[h1]Short Review[/h1]
SPACEPLAN is a short, charming, incremental game with a story that actually gives you a reason to care, incredible sound design, and a vibe that sets it apart from most games in the genre. The gameplay itself is pretty thin, and the later upgrades lose their punch fast, but the presentation is strong enough to carry the experience to its ending. Worth playing once. Recommended, with some reservations.
[h1]Full Review[/h1]
SPACEPLAN describes itself as "based partly on a total misunderstanding of Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time," which was an interesting premise to drag me in. However, I still went in expecting a basic clicker dressed up in space clothes, and instead, got something that actually has a personality and knows how to use it.
[b]The sound design and presentation.[/b] The sound design in this game is genuinely impressive. The first few times you click a button in SPACEPLAN, it feels like you're activating some kind of ancient megastructure, and that feeling is hard to shake. The music backs that up with a soundtrack that fits the mysterious, slightly absurd tone of the whole experience. Artistically and aurally, SPACEPLAN is doing a lot, and it all works together. The overall presentation is the strongest part of the game by a significant margin, and it's what elevates this above a typical clicker.
[b]The story.[/b] For an incremental game, the story is a genuine selling point. There's an actual narrative here, there's an ending, and you care about reaching it for reasons beyond just watching numbers get bigger. The writing is silly and self-aware in a way that works, and the mystery of what's actually going on with the planet keeps you engaged in a way that most incrementals never bother attempting. It's not a deep story, but it gives the gameplay a purpose that the mechanics alone couldn't provide.
[b]The gameplay.[/b] Here's where things get honest. The actual gameplay is pretty shallow. The incremental loop feels good in the early and mid-game, and there are satisfying dopamine hits as you unlock new potato-based devices and send them into space. But later into the game, the upgrades start to feel meaningless, and the game doesn't communicate that well, so you're just clicking through options without feeling the impact. The mechanics don't stick in your head after you're done. The presentation and story are what you'll remember, not the gameplay itself.
[b]Overall.[/b] SPACEPLAN is a short, well-presented, incremental game that punches above its weight because of its sound design, music, and story. The gameplay gets thin toward the end, and the late upgrades lose their meaning, but the experience is brief enough that it doesn't wear out its welcome. If you're looking for a mechanically deep idle game, this isn't it. If you want something weird and charming that you can finish in a sitting and actually feel like you completed something, SPACEPLAN delivers that.
[code]If you liked this review, then feel free to check out my [url=https://www.youtube.com/@VinroyIsViral]YouTube Channel[/url] for more reviews. I also have a curator group called [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/43774503-The-Completionist-Crusaders/]"The Completionist Crusaders"[/url] that focuses more toward completionists. Thank you, and happy gaming![/code]
