Remains

Remains give the initial impression of a game putting you in the shoes of a glorified space mechanic. But you know what? That sounds OK! The development is still in early access but causing some intrigue amongst the indie community given its colorful perspective of spacecraft and engineering. It certainly looks like one that could provide some entertainment!

Put why the name Remains? At first glance, it would seem like it's a trivial job for your mechanic to go out there and do a few repairs to your spaceship. However, not is all that it seems. Turns out there's been an intergalactic disaster, and you're a ranger left to survive in the solitude of space. The wreckages are all you have to build a base for survival. Alright then, let's go!

Like Ships Passing in the Night

The narrative for Remains is not particularly intricate but does the job of explaining how you got here. Allegedly, some terrible incident has sent a flotilla of spaceships to their doom, blowing up after whatever happened (it's never really explained). What you do know, though, is that you need to survive. Why? Just because.

You'll need to use your wit, creativeness, and productivity prowess to survive with that established. Players will be exploring space by their lonesome, salvaging parts of dead ships to build their very own space station. I guess it's at this point you're going to rebuild civilization for what it's worth? Given the mechanics, that would probably seem about right.

You'll be crafting, researching, manufacturing, and ultimately creating a new home. But the hindrance is that you need food and oxygen to survive, so you'll spend much of your time trying to figure out how to get that. As interesting as it sounds, Remains sandbox-survival mechanics are at a stage where they are a bit clunky. Ultimately, it feels difficult to get anything done.

That's not to say you can have a bit of fun with the game, though. The intergalactic setting is beautiful, with a vibrant color palette and a fascinating array of ship wreckage to filter through. However, all just seems a bit messy and complex at the moment. Remains is an early access game, so feedback is welcome, and we'd say that it could do with a bit of streamlining right now!

That's No Moon

Remains needs work, no doubt about that, but it feels like it's on the right track. The single-player can be pretty fun if you can circumvent some frustrating UI and mechanics. But it's still far away from similar space sandbox games like Astroneer, which surprisingly managed to grip people despite its peculiar design choices in visuals and mechanics.

Round-Up - Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Great concept of building from wreckages
• Visuals are vibrant and attractive
• A lot of potential with the current sandbox mechanics

Cons:

• Controls are stiff and frustrating
• UI is unintuitive
• Doesn't feel like there's many directions at the moment