So it can get a little frustrating, but never rage-quit inducing (at least on easier difficulties - will have to see about those harder ones). Especially in the last levels, when I'm rushing against the clock to get things done and asteroids keep knocking the pieces out of the way.... but if you're fast and react well, you can still get the job done.
Oh, and the interesting thing is that you don't always have to get the job done RIGHT. You'll get better scores (and hence more in-game money, Kartoshkas, which is... 'potatoes' in Russian) and do a lot better.. but even if you connect the pieces wrong, as long as you can find a way to get all the pieces together... the game just goes on. Even when you brutally fail levels and blow everything up... the game just moves on.
And it's pretty cool that you get to see your ships flying around even later in the game.
Overall, it was a LOT of fun, and I'm definitely glad I gave it a go. Worth the full price? You bet. It was fun enough, silly enough, strange enough, and satisfying enough that ten bucks is an easy ask. If you're waiting for a sale, there's really no need. This is a good one to have in your library.
I'm glad I purchased it. Pretty darn unique.
EDIT: Oh yeah, and, Steam Deck users, despite being "not supported," it works on Deck. Didn't even need to set anything up to play. Worked as is.
