Developed by Mi-Clos Studio, Out There: Oceans of Time is the successor to the award-winning Out There, and it brings you a roguelike space adventure with resource management and interactive fiction.

Explore a vast galaxy that is different every time you play. You immerse yourself in the adventure of playing as Commander Nyx after encountering the Archon; a cosmic villain plotting to dominate civilizations across the galaxy. Encounter other life forms, learn to communicate with them, trade, and build relations with allies to aid you on your mission.

Recruit new members from across the planets and ships you encounter, and build a team capable of traversing the cosmos. Manage your crew and resources, making sure you have what you require to keep your adventure going. The success of the mission comes down to you as the commander. A wrong decision can lead to a game over.

Unfortunately, the story didn’t really hit any sweet spots. It just felt like a generic space story, with an evil alien villain wanting to rule over the galaxy, and only you can stop them. Even though there were some interesting characters to encounter and it did pique my interest at times, it just didn’t bring me in and excite me.

Playing the game felt quite repetitive, just going from planet to planet, managing resources, and going on expeditions. It felt the same almost every time, with only some slight variation. After playing for around 8 hours, I found myself getting distracted by other things while just randomly clicking to move around planets, occasionally getting somewhat intrigued when encountering a new trading facility, camp, or an abandoned structure to interact with.

Trying to manage my resources and the morality of the crew became an annoying task that had to be done to keep going. Most of the time I don’t mind stocking up on resources in games, but it had to be done so often it felt like by the time you gathered them, you almost had to start gathering them again just to keep on top of it.

Graphically I found the game beautiful, but I always get mesmerised by space. All the stars and nebulae are completely captivating and the character models of both the human and alien are well designed and unique throughout. This is all combined with a sci-fi-like soundtrack and sounds to accommodate a good mood.

All being said, with a story that didn’t really bring me in and excite me, the gameplay was repetitive, and resource management was just an annoying task to keep on top of, I just couldn’t find myself wanting to continue playing. Other than that, the cosmos in the game is beautiful and has plenty of potential, especially when I hear their other games are good.

Written by: MrVibeAU