Crying Suns

Crying Suns is cut from the same cloth as a game called FTL: Faster Than Light. If you're aware of Subset Games' sci-fi roguelike, then you probably already have a fairly good idea about what Crying Suns is all about, although unlike Shortest Trip to Earth, which tries to mimic FTL but with added layers of complexity, this is an adventure that leans away from challenging gameplay and into a story-driven adventure. It almost works perfectly, too.

For starters, Crying Suns looks absolutely great. The pixel art-style is pitched to perfection, with smart, engaging character designs and an intuitive user interface. You see much of the action play out on a giant screen with your characters lined up underneath, and when combat commences you've got a clear overview of the battlefield. If we had to sum up the presentation with one word it'd be "stylish".

The crisp pixels are the visualisation of an intriguing story. Every new run at the game sees you returned as a clone of an old imperial admiral, years after the empire you once protected has fallen apart. It's a smart setup that explains the gameplay loop, and Crying Suns comes with a surprisingly engaging backstory and a fully realised sci-fi universe that we enjoyed discovering more about as we moved through the chapters.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to return a fractured galaxy to prosperity years after it has fallen apart. Years before our adventure, civilisation had been held together by a group of machines called OMNIs, but after they were shut down in a mysterious incident, everything went to hell. To that end, you and your crew must journey through star systems, battling pirates, making ship upgrades, sending your troops down to the surface of alien worlds filled with danger, and talking to the characters you meet along the way.

While there were some fantastic moments, with weighty decisions to be made and upgrades to ponder, there's also a bit of repetition in the various events (it's not terminal to the overall atmosphere, though). In fact, there's a gentle challenge that makes this one of the most relaxing roguelikes we've played (although if you like 'em uncompromising, that's certainly something worth bearing in mind).

One of the most interesting aspects of Crying Suns is the ship-to-ship combat. This part of the game is like FTL except if you were in control of the Battlestar Galactica. Not only are your weapons on cooldown timers and you need to target certain parts of enemy ships, but you also have to coordinate your own fighter units and engage those sent by your opponent on a hex-based battlefield that sits between the two main ships. There are moments when this blend of ingredients comes together brilliantly, however, it was also a little too easy at times, especially early on.

We're assuming that the relatively gentle challenge is because the developers wanted players to get lost in the story, and that's a perfectly reasonable approach to take, although a more punishing experience might have added a bit more high stakes drama to the combat and, in turn, the overall adventure. We're not going to argue with the direction taken because it resulted in a distinctive and engaging sci-fi adventure with some good ideas and a lot of style, and if you enjoyed FTL then we'd say this one is definitely worth taking a punt on.