Astronook is a cozy puzzle game with an astronomy theme, and tons of one-line-puzzles. It is a quiet and calm experience with a heartfelt narrative that unfolds as you play.
The Backstory of Astronook
In addition to playing the demo of Astronook, I also participated in a playtest. Because of that, I had some lovely interactions with the game dev. She told me the backstory, which isn’t completely revealed in the demo, but it’s definitely worth sharing.
In her own words, “In Astronook you go on a personal journey, as someone who has become hardened and cold by the adult world. But you keep finding yourself coming back to your late grandpa’s astronomy study after his recent passing, where he spent years of his life looking up at the stars. Throughout the game more and more memories resurface, causing you to go on a journey rediscovering who you once where.” That sounds very intriguing to me.
The Atmosphere of Astronook
This game is so cozy and comforting! The soundtrack is fantastic, it’s smooth and dreamy, and it definitely gave an outer space feeling to the game. Astronook is set in grandfather’s snug study room. At my disposal was a telescope, a computer with a printer, and a stargazer’s scrapbook. In addition, a map of what I had discovered was pinned to the wall and is updated automatically. The shelves had a number of grandfather’s personal items which gave me an insight into him.
The Gameplay in Astronook – A Series of Steps
The game centered around “one-line-puzzles”. Those are puzzles where you try to trace the outline of an object from point to point using only one single line, no overlaps or breaks. I was tasked with trying to recreate fictional constellations. In the game, I was shown an example of a fictional constellation (on the left) as well as a grouping of stars that I could see through my telescope. My challenge was to connect the stars and make the constellation using only one line.
I loved how the game screen had all sorts of reminders for me, contained in a box on the left hand side. There were reminders of how to erase a portion of a line, how to delete what I’d done to start over and how to take a photo to name a few. I tend to need a lot of handholding when I begin a game, so having those little reminders for me was very much appreciated.
As part of the puzzle, there was a mini-game focused on taking a photo of the constellation or planet. The challenge was to hit X (on a controller) at the exact right moment when the black and white lines are equal. The quality of the photo is dependent on how you do in the mini game.
The Next Step in the Gameplay of Astronook
The next step in the gameplay of Astronook was to go to Grandpa’s computer and print a copy of the photo, which could either be inserted into an album or thrown away. At the same time, the map on the wall was being updated to show the new discovery I’d made.
The last step in this process was putting my photo into an album. After that I can go back to my telescope and look for more constellations and planets.
But Wait – There is More to Astronook!
My computer kept me updated on cosmic news!! At one point I was informed about the existence of a black hole, and clues to where it was located. My next goal was to find and photograph it. There will be many more cosmic news flashes in the completed game. That provides a nice change of pace in the gameplay.
Final Thoughts
During my playtest of Astronook I ran into some minor issues. That’s what a playtest is all about, perfecting a game by testing it before it’s released to the public. The dev was absolutely on top of this, she and I communicated the entire time I was playing. She is an indie dev living in England and is committed to releasing a well-polished game. I love when devs are this involved in their games, I think it shows true dedication to achieving perfection (or as close as they can get to it!!).
Astronook was developed by FrozenYetiGames and will have a total of 50 puzzles, 25 planets to photograph and some cosmic discoveries too. There is no time pressure to complete the puzzles, they are intended to be solved at your own pace. It’s a chill, cozy game.
The demo was the first level of the completed game, there will be 5 total levels with 10 puzzles each. It took me about an hour to complete the demo so there should be some good playtime in the final game! Personally I am really bad at one-line-puzzles so I did not complete the entire game. That’s a “me” thing!! There is a hint system in the game that lets me know where to start on each puzzle, but even that was beyond me. But for gamers who love puzzles – you’ll like Astronook! Bonus points if you love astronomy!
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