Review TBL explores Out There: Oceans of Time

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Mi-Clos Studio; Out There: Oceans of Time

Turn Based Lovers offers up their take of Out There: Oceans of Time, a space faring "rogue-like". It covers many aspects of the game with the author's favorite part seeming to be the exploration part of the game. Which, yeah, space games and exploration kind of go together like peas and carrots. He seems to not like the early game, particularly the resource management. The overall score is a 7. Here's a brief snippet:

One of the main features of Out There: Oceans of Time is Exploration. This is where in my opinion the game most shines. You will be going from system to system, with random events showing up, and flying over to nearby planets. The latter you can then scan for something interesting – an anomaly of sorts. Finding it gives an option to go on an expedition to the planet. After landing, you end up on a grid-like map, with the crew you’ve selected for the journey. From there, you just move across the planet’s surface, gathering resources, possibly navigating trap areas and, finally, solving events.​

Say what you want about games that call themselves rogue-like these days, and I'll be one of the first people to say that tag is way overused and abused, but they don't seem to be shoe-horned in to a setting or genre like more classic CRPGs seem to be. Also, the more CRPGs set in space, with space ships, and planetary exploration, the better as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Late Bloomer]

The exploration definitely appears to be the most interesting part of the game. The learning curve looks a tad monotonous. Once you decide to set out and explore a planet, a small cutscene plays of your ship landing then you select your party. Here is a default youtuber exploring a planet.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

The exploration definitely appears to be the most interesting part of the game.

You know, I was curious how the more puritanical of the rogue-like enthusiasts would look at a space faring game that called itself a rogue-like, particularly when it came to the lack of things that could be randomly generated. I was under the assumption that generating a solar system wouldn't qualify to meet the more strict definitions of the genre to them. However, it looks like this game's planet exploration would fit that bill.

I can also see how the resource management in the beginning could be annoying. It almost reminds me of No Man's Sky's early game inventory management.

 

[Fenix]

Prospector RL...