Developer: Robot Gentleman
Publisher: Robot Gentleman
Platform: PC, Mac, Switch
Tested on: PC
60 Seconds! Reatomized – Review
One minute is an incredibly short time span to do anything in, let alone save yourself, your possessions and your loved ones from an incoming nuclear blast. Not to mention whatever horrors come afterward during the end of the world. But that’s exactly what 60 Seconds! is all about. Over 4 years ago this post-apocalyptic survival game allowed us to try our hand at conserving our resources and making it out alive. Now, in this remastered version of the game, we get to do it all over again, with improved art, new challenges and a whole vault full of extra content.
Story
Ted and his family are back for this remastered edition of course. Ted is just a regular guy living a fairly normal life with his wife, son, and daughter during the 50s in America. Sadly, trouble is afoot and it all comes to a head when the most dreaded thing for everybody during the cold war actually happens; an atomic bomb is dropped on Ted’s lovely little neighborhood. Luckily there was an alarm to warn them and the family had just enough time to grab some supplies and duck into their shelter. But it will be hard to survive the nuclear winter, with food and water always running low and many strange people knocking at their door.
Graphics
As there are two parts to the game we also should discuss the graphics for both here. First, there is the part when the alarm actually goes off. Animated in 3D you will have to scramble through a delightfully retro-looking house to gather up your supplies and loved ones. The animation isn’t the prettiest in the world, but it’s quirky and fun and it works well for this short section which isn’t even meant to be the main game.
The main game is animated in 2D. It’s good looking, but it should be mentioned that the image is mostly static. However, you will notice subtle changes as the story progresses, you find new items or even pets. The way the characters change as time passes, visually showing how this ordeal is taking its toll on them (including things like their hair growing longer and their clothes getting dirtier) is incredibly fun and keeps the game from becoming boring.
Sound
60 seconds has some really catchy music. You will often find yourself humming along to the tunes, even if it’s a little annoying that you’ll notice yourself listening to the same song over and over again because the repertoire seems just a little limited. There’s a whole array of sound effects to spice things up though: gunshots, radio chatter and the occasional knock at your vault door.
Gameplay
60 Seconds! Reatomized is a post-apocalyptic survival game. As we mentioned above there are two chunks to the game: a short part where you actually run around your house and grab as many supplies as you can in the minute before the bomb drops, and the main game which is all about surviving. Mostly you do this by reading a text and taking decisions. Each day you are presented with a short snippet of how your family is doing. Then it is time to ration your food and water. You can make sure everybody gets some, only provide for certain people, or you can decide nobody gets to eat or drink anything. This might make your supplies last longer but it also won’t be very healthy for your survivors, and that is clearly a bad thing.
Especially considering the next thing you need to do is decide if you want to venture into the wasteland and search for more supplies. It’s a dangerous mission that can only be undertaken by healthy and well-rested family members, and it makes them and the items they take with them unavailable for at least a few days. But if you’re lucky they come back with all kinds of goodies that will make it easier to survive. The last page of the day is reserved for special events. Either because other survivors are nearby (friendly or not at all friendly) or something is happening in your shelter (anything from plain old boredom to mutant spiders). You will often be presented with choices, such as trading certain things with friendly survivors. Sometimes you need a certain item to do whatever needs to be done. If you do not have this item, you will be unable to complete the event, which often would involve you gaining something or progressing the story.
There are multiple game modes to choose from. The traditional survival mode is as described above. You can also choose to do only the first section, running around and gathering supplies, which might be a good way to practice. You can also choose to skip that part and go straight into the shelter stuff. Newly added for this remastered edition of the game there are also a bunch of challenges, where you have set objectives to complete while also surviving.
Conclusion
60 seconds! Reatomized takes a game that was already good and adds just the right amount of new stuff to make it worth playing again. Upgraded art and fun little details make the game nice to look at, while the new challenges expand the content for even more playtime. If you’d like to be a doomsday prepper, this is the game for you.
60 Seconds! Reatomized - Review,
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