Sometimes games allow us to fulfill our wildest fantasies in much more convenient and simplified ways. Hopping between planets in Starfield, No Man’s Sky, or even Star Citizen is markedly easier than becoming a real-life astronaut. But whether it’s Flight Simulator or Kerbal Space Program, the best simulation games are a great way to crank up the level of authenticity and get a better feeling of how you might actually perform. Seven years after it first launched, developer Lyra Creative has just put the 1.0 marker on its NASA-inspired space game Reentry, and it’ll put you through your paces like no other.
In those seven years (ten if you count the time before it first hit Steam), Reentry creator Petri Wilhelmsen says it “slowly evolved to become something much bigger than I ever imagined possible for a single developer.” However, after all that time, it’s finally reached the point where it can leave early access. This ambitious indie game “aims to meet the middle ground between a simulator and a game,” capturing the complexity of real-world spacecrafts and the hundreds of systems and backups that come together to make them tick.
Reentry is based on the NASA space programs and puts you in total control of almost every system the same way that an actual astronaut would have. Of course, this is still intended as a middle ground, not a pure recreation of reality, albeit one that manages to feel real in all the right ways. After all, limiting its playability to those who have gone through a complete space training program might restrict its audience somewhat.
Nevertheless, Reentry will test you in ways that most planet-hopping experiences don’t. Its Space Flight Academy will provide you with the help you need to get started, and each spacecraft comes complete with a flight manual and checklist to make sure you know what needs to be done. Then you’re sitting on the launch pad, in a cockpit 111 meters above the ground, ready to fire up your five engines to unleash 8,000,000 pounds of thrust and carry you into the vast blackness above.
“After seven years of early access where I have been in active development with you, the players, the community, and the test pilots, the 1.0 scope has finally been met,” the developer explains. The systems are in place to allow you to reach orbit in Project Mercury, rendezvous and dock in Project Gemini, and land on the Moon in Project Apollo. “I have never felt alone,” Wilhelmsen says. “From the start, you, the community, have joined me along the journey to help me shape the game, support me, and be part of the project in one way or another. For that I thank you.”
Reentry 1.0 is out now on Steam, and there’s a 20% discount lasting until Friday November 14 to celebrate. That means you can expect to pay $27.99 / £23.60 for your copy. With 97% of user reviews giving it the thumbs up, Lyra Creative has earned itself Steam’s elusive ‘overwhelmingly positive’ rating, and you can head here if you’re curious to learn whether you’ve got what it takes to make it among the stars.