Cosmochoria Steam Early Access

Here at NoobFeed, we've been keeping our eyes on a tiny, cheerful, naked cosmonaut. Throughout the year, indie developer Nate Schmold has gained a lot of attention due to the little protagonist, finding success with his game Cosmochoria through Kickstarter and Steam Greenlight. Moreover, come the 29th of September, Cosmochoria will be available on Steam as an early access game.  

The story of the cute, pistol-wielding cosmonaut begins in a far-off galaxy. The little guy exists to save the universe, ridding it of evil aliens and restoring it to its natural state. To do so, the cosmonaut plants seeds on the galaxy's planets, watching trees and flowers bloom, bringing the planets colorfully back to life. While giving life, the cosmonaut is also taking it from the aliens that seek to destroy him. To protect the planets, using a laser pistol, explosive devices, and protective towers, players take down enemies big and small.

While fighting for the life of the galaxy, if not careful, the cosmonaut loses health, and players may struggle to keep him strong. Have no fear, though; once a planet is fully restored, it gives off health, bringing the cosmonaut back to his lively self.

As life returns, players collect seeds from the luscious, colorful plants and crystals from deceased aliens who just happen to poop the gems as they die. As mentioned, seeds are used to plant more greenery and crystals are used to purchase further weapons, health, jetpack fuel and other helpful perks. Moving from one planet to the other, along with the cosmonaut, players become one step closer to a high score and saving the galaxy.

We took a look at Cosmochoria back in March, and we loved it. Since then, a lot of changes have been made, with updates to the game happening on a near weekly basis. First off, when jumping into the game, a more colorful introduction is noticeable, introducing players to the personality that is Nate Schmold and his world of Cosmochoria. The atmosphere of the galaxy has been tweaked a bit, with some added graphics including the word 'bloop' - a minor but friendly addition, seen hovering above the cosmonaut when planting. After successfully rejuvenating a planet, circular clouds appear in the atmosphere, giving players a more gratifying feeling of success with the added eye candy. These little additions were perhaps not necessary, but lovely all the same.      

New characters have been placed in the world of Cosmochoria, first noticeably, an annoying, boxy robot that can be quite ruthless to defeat. Furthermore, new non-player characters include a space worm farmer, a military man and a navigator alien. All three provide more to the storyline and help players upgrade and unlock items. Pets are recently added, discoverable creatures within Cosmochoria and will help players on their adventure, helping plant seeds and defeat the aliens.

Mr. Schmold is the kind of developer every gamer loves. He listens, takes feedback and, more importantly, he's made changes to Cosmochoria when people have reached out with complaints and suggestions. Apparently, there were enough people annoyed by a control in the game that automatically spins the screen to align with the cosmonaut as he encircles a planet. There's now an option to disable that spin, and many more happy Cosmochoria fans.

When playing Cosmochoria in its rawest form, it felt like a complete game. One that could be enjoyed for hours without complaint. It was surprising then that Schmold announced an early access release date for his action adventure game. He has his reasons, and they'll only make what could come close to a perfect game.  

"Though I have put painstaking effort to ensure Cosmochoria is a rich and fun experience from even the earliest public build,” Schmold writes on Cosmochoria's Steam page, “I feel there is still some work to get it to a stage where I would consider it 100% complete. Launching the game in early access gives me a chance to continue development on the game while it is already available to gamers to experience the game at its current stage. Having the brand and connotation of Early Access relieves some of the pressures of having the game *perfect* on launch day and will allow me to continue to build awareness, support and feedback for the game while I work towards its final release.”

With a seemingly perfectionist of a developer, and Cosmochoria's official release coming in 2015, it'll be exciting to see just how far the game will come, and just how perfect it will be. Until then, Cosmochoria  is one of those games worth purchasing through Steam early access.

Megan Bethke (@XboxBetty), NoobFeed