From Other Suns Review - You can not take the sky from me

Your ship is further from earth than any human ship. Then comes the time to go home again, but apparently your exploratory urge has aroused an alien armada, now on its way to your home planet. Now it is therefore important to be on earth earlier than the enemy fleet, to prevent the world from being blown up. Thus starts From Other Suns, a roguelike that combines Faster Than Light and Borderlands.

You start aboard your ship, on the bridge. Here you can use the star chart to set your course and jump to other stars. This works just like FTL. The earth is somewhere on the right side of the map, the enemy superiority jumps from the left. There are space stations on the map where you can do errands and other stations where you can perform missions. Sometimes you randomly encounter another ship that can have friendly or hostile intentions. Through the communication system you get messages from friends and enemies, who make clear what the purpose of a mission is.

Away mission

You usually have to go with a teleporter to the other ship or space station for a number of enemies. The types of enemies for this vary, but it usually comes down to 'shoot everything that moves'. At first this seems somewhat tame, if you only have space pirates, but the closer you are to the earth, the harder the missions become and the more challenging the opponents. There are also bosses who are particularly difficult to beat. This also means that you have to top up all your weapons and your ship regularly in order to be able to cope with the later challenges. Anyone trying to race to the earth in a straight line will discover that this is a one-way journey to the hereafter.

The completion of missions gives you scrap (money) with which you can improve your board guns, shields and other elements of your ship. You need these in the space battles, where you and the enemy ship shoot at each other. Do not think of Elite Dangerous, but FTL, so you only have to press the fire button and it depends on the quality of your equipment whether you win or lose.

All parts have their own room on board the ship and can be damaged during combat. It is up to you and your teammates to repair the damage with special 'repair guns'. Also enemy units can radiate to your ship, which can add an extra layer of panic to a space battle.

Co-op

From Other Suns is designed to play with three people in a cooperative mode, but you can also only get started. Fortunately this is also fun, although you obviously miss the dynamics of a team. The difficulty of the missions adapts to the number of human players and you can always choose at the beginning of your session whether you are alone, with friends or that you (temporarily) open your game to strangers through matchmaking.

The biggest difference between solo and co-op (apart from the fact that co-op is always more fun) is the way you can lose it. You start with three crew members. When you die, you take over the body of one of the remaining crew members. When they are all dead, the game is over. In co-op it works slightly differently. If you die and the last remaining crew member is already being used by another player, you will return as a robot. Robots can die and come back as often as you like, only when the last person is dead is the game over.

Advance

From Other Suns plays for the most part as a first person shooter. In vr this genre usually causes problems, because free movement usually causes nausea. The alternative is usually teleportation, where you flash from place to place. The advantage of this is that you do not get sick, but the disadvantage is a lack of realism and it reduces the feeling of spatial presence.

From Other Suns is looking for a way in between, with a unique kind of 'teleport'. The moment you walk, your 'camera' stays where it is and you control your body with the joystick. You can also be hit by enemy (and friendly) fire during this walk. When you release the stick, your viewpoint flashes at your body. This works well in itself and ensures that you do not get sick. Yet it feels awkward in a hectic gunfight. Whose stomach is resistant to it can also opt for free walking around with the stick. This makes it feel like you are driving around on a cart, but it is reasonably comfortable thanks to various comfort options.

Although the steering is not as optimal in both modes as in Echo Arena, for example, it satisfies well. Especially because you have to use a lot of cover in the environment. So you really have to hide behind obstacles, whether you are hiding next to a doorway or in alcoves during the firefights. The game shines at those times. Especially if you work together with other people.

Presence

The design of the game is graphically stylized and is reminiscent of the previous vr-game of Gunfire Games, Dead and Buried. Everything is a bit cartoony, but not so bad that it takes you out of the world. On the contrary: the solid design ensures that everything looks very tangible and credible. It is therefore not difficult to lose yourself in the game and really believe in the environment. Presence is called that.

Yet there is also a big downside in the game world. The environments are not interactive. That is a big loss. Especially on board your own ship are all kinds of things that you think you can pick up (playing cards, boots, other utensils) that unfortunately seem screwed. Your hand goes through it as if it were air. And that is especially annoying at the moment that you are 'stuck' on your ship. The moment you are the last person and you dive into your teammates as robots, it is unwise to go along. If you die, everything is over. The best strategy is to stay on board and there is really nothing to do, except to view your achievements and change the background music.

The enemy ships and space bases are also not interactive. The surroundings are beautiful, but apart from here and there a crate or useful weapons to steal it stays with decoration. This is not a bad thing during a firefight, but if you have defeated all the enemies and are looking for missed objects or weapons, it still feels like you are walking on a film set instead of a real place.

Exciting

Yet From Other Suns is a special and well-made experience. If you play together with the right people, this is as close as you can get to the life of a space cowboy like in the TV series Firefly. Performing a mission with teammates is a true pleasure and the various weapons (which gradually improve, just like in Borderlands) provide the necessary variation.

Yet it is the latter where From Other Suns eventually gets stuck a bit. There is actually a bit more variation in the missions needed. It is also a pity that every mission takes place on board something that makes the environments look alike. The progression is also slow. By completing achievements you get permanent upgrades, such as better weapons and ships, which you keep when you start a new game. That gives something to keep playing, but it takes quite a while before you earn them. From Other Suns is a pretty hardcore game for seasoned roguelike players with iron endurance. If you are, then this is a mandatory purchase.

Conclusion

This strange marriage between Faster Than Light and Borderlands yields a beautiful love baby. Although the missions are repetitive, the high degree of difficulty and the phenomenal co-op are enough reason to often fail with great pleasure. The shooter section works surprisingly well and the different weapons are a pleasure to discover. It is a pity that the spatial component in this Firefly-like game remains somewhat abstract.

➕ Fantastic co-op, exciting roguelike element

➖ Very difficult, AI of enemies not thunderous, environments not interactive

Thanks for reading.

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