Fish! Tea! Time! Space! An ‘immersive horror sim’! Stopping the sun from not burning anymore but also not getting burnt in the process! Locally Sourced Anthology I: A Space Atlas does not, somewhat disappointingly, offer the infinite possible game concepts that space allows for. It’s got eight though, which I must say is a good start. Eight experimental indies from different developers, each equally taking part in space as the last.
The anthology comes from Locally Sourced, a Michigan-based collective. I’ve done the math, and Michigan is roughly the same distance from space as the rest of the planet, so it’s not like they’ve got a monopoly on this stuff. Still, if the below trailer is anything to go by, their rather average distance from space has not stifled their collective idea observatory. Look at space. Look at it.
Personal picks here include Neputalania, which features a sort of Dredge-esque inventory tetris with caught fish, and lovely lookin’ RPG Don't Sing Me The Blues, Please, Sing Me A BRIGHT RED SONG OF LOVE! The exclamation mark is the game’s. Hey, game. That’s my job! You are forgiven, though, because that's a brazen title if I ever saw one.
As well as through that Itch link at the top, you can find LSAI:ASA on Steam, releasing tomorrow (July 23rd). On a completely unrelated note, I wrote a piece about Cities: Skylines 2 ages ago and now whenever I visit Steam in my browser - like just now trying to find that link - it autofills the address to this Big Butt Skinner balloon mod. Is this a sign? Is space itself trying to tell me something? Something about butts? Some mysteries are best left floating in the ether.
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