Beta code provided with thanks to Outlier Games
Co-op In Space
This Means Warp is a co-op space management game for up to four players locally or online. The two-man development team was kind enough to provide me access to their recent beta of the game. So I grabbed the best co-op person I know, connected the PC to the TV and sat down to see what this game was all about. If you’re a fan of co-op based video games I highly recommend keeping this one on your radar.
Rogue-Like Adventure
The aim of the game is to fly around space taking on randomly generated missions and trying to keep your ship in one piece. The majority of the missions have you face off against an enemy pirate ship where the goal is to destroy their ship. In order to do this, you need to man the guns, load them with ammo and of course repair your own ship’s hull if it takes damage.
You get to view what the inhabitants of your enemy ship are up to so you can be strategic about where you take your shots. Shoot the enemy hull in the right place as an enemy pirate walks past and they will be sucked into space. They do respawn after a set time but it prevents them from returning fire on your ship. You can also choose to destroy their individual weapons, ammo supply or just shoot away at the hull causing as many holes as possible making it harder for the enemy to repair them. Of course, the enemy can return this same fire to you.
Communication is Key
The key to success is communication with your co-op buddies. I only got to play this game with one other very capable human. A feature I loved was as we explored we got to recruit up to two additional crew members each of which we could command to do certain tasks in the ship. This gives a small incentive for gamers where solo is the only option to consider giving the game a try. They’re not as reliable as human players and the AI-controlled bots don’t assist with absolutely everything. We did find them capable of doing the essentials like repairing the hull and firing and loading the weapons.
Quite the Crew
You can choose from a selection of comical space heroes such as a dude named Bob, a lady called Xin, a crocodile and a bird or duck, I couldn’t really tell. You know the usual space crew. Each has its own stats with regard to speed, attack and fixing. But you can also level up these individual stats as you progress through a run. As you level up you can unlock more characters like a panda and a ginger gentleman with a monocle.
Lock and Load
As you progress you can also find new weapons to equip such as laser beams, cannonballs and machine guns. There are also defensive items which include installing temporary shields and throwing bombs onto the enemy ship. Items can greatly change your strategy making each run of the game feel fresh and a lot of fun.
One of our favourite runs was when we had two bomb units equipped in our ship and we threw two bombs at opposite ends of the enemy ships making it very tough for the enemy to handle both at once. Once a mission or challenge is complete you are usually given a crate that unlocks some orbs which you can use to upgrade your ship and individual weapons and defences.
It’s not just ship battles. The game also has a fair few challenges to engage with. These include running around checkpoints in the ship, catching robots and even going out into space. If you do this, don’t make the dumb mistake I kept doing and forget to put your space suit on first. It’s cold in space.
Additional Thoughts
In the beta, we got to experience three entire levels filled with missions and it took us several runs to reach the third level. Each level’s individual missions are randomly generated and the game allows you some flexibility in which order you tackle them. At the end of each was a pretty epic boss fight such as a spaceship with strong shields which occasionally and confidently reveals its weak spot. Then there was a space station where a devastating rocket can be launched unless you fire a button to rotate the ship in time.
Once you get into the flow of things. The co-op experience becomes one of those satisfying well-oiled machines where everyone just seems to know their roles and before you know it, you are taking ships out and performing challenges with very little communication at all.
Shooting for the Stars
The version of the game I played was an early Beta. The game is expected to release in early 2022. So the developers have plenty of time to polish the game up ready for PC. In all honesty, the state the game is in now is better than some of the games I have reviewed this year. But at the trajectory, this game is heading it’s looking to be something truly special indeed. Let’s hope it also flies its way over to Nintendo Switch someday too.
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