Citizens of Space Review – One Small Step…

Citizens of Space Review

Citizens of Space is the follow up to Citizens of Earth and it looks to maximize the fun grind of being an ode to old school RPG’s while remedying some of the complaints that players of the first game had. Game makers Eden Industries had clearly listened to its community and worked hard to make the sequel more focused on fun and less on the management of your squad. While they succeed in maximizing the fun, they never really make it out of the woods of repetition and the end result falls somewhere in the middle of a whacky ode to a favorite genre of mine and a grind that loses it quirky appeal pretty fast.

Our protagonist is the narcissistic and clueless Ambassador of Earth who shows up to his first day of work when Earth included in the Galactic Federation. His first speech is cut short when they discover Earth is missing and you have to assemble a (potentially massive) crew of characters to help you find our missing planet.

In Citizens of Space you’re not just confined to Earth but can bounce around to different planets as you collect a very large stable of allies to help you in your quest to locate Earth. The art style is whacky as in the storytelling style of pun-based humor and jokes based on the quirks of the character. Like the pirate captain making nautical based jokes, or the judge making gavel jokes… you get the idea. This makes each character unique and memorable but the short roster of lines they can deliver begins to wear on you pretty quickly. That includes the main character as he strolls around the map. The game is certainly nice to look at with vibrant colors and great character designs that give it a real visual flair.

Grind on, young man

One of the major complaints about Citizens of Earth was that too much time was spent managing your roster and the gameplay was repetitive. Great care was taken to give it an overhaul and I have to say that the combat system was my favorite part of the game. Set up like a traditional RPG, each attack and defense was doubled with a mini-game that is unique to the characters and the attacks. If you’re successful in winning the mini-game, your attack or defense will be dramatically increased. It can really sway your winning or losing a battle and keeps you on your toes while playing. This may not be everyone’s cup of tea but I’ve become annoyed with the automation of gaming in recent years, so keeping me constantly interacting with my gameplay was great. The only thing that made the combat a bit of a problem was when you were in a hurry and you get into the random encounters. The battles aren’t quick as each turn also has the minigame attached to it so it can really drag the time out. Of course, you can adjust the encounters and the difficulty of the mini-games, so you can streamline the process a bit but that sounds like the choices of a coward or someone who is about to be late for work.

It’s been a time since I’ve been able to play an RPG like I used to with the grind and the turn-based combat and the healing between battles in order to stay in the action. They just don’t make them like they used to! It even comes with a $14.99 price tag to boot. However, I really wished that all the things that Citizens of Space does well weren’t attached to a game that is so… in your face. It borders on obnoxious but keeps the annoying line repeats and the length of time to get anywhere just under the bar of annoying. It did, however, prevent me from being able to play for a big chunk of time and it sucked a lot of the fun out of the well-done aspects of the game. I think it says a lot that you can get a lot of enjoyment out of this game but it’s best enjoyed on mute.

***PS4 key provided by the publisher***