60 Parsecs! (PC) Review

By Athanasios 12.01.2021

Review for 60 Parsecs! on PC

In Robot Gentleman's 60 Seconds! the task was to grab resources and family members as fast as possible, and then run straight to an underground shelter to survive the nuclear apocalypse for as long as possible. 60 Parsecs! is pretty much the same, only, instead of hiding out inside a basement, the characters here will have to escape into the big unknown via a spacecraft. Sadly, while it features a very good cartoony art style, and some fine, humorous writing, this isn't that big (or fun) on gameplay.

The sirens have just started screaming. Oh, oh. Seems like the inevitable nuclear annihilation will begin in a minute, so you need to grab whatever supplies you can, and jump to the trusty(?) spacecraft of the government's Astrocitizen program, and escape Earth. Don't forget to choose a few crewmembers too, as you'll need all the help you can get. Done? Great! Now you can sit back and enjoy the ride, because while this started as a sort of action mini-game, with the chosen protagonist running around a station, and picking up items, the rest of the experience plays a lot like the text adventures of old, with the view always being the crammed room of a shuttle.

From now on, this becomes a game of resource management, where the task is to stay alive as long as possible. Survival here translates to feeding the crew (and you, the captain), and making sure they stay sane, and healthy. When it comes to food, the only type available is canned soup. Sanity revolves around entertainment, thus never underestimate the power of sock puppets. On the bright side (sort of), the crew tends to starve much faster than it gets bored - on the flipside, it's easier to get hurt, which requires the use of a precious medical kit. Unless you like sharing the room you are in with a corpse, that is. Oh, yeah, anyone willing to give 60 Parsecs! a shot should know that it is super hard.

Screenshot for 60 Parsecs! on PC

Everything is against you, almost to the point of unfairness, with Lady Luck doing whatever she feels like - and that's pretty much intentional. That's a very important note. While this is supposed to a strategy title, it's less about being a smart tactician, and more about just getting yourself immersed in the incoming chaos, accept, and enjoy failure. Even if this is your bag, however, the whole thing can get extremely annoying, and very often, as you don't ever feel like you are in control (not even a little), no matter how hard you think about what your next move will be. Above all, even if this was better on the strategy front, it sadly still wouldn't be that fun…

Gameplay-wise, this is a tad more complex than a visual novel. Each day, which is basically a turn, lets one choose who to feed, entertain, or heal, who to send on an expedition on the planet the shuttle has crash-landed on, and what should be crafted next. Beyond that, each and every day offers some sort of problem that must be addressed. Dangerous gases are spilling into the cabin! Who should you send to deal with that? A virus has entered the ship's AI! What tool should be used? An evil 'Space Communist' has appeared (this takes place in the '60s, after all). Quick! Shoot him until dead. Simple, repetitive, and, most of all, with luck once more dictating what the outcome will be.

In the end, this is all about the writing, and zany, cartoony feel it has. The humorous comments by the Computer; the Atomic Age-theme, vibrantly colorful, Flash Gordon visuals, and Theremin-filled OST; the funny-looking 'Spacecitizens,' and how they change depending on their wellbeing and how many days have passed, and so on and forth. Charming as all these are, however, they simply aren't enough, and thus don't manage to fill the large gaps left by the subpar, and flawed gameplay. A better version of 60 Parsecs! exists somewhere, which has either embraced it's create-your-own-adventure side, or has focused solely on being a great turn-based strategy.

Screenshot for 60 Parsecs! on PC

Cubed3 Rating

5/10
Rated 5 out of 10

Average

It's hard being hard on 60 Parsecs! because it's far from one of those thousands of unoriginal, and badly made indies that plague the industry nowadays. Robot Gentleman's "sequel" to 60 Seconds!, has tons of charm, with its tongue-in-cheek humour, neat Atomic Age vibe, and cartoony visuals - it's just that it fails both as a strategy title, as well as a create-your-own-adventure experience, because it turns out that, no matter how well you get at it, Lady Luck will be in charge of this space ride, not you.

Developer

Robot Gentleman

Publisher

Robot Gentleman

Genre

Strategy

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  5/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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