Retrospace

As a love letter to the immersive sim genre and a whole host of games that rank among my all-time top 20, RetroSpace is an absolute joy to play. The only real shame is that it never quite manages to rise above its inspirations, despite having all the ingredients to do so. [Issue#375, p.60]

RetroSpace brings back the philosophy of classic immersive sims inside a bizarre, satirical and distinctive retro-futuristic universe. Its freedom works because weapons, stealth, Mutamods and environmental interactions remain genuine options rather than mandatory solutions. Exploration is also its most divisive element: finding your way without waypoints can be genuinely rewarding, but the minimal map and deliberately vague directions can sometimes turn discovery into frustration.

If you can stomach Retro Space’s cloying satire, and its stifling beholdenment to classic immersive sims, you’ll find a game with sprawling, multilayered systems which smash together in amusing and novel ways.