Indie studio Universal Happymaker announced their management adventure Astronaut: The Best will release for PC via Steam on August 15. In Astronaut, players have the task of managing an occult space academy in an uncanny world.
“Our team spent over eight years working to make a bizarre moral laboratory of a game, that feels truly unlike anything you’ve played before,” said Mike Sennott, Lead Developer on Astronaut: The Best. “We hope you’ll be deeply and delightedly surprised by what you find inside, and that makes all those years worth it.”
Sennott was the Narrative Designer on the popular indie tactical RPG Wintermoor Tactics Club. The team also released a new launch date announcement trailer showing off Astronaut‘s weirdness.
Running a culty space academy doesn’t look easy
In Astronaut: The Best, it’s literally your job to guide procedurally generated misfit recruits through a roguelite hodgepodge of scandals and challenges. You can guide your Astronaut team via a variety of methods including lies, witchcraft, and of course some good ole classic hard work. New recruits can be former serial killers, part-time pirates, or even members of the royal family. The team at Universal Happymaker notes that choices will actually have an impact on each recruit as well as their likelihood to succeed.
This game is definitely very weird looking, which has really piqued my interest. It’s weird looking in an intriguing way. The visuals are uncanny for sure and in some aspects eerily creepy. It’s sort of giving me Cultist Simulator vibes with a bit of Homestar Runner between the graphic and comedic style. I’m interested to see just how strange the game can get.
Astronaut: The Best releases on PC via Steam on August 15. It is also Steam Deck compatible.
