Space programs across the world need a lot of buy-in from their governments, as well as some support from the population at large. In Astronaut: The Best the government is in fact five High Priests with their own agendas, and the population have no faith in the program. Enter you, as the new director of the Flaustrian Space Academy; the last one was killed for failing to get astronauts to Space. This is no normal space program though as you’ll be relying on more than the old centrifugal training, with a spot of supernatural assistance seeing you casting spells and conversing with spirits.
In Astronaut: The Best there are a number of things to juggle such as gaining favour with the High Priests or raising the glory of the space academy. Correblanch is the High Priest of the Sun who looks favourably upon ideas of purity and decency, whereas High Priest Inside-Track is all about money and the market. To gain favour with him making choices that are financially beneficial are key. Rulu is the High Priest of the Book of Knowledge, and she’s also a witch. She gives you access to creating spells that can be used to improve your astronauts’ stats, as well as improve favour with the gods. Starnat is the protector of Flaustria, and Morningdew is High Priest of the Moon.
At the same time, you have the astronauts themselves to train, and you have the standard training such as fitness, piloting, and studying… but, that’s not all. Flaustrain society also places emphasis on charm and beauty. Each pilot has a rating for each of these five categories which can be improved from training, as well as through the events that take place in the game. The astronauts can be an unruly bunch, and you’ll often have to intervene to prevent the program being disgraced. For example, exactly how do you handle an astronaut that has been caught in an alley with their pants down and a lit match in their hands?
Each day you have the opportunity to spend money to train your astronauts in one of the five categories. In each mission, you will have a big objective to reach for, usually in the guise of raising the glory of the space academy. In the first mission, the objective is to prepare two astronauts to appear on the national TV show The All Seeing Eye, where they will carry out feats. The showcase is tough as anything less than a 100 rating is deemed a failure. If you succeed you are set to head to space, which means more training and expectations to meet. Failure usually means the end of the mission and your dismissal from the role of director. Picking the right astronaut is key here, as they all have their own ratings, strengths, weaknesses, and traits. Traits can be a boon or a curse to your overall mission, and range from everything such as being a Maverick, which boosts piloting, to being bullied by animals.
Pegged as an ‘occult management sim’ the gameplay functions as a simulation, with resource management being a key component, while making different choices can lead to different paths. Each decision decides the fate of the program and how will it is perceived in Flaustria. Astronaut: The Best, meaning it’s up to you to both fire rockets into space, and make everyone else feel good about it. Astronaut: The Best is shaping up to be one of those games that is easy to pick up and play, but hard to master as each run will randomise the astronauts you get, meaning some runs will be harder than others. After our hands-on with the Alpha, It’s definitely one to keep an eye on if you enjoy comedy and management games.
Astronaut: The Best is due to release later this year on PC, and you can play the Alpha by joining the game’s Discord server.
