Developer: Robot Gentleman
Publisher: Robot Gentleman
Platform: Switch, PC, PS4, Xbox One, Android, iOS
Tested on: PC
60 Parsecs! – Review
Before we delve into 60 Parsecs!, we should point out that this isn’t a new game in the slightest- in fact, it’s been around since 2018. Why are we only now taking a look at this game, five years after it launched, you ask? Well, 60 Parsecs! recently got a massive free content update, which added a boatload of content to Robot Gentleman’s survival game. Since we hadn’t gotten around to looking at the game when it originally launched, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to take an in-depth look at what this survival title has to offer. No matter if you’ve never heard of the game or if it’s been on your radar for quite some time, read on to find out if 60 Parsecs! is a title worth picking up.
Story
Although the way 60 Parsecs!’ story unfolds will be different from run to run, depending on the decisions you make throughout, the premise remains the same: you are a crew member on a space station, but disaster is about to strike. You have 60 seconds to grab whatever (and whoever) you can and throw them into an escape pod before the space station goes kaboom. After this happens, you (and hopefully some of your trusty crew members) need to find a way to survive until you can be rescued… The game then has tons of branching storylines and many different endings, and the aforementioned free content update massively expands on these, including storylines focused on Astrocats and Space Dogs! What we appreciate is that this isn’t just a game about surviving as long as possible – there are actual storylines to complete and different endings to unlock, including boss fights against massive space monsters!
Graphics
The cartoonish art style is definitely one of 60 Parsecs!’ highlights, and despite the majority of the game taking place in a single location, there is far more visual variety than you’d expect. As time progresses, the escape pod deteriorates and the crew starts to look worse for wear. It was a joy to see the attention to detail, like empty soup cans and hasty repairs pop up as time passed. Likewise, the environments visible through the window change as well. 60 Parsecs! isn’t a game that is visually taxing but it does what it needs to do within its limited scope. Much of the game’s humor is derived from its visuals and although we would have preferred some actual animation rather than mostly still images, the lack of motion didn’t really affect our gameplay experience. We should also give special mention to the posters shown on-screen whenever the game is loading, as these were full of character and never failed to make us crack a smile.
Sound
With no voice acting present and only limited sound effects, the star of the show is the OST, which takes inspiration from the music you’d expect from classic sci-fi B-movies from the ’60s, infused with theremin sounds. This feels appropriate but ultimately unremarkable and forgettable.
Gameplay
If you’re an avid reader of the site, you may get a sense of déjà-vu when it comes to 60 Parsecs!’ gameplay. The game shares more than a bit of DNA with 60 Seconds! Reatomized, which we reviewed last year… (and in 2020, and in 2019.. and in 2015. Boy, Robot Gentleman sure likes rereleasing their content). This shouldn’t be all that surprising given that both games come to us from the same developer. If you’re unfamiliar with that previous game, here’s a brief recap of how both 60 Parsecs! and 60 Seconds! Reatomized are structured: after a short introduction, you have 60 seconds to grab as many things as possible -including NPCs. Once this is done, you’ll have to make do with what you were able to gather to survive as long as possible in a point-and-click adventure of sorts that is built around optimizing limited resources and making decisions.
The main difference between 60 Seconds! Reatomized and 60 Parsecs! is the game’s setting: in the former game, you’re dealing with a typical American family aiming to survive after a nuclear bomb has fallen, whereas 60 Parsecs! sees you take control of a space station escape pod and its crew. Once this happens, you’ll need to check your communications log every day to see how the crew is doing, and gradually you’ll unlock more options, like the ability to craft items or send a crew member outside on expeditions to gather resources. You don’t have to do everything every day if you wish to save energy or resources, but you will need to deal with a single random event, which often involves making a decision, whether it’s which item to use or which crew member will deal with a crisis situation. These randomized events keep each run unique and they make the game feel fresh, but even so, 60 Parsecs! can end up feeling repetitive after a while, so it’s better to break up runs with a palette cleansing game occasionally.
Either way, it’s an intriguing concept gameplay-wise, and it’s built around trial and error. 60 Parsecs! is deliberately sparse with information, and it’s likely that you’ll need to play it several times to figure out just how all the mechanics work. This can lead to some early game frustration as your options are limited at the start but decent management of resources and knowing what to upgrade when opens up new possibilities and the game becomes more rewarding on subsequent runs. Note that events are randomized and that you’ll need to deal with a single event every day. You won’t always have the resources to appropriately respond to these, which in turn can lead to a snowballing effect, and a streak of bad events can really ruin a run as you don’t have the time to deal with the fallout of a negative event. There is plenty of replayability here, as well as the incentive to try out different strategies: do you grab as many crew members as possible, meaning you’ll have to worry about how resources are distributed, or do you limit your crew, meaning you’ll have fewer things you can do in the long run?
We did notice that there were some issues with the PC version of the game. While the game offers two distinct settings, for some reason, it didn’t stick with the layout we selected, instead reverting to the opposite one, which was a bit of an issue during the 60-second item grabbing run. Fortunately, the game does have controller support, and after we switched to that, we were able to play without a hitch for the most part (except for a single instance where we couldn’t click anything with a controller and for some reason had to use our mouse to click once, after which things went back to normal). Hopefully, these are things that can be patched out down the line because apart from the aforementioned issues, 60 Parsecs! is a decent little game.
Aside from the base content itself, which should be enough to motivate completionists, there are also achievements to unlock (in the Steam version at least) as well as a handy checklist so you can keep track of how many of the endings and events you have found. Add to this that the game already considers surviving for a number of days something that is share-worthy (as you can see in the screenshot below) and it’s clear that there is plenty of opportunity for anyone that cares about bragging rights to get mileage out of the game. For the more casual player, this might not be a major selling point, but it does highlight that there is plenty of content to be found here, and even if you completed 60 Parsecs! years ago, there is no better time to revisit the game if you’re a completionist.
Conclusion
By changing the setting from a nuclear fallout shelter to outer space, developer Robot Gentleman breathes new life into 60 Seconds! Reatomized’s gameplay. While 60 Parsecs! doesn’t really do anything new compared to its predecessor, the core gameplay formula remains fun. We would’ve liked a better explanation of some of the mechanics, and we hope a patch is coming around soon to take care of the glitches we ran into, but even in its current state, 60 Parsecs! is worth looking into if you’re a fan of Robot Gentleman’s previous offering or if you’re simply curious about the gameplay concept. Even if you’re already familiar with the game, there’s an incentive to return here just to experience the new content update.
60 Parsecs! - Review,
No Comments