Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop

This game is incredible! It does not deserve the mixed review. It is a challenging game with upgrades and 2 different play styles to ease the parts that frustrate you. It's not a casual puzzle game. I've improved my runs every single time. The modules and manual give me Keep Talking but single player, story feels somewhere between Cult of Lamb and Dave the Diver, art style is unique but decisive. It's a well rounded and complete experience. An easy yes for the price.

Accidentally installed a slug in the toilet and the poor guy's ship exploded.

A game about getting instructions you don't have time to read... and then being punished when you don't follow them! I actually find this hilarious and think it's a great formula. But, I think your opinion might depend on your personality and what you want out of the game. There's definitely a lot of intimidating moments where you'll read instructions for like, "Artificial Intelligence Module" and "Consult the following diagram to determine the AI's target mood" and you're just thinking to yourself... Are you kidding me!? This is impossible! And yet 20 or 30 days later you're like... "AI modules? Ha! Give me something difficult!" So, the learning curve is really rewarding and fun -- seeing a machine that's really confusing and intimidating, breaking it down and figuring out all the patterns and shortcuts, and then just knocking out the repairs faster than you ever thought possible.

It's really incredible how you can use a few great concepts and ruin it by mixing them together. I have played the same 3 days of this game now about 5 times. I started with the timed jobs - I don't generally enjoy time pressure, but it really comes down to how that is handled. So the intro and tutorial isn't terrible - there is a book with everything you need to know, here is a job you can repeat until you got it - fine. But the timed jobs require you to learn all possible repair tasks beforehand - not a fan. So, after not getting rent and being mashed into paste, I start a new game without time pressure (I thought). Three jobs a day is also way more than I could pull off anyway. Now I made the necessary money, and getting more the hang of the repair jobs. I quite like all the different machines and options of what can break and how to analyze them. I have the time to look into the manual - which of course isn't as straight forward and clear as you would like it. Then I get a new Job with a "Fatal" Tag. Well, I have all the time I need, right? Right? No. After getting the todo list with "Reactor needs immediate attention", I flip to the page in the manual, try to read the paragraph and then the reactor explodes. In the game mode I specifically went to, to have all the time in the world. Are you kidding me? Well, it is a roguelike. Even thought I don't know why it would be. Another run, and by now I'm a professional! I can fix most of the things without looking up too much. I have lots of money and this time it's not a reactor, but a bunch of pipe bombs. BUT this time I read what to do before accepting the job! I'm proud of myself! Then the next ship lands and the customer shoots me dead. This is my limit. I don't care anymore. Finally, a game where repairing stuff isn't a simplistic mini-game, but it forces me to replay the same scenarios with the same jobs again and again. I have failed multiple times to make rent or failed to open a safe - all my fault and going back didn't feel great but at least it was deserved. This didn't have to be a roguelike. How exactly is doing the same easy jobs again helping with replayability?

ADHD + reading instructions = BAD... however, I do not back down from a challenge and I will reign supreme.

Read the other reviews, no use restating. TL;DR is that reactors are blatantly un-fun for pretty much everybody, the concept of the game being a rogue-lite is clearly a relic from early on in the dev cycle that really should've been dropped and makes the game a total slog after your first run, and the third boss is very unforgiving for its lack of a way to practice, but there's a really charming world and satisfying mechanics here if you can get past all of that. First 5 or so hours, 9/10. After that, 6/10. Also hasn't gotten an update in a couple of months at the time of writing.

I find this game really enjoyable as it's difficulty is just right. The gameplay slowly gets tougher as the days just flies by (in game), and i really like the progression. Each of the chores in the game has multiple problems to solve/check, which also makes for a good game. The sound track, gets me really focused, and i have now added it on my spotify. I have an issue though. The bobblehead doesn't seem to respawn after i cut it down in a run. Restarting the game didn't fix it. So i hope it will reapear in an upcoming run. The grimore is made super well, and it's one of the things i really enjoy looking in, to see what to do, or what i did wrong xD I would absolutely recommend this game, and i think it is worth the asking price. So if it is discounted, I wouln't hesitate on grabbing this game and jumping straigt into it. A little heads up... YOU will DIE multiple times. But every time you master a module, it feels so goood.. The first couple of days are getting kinda dull. So maybe prioritise buying the upgrade to skip the first RENT. as it can help with this issue.. I only just bougt it (Skip rent), just prior to this review :) I hope to find more time to play this gem.

Pros: - Addictive gameplay loop that really allows you to train your rocket-fixing skills as you play (and die and restart and die) - Allows you to choose how difficult you want the game to be - Cute and quirky art - NPCs with a lot of character - Funny writing with an interesting but not-too-complicated storyline - Many fun endings and routes that cause variations in play - Additional optional secret puzzles and challenges Cons: - Loaded with bugs, though they are often addressed by the devs and get patched out at a regular rate. Earlier on there were a lot of soft locks that occurred but I believe they fixed them rather quickly. - Not great if you're not good at reading directions or have trouble with learning new rules - May be difficult for individuals with colorblindness I bought this game right around the time of release and have been recommending it to everyone since. It's not necessarily a game for everyone, but as someone who loves building IKEA furniture and time-pressure, it's definitely been my favorite roguelite since I opened it.

Has it's flaws, but worth it for all it does right. Exactly what I've wanted for a long time.

Fun gameplay. Challenging puzzles. Cute graphics. Funny story. 10/10

Personal opinion, play on focused fixing if you want to actually enjoy the more rogue-like elements of the game. It feels akin to how the game is *meant* to be played for me. Other than that, the game is quite excellent. Definitely recommend overall.

A solo roguelite hommage to "Keep talking and nobody explodes". Only with space ships. gods, swines, donuts, dark rituals, faction wars and one happy half-fox guy. Surprisingly wholesome experience - the only issue I found that it keeps a bit repetitive if you want to grind fate tokens or underestimate the seriousness of reactor-bearing ships. The devs had all the tools to deal with it, but in my opinion did not put enough random encounters and variability. Other than that - very good game, 9/10, would die from radiation again (because some cheap hack used 3 full oil bottles for FTL drive insulation).

Amazing roguelite, hilarious writing. Can be a touch difficult to start with, but it's designed for you to pick up mastery quickly.

corndig