Genesis Alpha One Deluxe Edition

Quite enjoyable, but the lack of in-depth tutorial is somewhat frustrating.

I find it is a really cool game to use my brain. I like building the ships and love the modules

It has all the right stuff, but doesn't really stick the landing. Essentially it is a space management sim with combat as a feature. But the world feels a little stale and the beginning enemies aren't that dangerous. Once you get exploring and refining materials it gets better, but the first hour or so will be pretty mediocre, which is not a terrible thing. It feels like a 2009 flash game with modern graphics.

This game is somehow very addictive, and it never really pretends to be realistic, except in the wording and thoughts of the main protagonist, which somehow is the vocalized memory of your predecessor through Video Files. Most of the cutscenes that I remember was a guy typing the things he says in a console, which is hilarlously stupid. You play most of the game on your own ship, so take good care that you like your designs, or revamp it with a natural 100% ressource refund. Basicallly you're the Commander, the Architect, and the most reliable Infestation-Cleaner on your ship. The planets are minimalistic farming areas where you can farm enemy DNA and weaponry. If you don't need those, you can send your crew to the planet (it's way faster - WAY faster). The planets' ores are procedural, so it's ridiculously easy to read the area (except when the bushes grow so tall and tight that you can't even see your closest crewmates) and it's quite funny to hop around and just see something different than your ship. Also: Everything is an Ore! Even the Plants! After the Laster Pistol, you'll favor the Energy Rifle as a Main weapon (because it actually kills the ship infestation with 1-3 shots - unlike most other weapons that don't kill you, too). On enemy ships you can play anything else though. Except the extremely disappointingly useless and disgusting-to-play Flamethrower. The game is ridiculously stupid fun and the only thing I still struggle with, is the Eye-strain of the incredibly bad contrast in this game. You can't do anything, it'll hurt after a while even with external programs to reduce brightness. Even after 100h in the game I'm regularily still trying with Gamma and Ship Coloring to find a cure that works even without actual sunlight coming through the reallife window during sunny daytime.

I am really impressed by this game. The mechanics are simple, yet deep. Being a huge fan of the first Alien movie, this roguelike has a similar horror / sci-fi vibe and I am really enjoying it. It runs well, graphics and animations aren't AAA's level, but it's alright (it's a mid-price game after all). Haven't encounter any game breaking bugs either. Really atmospheric, fun and with a satisfying gameplay loop, Genesis Alpha One is easily a 8/10 for me. Well worth the price.