Unfortunate Spacemen

Unfortunate Spacemen is a free online action game in which a group of astronauts face a shape-shifting monster. The game debuted in the New Blood Interactive catalogue as the work of Geoff "Zaga" Keene.

Gameplay

In Unfortunate Spacemen, players take on the role of astronauts with the tasks of delivering a sample, activating a communication system, etc. The main objective is to call for a ship that will allow players to evacuate safely, which may bring to mind cooperative shooters like Space Hulk: Deathwing. The difference is that the threat is not the enemy led by the AI. At the beginning of the game one of the players is designated as a monster and must eliminate the remaining players.

The gameplay is enhanced by the fact that the traitor can take on the role of any other player. What is more, these are not described by their pseudonyms, but by randomly selected colours (the markings change in each round). Both sides can also obtain improvements and additional weapons, with the weapons becoming available at certain intervals. This allows the personalisation of both cosmonauts and monsters and the use of different tactics, traps, etc. Cosmonauts must also be careful not to accidentally eliminate themselves or their allies, for example by accidentally opening an airlock and sending astronauts off the craft.

Like other free-to-play games, Unfortunate Spacemen includes optional micropayments. For money we can only buy cosmetic items that do not affect the gameplay.

Unfortunate Spacemen 3D graphics is unlike AAA level, but it is legible and matches the atmosphere of a science fiction horror. The atmosphere is highlighted by a simple but ambience sound layer. The authors also used proximity chat technology, so the quality and volume of messages changes with the distance from the users. A similar solution was used in Pasmophobia, for example.

Unfortunate Spacemen vs. Among Us

Update 1.2 from October 2020 offered a few novelties. In addition to the optional TPP view, the update introduced the Tribunal - a special location on the map where players can gather at certain intervals or key moments (albeit no more than 3 times per game). There, they will find out, among other things, who is dead and will be able to vote on who they consider to be a suspect, which will result with the marking of him and all the dead participants with a special note. The system is clearly inspired by the mechanics known from Among Us, but does not perform such an important function as in the game of the InnerSloth studio. Apart from marking a player as 'suspicious', the vote has little impact on the game - you cannot directly eliminate a player in the Tribunal.

At the time of the meeting in the Tribunal, certain options are blocked, either literally or under the threat of attack from the defence systems of the room. There are also additional options like reporting on found bodies, albeit without specifying the location and colour of the murdered person. The meetings give astronauts the opportunity to exchange information, but they can ignore the call.

Multiplayer modes

Unfortunate Spacemen focuses on multiplayer modes. The main game mode is a confrontation of cosmonauts against the shape-shifting monster in a session for up to 16 people. In addition, we also have story-based cooperation missions for no more than 5 players and a horde mode in which no more than 9 people face hordes of enemies led by artificial intelligence. However, the game also allows you to play alone, albeit to a limited extent.