Cars meets Everspace, but developed by the folks behind DayZ. That’s the unusual pitch for Cosmo Tales, which launched into Early Access today. Yet the game you’re imagining is probably not a huge distance away from the newly released shooter from Bohemia Interactive.
Cosmo Tales has you piloting a talking spaceship, but not just any old talking spaceship. These ships are inspired by classic family station wagons of the ’70s and ’80s, and I think the designs are really fun.
You’re not picking up the kids here, though. In Cosmo Tales, you must fly your talking space-car into asteroid fields and other star-filled locations to engage in dogfights with angry robots and the like. Why, I’m not really sure, but do we really need a reason?
The first thing that grabbed me was the visuals. There’s a lovely retro-futuristic art style holding this thing together, and Bohemia has used its resources and know-how to create a stunning-looking space shooter that’s packed with satisfying details. I really like it.
Sweet graphics and retro-futurism aside, the game’s big hook is a dimension-shifting gameplay system. You can easily swap between three different dimensions, giving you added shield and speed, depending on what you need during the ship-on-robot dogfights. It’s a simple setup and appears to work quite well.
If you’ve played Everspace, you might be wondering whether Cosmo Tales is for you, too. While both are definitely eye-catching roguelite space shooters, with its Pixar-like characterisation and playful narration, I’d say Cosmo Tales is aimed at a more junior audience.
That’s fine; not everything is for bearded 40-somethings, I’m told, and in its attempts to keep things accessible, I think Bohemia Interactive has done a really good job of making sure the upgrade descriptions and in-game explanations are all clear and simple. In fact, based on today’s first hands-on, Cosmo Tales is shaping up to be a good entry-level roguelite for younger players.
Cosmo Tales is out now on PC (Win) via Steam, and I definitely plan to take another look once it’s done in Early Access. There’s real potential in this family-friendly roguelite, especially if Bohemia can figure out how to better involve the grown-ups, whether that be a co-op mode or some challenges with a bit more bite.
