Shaun Munro reviews Vostok Inc. on Nintendo Switch…
If you’re not familiar with the “clicker” genre of video games – as I wasn’t prior to playing Nosebleed Interactive’s Vostok Inc. – it encompasses games reliant on grinding resources and performing repetitive actions in order to progress, requiring an abundance of – wait for it – clicking on the player’s part.
To a neohpyte in the genre such as myself, Vostok Inc. is something of a novelty, a weirdly, compulsively addictive mash-up of twin-stick shooter and farming sim. While it’s easy to imagine how those well-versed in clicker games may find this one decidedly less-alluring, and there are certainly times where it tested my own patience, its charming personality and neat hybridisation of genres nevertheless helps keep it on the right side of addictive.
Appointed as the new CEO of space-colony superpower Vostok Inc, the player is tasked with exploring more than 40 planets over 6 systems, the goal being to farm golden rocks known as “moolah” in order to build larger and more efficient machines to farm even more resources and build infrastructure. When you’ve made so much money, the boss in each solar system becomes available to fight, the defeat of which will allow you to spend said cash on opening a wormhole to the next solar system.
Players will start out in our very own solar system with a ship bearing only the most basic arms and shields, but as you progress, you can upgrade both as well as countless other bells and whistles to make navigation more satisfying and efficient. Even something as simple as an on-screen display of your distance from a tracked planet is a paid upgrade, but as the game hasn’t even the faintest whiff of micro-transactions, it’s hard to get that mad about it.
Plus, there is a base, undeniable joy in watching the moolah counter in the top-right corner continually tick over. The loop may start to feel wearying after playing for more than a few hours at a time, but that’s why the game is such a great fit for the Switch; played for 20 or 30 minutes at a time, it’s a great way to occupy your mind on a commute, for instance. To call the game a fun time-waster might feel like a back-handed compliment, but it’s really not.
Setting up shop on every planet is just half the equation, though; enemies will randomly spawn around you as you traverse the galaxy, and will often even lock you into your current screen space with no possibility of escape until all the foes are defeated. This can become rather annoying when you just want to move quickly from one planet to another, but it’s certainly not frequent enough to inspire true rage.
The bosses, which are irritatingly unlocked only when you’ve amassed an arbitrary amount of moolah, meanwhile deliver far more compelling action, even if they’re not particularly challenging, at least because the game makes it so easy to obtain upgrades and come back to a fight if it does indeed become even slightly bothersome. In the event your ship is blown up, you’ll be spat out of your ship’s remnants into an escape pod, where you must return to your mother base in order to receive a new ship. Dying while in escape pod form, however, will result in you losing half your cash, incentivising cautious playing, even if you can most certainly just leave the game idling to recoup any lost cash.
By not putting all of its eggs in one basket, Vostok Inc. allows players to focus more on resource acquisition when the combat starts to feel a bit ennui-inducing and vice versa. Plus, as you progress, new wrinkles for both gameplay systems are continually introduced, such that the grind never really becomes too over-familiar. It also helps that the game has a thoroughly satirical, 80s-styled tone that doesn’t ever begin to take itself seriously.
You’re accompanied on your adventures by an assistant, Jimmy, whose interactions range from irritating (randomly appearing to drop a cringe-worthy one-liner) to genuinely bizarre and amusing (he hurls out a neat reference to Metal Gear Solid 2 at one point completely out of nowhere). Hell, even the review code provided by the publisher arrived on a fake credit card styled as part of the game’s universe (complete with the tongue-in-cheek notice, “this is not a bribe”).
Visually, the game nails a keen balance between the prototypical twin stick aesthetic and a nifty 80s sheen that’s so prevalent in the indie game market these days. To that end, there’s the seemingly obligatory electronic musical score accompanying the retro-style visuals, and while hardly full of earworms that’ll burrow into your brain, it’s basically good enough.
It’s worth reiterating that those fed up with clicker games may not find their love reinvigorated with Vostock Inc., but it absolutely doesn’t deserve to be lumped in with the generic mobile game slop the genre seems to be known for; it has its own distinct personality and tries to do something different. As a newbie to the genre, it got its hooks in me fast and I whiled hours away before I knew it. You might find getting to the late stage a slog, and may balk at the advantage granted by just leaving the game idle to collect moolah on its own, but as a fun, undemanding way to pass the time, it more than does the job.
Pros:
+ Undeniably addictive.
+ Cleverly combines two vastly different genres.
+ Neat 80s-inspired style and tone.
Cons:
– Can feel repetitive over long stretches.
– Some annoying obstacles to progress.
Rating: 7.5/10
Reviewed for Nintendo Switch (also available for PS4, Xbox One, PC and PlayStation Vita)
Shaun Munro – Follow me on Twitter for more video game rambling.
