Space games should be scary.

Space games should be scary.

Captain’s Log: Space Games – Where Terror Meets Awe

Ahoy there, fellow space adventurers! Welcome back to Captain’s Log, the place where we explore the wonders of the cosmos and dive into how video games beautifully capture its essence. If you’ve missed any of our previous logs, fear not, you can catch up on all the interstellar action in the Captain’s Log archive. Prepare your hyperdrives, because we’re about to embark on an exhilarating journey through the thrilling and often comically catastrophic world of space games!

Let’s start with Kerbal Space Program, a sandbox gem that brings out the best (and worst) in aspiring space explorers. Picture our little green friend, the Kerbal, his face stoically passive as his hastily constructed ship goes off course, spiraling towards certain doom. Oops. It’s moments like these that make Kerbal Space Program an absolute joy – watching in existential dread as your ships fall apart, run out of fuel, or worse, vanish into the infinite darkness, never to be seen again. Goodbye, my sweet rocket.

Now, with Bethesda’s highly anticipated Starfield on the horizon, I’ve been surveying the space game landscape, seeking out experiences that will prepare me for the terrors that await. And oh boy, did Star Wars: Squadrons deliver! As I sat trembling in the cockpit, laser fire relentlessly pounding against the canopy like a chaotic symphony, I couldn’t help but feel a mix of sheer panic and adrenaline. Sparks flew from the dashboard, alarms blared around me, and all my attempts to divert power to shields proved futile. Just another day in space!

What makes space such an incredible backdrop for games, you ask? For starters, the cockpit dashboards meld perfectly with our trusty game pads, keyboards, and flight sticks. And let’s not forget the fragility of starfighters. There’s nothing quite like the vulnerability one feels when sitting in a cockpit, under fire from enemy ships. Your shields fizzle out, leaving you exposed to the relentless barrage of enemy fire. The tension mounts as they lay siege to your hull, and before you know it, BAM! Your ship explodes in a spectacular burst of superheated gas. It’s not just a mere health bar dwindling down to zero; it’s a full-blown catastrophe that makes you question your life choices.

But space games offer more than just swift deaths and panic-inducing moments. They can also provide awe-inspiring and terrifying experiences. Take Outer Wilds, for example. In this quirky adventure, you embark on a wonky little craft, traversing nearby moons and planets in search of scattered logs. However, the cosmos has other plans for you. You’ll find yourself bouncing off moons and space stations with an amusing “bonk,” only to be helplessly drawn towards the nearest star and flung into the furthest reaches of known space. Disorientation sets in as space-time swirls around you, leaving you without a sense of up or down. Your carefully laid plans crumble away, replaced by an overwhelming desire to stabilize yourself and find a safe spot to land.

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And let’s not forget the surprises that await among the stars. Even the map in Outer Wilds is delightfully strange, with peculiar celestial bodies like the Hourglass Twins, two planetoids engaged in an eternal cosmic dance, or the enigmatic Dark Bramble that conceals who knows what. The possibilities are endless, and that’s what makes space so captivating!

Remember that old Star Trek episode where the Enterprise gets caught in a giant pink space amoeba? Yes, that’s the kind of deadly and delightfully odd scenario I live for in games. The Outer Wilds captures that same magic, transporting us to the far reaches of our imagination.

Outer Wilds trailer

Amidst the expansive planets that Starfield promises, I hope to encounter a few similarly strange and awe-inspiring places. While there’s no shortage of monster-slaying adventures out there, only space games have the power to make me feel truly lost, vulnerable, panicked, and sometimes very, very small. For those seeking the ultimate space terror experience, I wholeheartedly recommend EVE Online. In this vast universe of unchecked human enterprise, I prefer to take my mining ship and head to a desolate cluster of asteroids, far from the meddling reach of corporations. As I zoom out, and out some more, my ship becomes nothing more than a tiny speck against the glorious backdrop of nebulae. In those moments, I can’t help but ponder the fate of that poor Kerbal, spinning off into the cosmos, and marvel at the immense, uncaring, and irresistibly terrifying nature of the final frontier.

So buckle up, fellow adventurers, and get ready to defy gravity, explore the unknown, and create your own tales of triumph and catastrophe in the vastness of space. The stars are calling, and it’s time to embark on the adventure of a lifetime!

First published in the Captain’s Log archive. Till next time, space pioneers!