Cosmonautica

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Cosmonautica is a single-player Science Fiction Simulation game with great gameplay, exceptional graphics, and a fantastic soundtrack. The game offers a humorous space trading and crew simulation experience in a procedurally generated galaxy, with diverse quests, pirate attacks, and unique crew members. However, it has issues with bugs that can affect gameplay.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

45%

Audience ScoreBased on 592 reviews

story24 positive mentions

stability39 negative mentions

The game has a charming art style and humorous writing that adds to the overall enjoyment.
The ship and crew management mechanics are engaging, allowing for customization and strategic planning.
The game offers a variety of gameplay options, including trading, piracy, and passenger transport.

The game is plagued by frequent crashes and bugs that disrupt gameplay.
The trading and combat systems can feel repetitive and lack depth, leading to a grindy experience.
The campaign feels unfinished, with limited content and missions that quickly become stale.

story
171 mentions
14 % positive mentions
74 % neutral mentions
12 % negative mentions
The story aspect of the game is generally perceived as lacking depth and variety, with many missions described as repetitive fetch quests that fail to engage players. While some users appreciate the lighthearted tone and quirky characters, they express frustration over the limited mission types and the game's unfinished state, which hampers overall narrative progression. Overall, the story feels underdeveloped, with players often left grinding through similar tasks without a compelling narrative payoff.
- “Great price, goofy story, right up my alley type of game.”
- “The art style and characters are quirky and fun, the main story and characters are cool, and I do like the overall feel of the game.”
- “A lighthearted space trading game with a story that is really not bad.”
- “Unfortunately, that's pretty much the end of the story.”
- “Seriously, there is no story beyond that.”
- “The missions are so poorly created right now that I literally could only accept about 1 out of 20 missions and most of those were illegal and resulted in just losing even more money.”
gameplay
131 mentions
24 % positive mentions
66 % neutral mentions
10 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players noting its repetitive nature and lack of depth, despite a solid core concept and enjoyable mechanics. While some appreciate the simplicity and charm, others criticize the unbalanced systems, bugs, and a lack of meaningful content, leading to a frustrating experience. Overall, the game shows potential but requires significant improvements in gameplay mechanics and content to fully realize its promise.
- “The core gameplay loop is pretty satisfying if you like watching numbers go up once you've figured out a trade route.”
- “It's a great 'sandbox' with never-ending gameplay and is great at motivating you.”
- “A brilliant trading game with a gameplay system that is easy to grasp but with enough nuance to be interesting.”
- “The gameplay seemed to get stagnant quickly.”
- “The game lacks any real depth after a few hours of gameplay.”
- “However, after playing the game for 12 hours, I must say that the gameplay mechanics are huge disappointments because they seriously lack tactical depth and variety.”
graphics
80 mentions
45 % positive mentions
51 % neutral mentions
4 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally described as charming and cartoonish, with a quirky art style that enhances the overall experience. While many players appreciate the visuals and find them suitable for low-end systems, some note that the graphics can occasionally suffer from glitches and lack depth, leading to a perception of shallow gameplay. Overall, the game's aesthetic is well-received, contributing positively to its lighthearted and humorous atmosphere.
- “The graphics and animation quality is very impressive, and I like the design work very much.”
- “The art style is wonderful and lured me into buying the game, but the gameplay loop is very boring.”
- “I love the idea of the game; it's kind of like an open-ended version of FTL with trading and better graphics, like the old school Elite.”
- “Once you get past the art style and futuristic pop music, it goes downhill real quick from there.”
- “The graphics are straight from a mobile port, so they'll appear extremely fuzzy.”
- “At first glance, I was disappointed with the graphics.”
humor
48 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is widely appreciated for its quirky, whimsical style and clever pop culture references, providing a lighthearted atmosphere that enhances the gameplay experience. While many players find the humor engaging and entertaining, some note that it can become repetitive or juvenile over time. Overall, the game successfully incorporates a fun and humorous tone, making it enjoyable for casual gamers, though opinions on its execution and balance vary.
- “The underlying humor in this game is downright hilarious; if you like sly humor, this game is for you.”
- “While at first I was kind of taken aback by it, I quickly loved it, especially as you start finding all the underlying humor and quips at famous movies, punchlines, and even the devs add in their own humor with the writing in-game.”
- “The witty humor and comical movie references really add a refreshing change to present games.”
stability
40 mentions
8 % positive mentions
-5 % neutral mentions
98 % negative mentions
The game's stability is widely criticized, with numerous users reporting significant bugs, frequent crashes, and an overall sense of being unfinished and abandoned by the developers. While some players found enjoyment despite these issues, the consensus leans towards it being a frustrating and unplayable experience due to its poor optimization and lack of support. Overall, many reviewers recommend avoiding the game until substantial improvements are made.
- “The game wasn't really buggy for me at all, and I had fun with it.”
- “I experienced very few issues, which made my gameplay smooth and enjoyable.”
- “The stability of the game allowed me to immerse myself fully without interruptions.”
- “I had such high hopes, but this is unplayably buggy and has been abandoned by the developer.”
