Little Rocket Lab takes the formulas for Stardew Valley and replaces the farming gameplay with assembly-line and factory-optimization gameplay from something like Factorio.
Although the writing was lacking, the gameplay kept me hooked for a total of about 70 hours over the past two months across Xbox and Steam. That includes a restart after about 13 hours of experimenting with it on XCloud and moving over to Steam where I restarted.
All in all, I really loved this combination of gameplay with the cozy-style small-town setting. Although so many people, including me, will compare this to Stardew Valley, Little Rocket Lab is definitely its own thing and should be treated as such.
What I Didn't Like
Lack of Interesting Characters
Story is not the point of these cozy-style games, but the characters definitely are. I found that I completely ignored the characters during my playthrough and didn't worry about the relationship management at all.
There were story moments with some of the characters, but I didn't really know what drove up their heart meters. I just did my thing and avoided bothering the townspeople.
Even my aunt, the one person you live with, didn't strike me as someone I wanted to get to know or really care about.
The exception to this lack of interest was Toasty, the robotic toaster that you ride around on that speaks only in bread recipes. I love Toasty--even though he lacks personality, he makes the game easier to play and has an impact when he's not around.
When he's not around, I missed him. That is much more than I could say about any of the townsfolk.
Unexplained Plot Points
Even though the story is not the focus of the game, there is an underlying plot that pulls you through the levels in the game. This was delivered through in-game cutscenes and dialogue.
My problem with it is the quality of these moments in terms of the writing, specifically with the plot. There are two specific instances of this that stood out to me:
- When I confronted my aunt about the silo
- The rationale for folks having factories in their homes
During these scenes, the writing didn't help me understand the "why" behind the decision the character had made. For Morgan's aunt, she just brushes her lack of interest aside and apologizes. She eventually does explain it, but it lowered the emotional impact of the scene, which led to me continuing to not really care about her.
This same thing applies to the rest of the townsfolk. Morgan definitely helps out the townsfolk and the town in general, but you don't really see any impact. People just eventually become more friendly and want to help you out, but there is no real build-up for these characters.
I would have liked to see more things like the bridge, where you complete tasks (not just jobs for money) for the townsfolk and watch their various businesses start to improve and thrive, or even just watch them develop as characters in the game.
I realize that is a tall order for scope, but it would have made quite a difference to the feel of the characters and the coziness of the game itself for me.
What I Liked
Optimization Based Gameplay
The gameplay in Little Rocket Lab is the star of the show. It does a great job of introducing you to the various ways to build your factory by adding goals for unlocking parts of the property or other tools and ultimately learning how to optimize your factory.
These little optimizations and wins felt good. They felt productive. And once you get that endorphin hit you want to go back for another, which leads to just one more turn before bed. Plus, the reward of unlocking a bit more gameplay sparks your curiosity on how you can further improve, or how else can you expand your supply chains to build these.
Controller Support
I want to mention controller support, which doesn't sound very impressive considering it launched on Xbox at the same time as Steam--but it works, and it works well, despite it being a factory-optimization game.
Generally speaking, I don't play games like Little Rocket Lab because I prefer a controller when I play games. The keyboard and mouse remind me of work, but a controller reminds me of play and allows me to disconnect from my day-to-day work.
I would expect a game like this to be challenging to work with a controller, but Little Rocket Lab does it exceptionally well. It's intuitive, and I just sort of "got it" as soon as I started playing.
Cozy Atmosphere and Setting
Even though I had issues with character development, I really enjoyed the atmosphere and setting for the game.
A cozy little town that you need to revitalize is a great setting for building a factory, and even though I did not really engage the townsfolk, the setting was really chill and I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the space to figure out what resources were available to me.
The thing that locked the cozy feeling was the music throughout the seasons, combined with the artwork. Nothing stood out to me specifically, but in a game like this--that is a good thing in my books.
The Conclusion
This game was a delightfully addictive experience. I spent a large portion of my holiday break getting deep into it. Even with the parts of it that I would have liked to see improved, I was clearly very immersed in the core gameplay which is always a good sign for any video game.
All in all, 70 hours is a lot for me to commit to a single video game. I honestly cannot remember the last time I spent that long on a game, but I have no regrets. Hopefully this is just a starting point for Teenage Astronaut, and I look forward to seeing what other cozy cognitive experiences they come up with.
