PAX EAST 2014: Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime Hands-On Preview

Some of my favorite moments from PAX East involve stumbling upon games I wasn’t aware of. Most of my weekend is usually scheduled in advance to make sure I can maximize my time at the show. On Friday morning, CraveOnline’s own Joey Davidson and I were early to our first appointment and came across Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime.

As you can tell from the title, this game is cute and a little out there. I think that’s what drew us towards the booth in the first place. The demo for Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime puts two players in control of a spherical spaceship, outfitted with multiple stations for controlling the ship’s engines, shields, and weapons. 

Learning how to control each station was straightforward enough, but as more enemies and floating chunks of space rock threatened our vessel, the real challenge presented itself. While laughing and shouting at each other, my demo partner and I hurried across platforms and up ladders to keep the incoming danger at bay. 

Communicating when one of us wanted to move the ship in a new direction or face the shields on a different location of the hull was vital to our survival. At times, I was so caught up in the moment that I lost track of the mission at hand: save the bunnies.

I wasn’t certain why those cuddly creatures were locked in cages on the sides of asteroids or what our relationship was to them in the first place. All I needed to know came to me within the first few minutes. The rabbit captors fired waves of missiles at us as we approached, and a counter lit up on the side of the screen as soon as we set the first pair of hares free from their bondage.

After collecting a few ship upgrades, deciding which modules to place them on, and freeing the last of our furry friends, we warped to the next stage. All of the sudden, the stars came alive and the constellation Ursa Major formed itself into our first boss battle.

As soon as the boss started using his long arms to reach around the shields to pummel the exposed parts of our ship, I knew we were in for a tough fight. It wasn’t until he teleported behind us, catching us completely off guard, that I became genuinely concerned about our chances for survival.

We eventually caught on the massive space bear’s patterns, and emerged victorious. The day was ours.

We didn’t get to see the single player version of the game, which give you access to a pet that you can control separately from your own character. I’m interested to see how different the experience is without another human playing alongside you; especially considering this was some of the best co-op at the show.

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is tentatively scheduled to release on PC and MAC later this year, with the possibility of a console release after. I’m certainly looking forward to both.

 

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