Free to Xbox Gold Subscriptions this month, this strange local multiplayer game has managed to hook my household. The question is how?
First of all, what is the game?
Out of Space Couch Edition is a multiplayer game that offers an excellent gaming experience for both novice and expert players. The game is set in outer space, where players take on the role of space explorers tasked with maintaining and cleaning a spaceship, that has been invaded by aliens who like making a mess.
The game’s Couch Edition version is particularly designed for local multiplayer, allowing players to team up with their friends or family and work together to keep the ship clean and the aliens at bay.
The game offers various modes, but the hook is the randomly generated ships that force a team of up to four players to rid the ship of the alien menace. Menace is harsh as the aliens are actually quite cute until they really annoy you.
The potential is there for endless fun and replayability, making it an ideal game to play with friends or family.
What about the Aliens?
The alien threat in Out of Space Couch Edition can be seen as a metaphor for a plague or virus in movies.
As mentioned before, the game’s setting is in a spaceship, which acts as the perfect confined space to show how the outbreak of a virus can cause a pandemic.
As the aliens in the game move along the floor they leave a slime trail which can infect the room, grow eggs and even cocoon the players. When this happens a shower or bucket of water is the only cure.
This means the game’s primary objective is to maintain and clean the ship while battling against the alien infestation. Just like in a virus outbreak, the primary goal is to contain and eliminate the virus while ensuring the safety of everyone in the area.
The aliens multiply rapidly, just like how a virus can spread and infect multiple people quickly. The game also features different types of aliens, with varying levels of difficulty, just like how a virus can mutate and become more potent over time.
The game emphasizes the importance of communication and strategy, just like how people must communicate and strategize to prevent the spread of a virus.
Furthermore, the game’s mechanics reflect the challenges faced in a virus outbreak. For example, players must clean and maintain the ship regularly to prevent the aliens from spreading, just like how people must sanitize and maintain cleanliness to prevent the virus’s spread. The game also features quarantine zones where infected crew members are isolated to prevent the virus’s spread, just like how people are put under quarantine to prevent the spread of a virus.
While the progression system is based upon just playing the same scenario in different ships, the game’s mechanics, objectives, and themes reflect the challenges faced in a virus outbreak, emphasizing the importance of communication, strategy, and cleanliness in combating the threat
Why play it?
Basically, it’s a game for all the family, that has a hidden ability to instil panic in the players. Despite the cartoon graphics and cute aliens, there’s a real feeling of danger just when everything looks to be under control.
The longer you leave the last room before cleaning, the more the alien infestation takes hold, and when you open the door, it can be through the whole ship if you aren’t ready.
When this happens, friendships, marriages and parental bonds can be tested in real life as one player tries to mop up the alien slime while the other takes the stunned alien bodies to the recycler.
In a word CHAOS.
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