- “Unfinished, buggy junk that should not still be sold on Steam (or anywhere else for that matter).”
- “The campaign is buggy as hell, really don't understand all these positive reviews with the amounts of problems I have run into.”
music
24 mentions
58 % positive mentions
29 % neutral mentions
13 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for its catchy and enjoyable qualities, with many players highlighting the "spacy" soundtrack that enhances the overall atmosphere. However, some reviewers noted that the music can become repetitive and lacks variety, which may detract from the experience over time. Overall, while the soundtrack is a standout feature, opinions vary on its long-term appeal.
- “The art, music, atmosphere are all great and I had no problems with performance.”
- “I'm still going to recommend the game, maybe on sale only, because the game's soundtrack is spectacular, and worth the price alone.”
- “The music is groovy, carrying a melody and flow to it that's likely nearly unknown to most of this generation's avid gamers, while the graphics are soft enough to run smoothly on even most low-end graphic specs, without looking remotely distasteful.”
- “Once you get past the art style and futuristic pop music, it goes downhill real quick from there.”
- “The music is like that elevator sound you get, or some sort of old arcade game.”
- “The music is pretty snazzy too!”
grinding
21 mentions
10 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
90 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game has received largely negative feedback, with players noting that it often feels tedious and repetitive, particularly in trading and combat preparation. Many reviewers expressed frustration over the lack of meaningful progression and variety, leading to a sense of burnout from grinding for resources and upgrades. While some players found enjoyment in the initial gameplay, the overwhelming sentiment is that the game devolves into a grind that detracts from the overall experience.
- “Once you get some of the science lab upgrades, things get easier, but I really found the cargo hauling to be the most reliable, if not tedious, way to make money.”
- “Fun interactions between crew, balancing their traits and needs to keep them happy, but not tedious as in some games.”
- “I hit a wall in the game; I'm grinding cash to go forward at a pace I can't justify spending. I could finish it, but I had a computer breakdown that took me away from playing for an extended amount of time, and I just haven't found the desire to finish the grind.”
- “There's very little variety in the content; the trading is grindy but there's nothing you're really grinding towards, and the combat is flat.”
- “It is tediously boring, incredibly shallow, the game's progression is absolutely broken, and the campaign is almost indistinguishable from the sandbox mode.”
optimization
9 mentions
33 % positive mentions
33 % neutral mentions
33 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is a mixed bag; while some players report smooth performance even on low-end systems, others experience significant bugs and performance degradation over time. Many users highlight the need for further polish and optimization, indicating that the game is currently poorly optimized and lacks essential features.
- “The art, music, atmosphere are all great and I had no problems with performance.”
- “Performance is improved.”
- “The music is groovy, carrying a melody and flow to it that's likely nearly unknown to most of this generation's avid gamers, while the graphics are soft enough to run smoothly on even most low-end graphic specs, without looking remotely distasteful.”
- “It's extremely poorly optimized, misses a lot of features, and is buggy as hell.”
- “Totally un-optimized and has bugs galore.”
- “~performance will gradually decrease until the game crashes after about 2 hours.”
atmosphere
7 mentions
71 % positive mentions
29 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its fun, unique charm, and relaxing vibe, enhanced by great art and music. Players appreciate the cartoony graphics and the casual, crew life simulation feel, despite some noting a slightly monotonous gameplay experience. Overall, the atmosphere contributes significantly to the enjoyment of the game.
- “A fun atmosphere and a definite unique charm to it.”
- “The art, music, and atmosphere are all great, and I had no problems with performance.”
- “The atmosphere is relaxing and casual.”
replayability
7 mentions
29 % positive mentions
29 % neutral mentions
43 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's replayability is mixed; while the large, procedurally generated map offers some potential for varied experiences, the limited number of ships and repetitive gameplay detract from long-term engagement. Players express a desire for more variety in combat and ship customization to enhance replay value, but many find the experience ultimately dull and tedious, particularly due to the inability to save progress in campaign mode.
- “The map is large, and unless you're playing in story mode, it is procedurally generated for that extra replay value.”
- “They added some more missions and made the game a bit more stable, which is nice, but it could really use some variety in combat/ship items to add variety to a playthrough and give it some more replay value.”
- “It's repetitive, overly simplistic, and dull with little to no replay value.”
- “They added some more missions and made the game a bit more stable, which is nice, but it could really use some variety in combat/ship items, etc. to add variety to a playthrough and give it some more replay value.”
- “It's repetitive and has a ton of replay value since you can't save your game in campaign mode and have to do the tedious quests over and over.”
monetization
3 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy of the game has been widely criticized as a blatant cash grab, with many users feeling that it prioritizes profit over quality and player experience. Reviewers express disappointment in the game's early access model, suggesting it lacks genuine development effort and may be abandoned shortly after release.
- “Your basic low-level early access cash grab and abandon job.”
- “Cash grab/rip off.”
- “I believe this PC port is more than a blatant cash grab and I want to change my review.”