For an alternate universe, this particular setting isn’t all that different from our world. I mean, money makes our reality go round too, even if it hasn’t reached outer space on a similar scale. Not yet anyway. That said, hope you’re ready to trade, smuggle, fight, mine and more, to climb the economic food chain as one of the Cashtronauts, because here… it’s survival of the wealthiest.
As such, needless to say, you won’t be the only party attempting to amass financial stability (or climb well beyond that point, rather). The competition is fierce, ranging from pirates to more, well, soft-skinned creatures, all more than a little eager to take what you’ve got – even if it means burning you and your ship to a crisp in the process. Ugh.
You do have a degree of control over the difficulty, however, in the form of ‘Risks’. These act as gameplay mods, each of which will “introduce new elements and dangers to your next run, but also grants you a bonus to your income”. Quite the neat risk/reward there, and I suspect you’re going to need a metric crap-ton enabled to end a run as Scrooge McDuck. Too bad that also means ramping up the challenge significantly, but eh, no pain no gain, as they say. Who? They. Just they.
Oh and how about some local multiplayer? Yup. Up to four players can go at it on the same screen, either cooperating or, you know, the opposite. Alliances are fickle at best in Cashtronauts, and that (probably) goes for the AI too. You’ll see. So pick the right ship, plot in a course, pray you’ll make the right choices, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll come out on top, rich and… alive.
Cashtronauts is available from Steam and Bundle Stars, at $7.99.