Out of Space Review Lively Multiplayer Switch Game

I’ve been playing Out of Space for a while and decided to critique it. It’s definitely high on my favorite game list. For a game with a simple premise, it makes for some challenging and fun game play.

The premise is you have to clean a spaceship of aliens and the goo they spawn from in order to power each room. You can play solo or up to 4 players. While choosing a ship with 6, 9, or 12 rooms.

The camera angle is above and fixed. Although, it does zoom out when there are more players.

Out of Space is galactic housekeeping at its finest. Couch Edition is for Steam, while the console version is for Nintendo Switch.

The game play is simple. You can pick up items, buy items, use items, and move around. No jumping or shooting, just dumping a bucket of water, using a mop, or common appliances.

You clean your way through all the rooms of a spaceship. Disposing of aliens along the way. Earning money as you cleanup and buying helpful items from the store.

Chores such as eating, sleeping, and cleaning keep you occupied between bouts with aliens. Once every room has power the game is won.

If you’re looking for action shooting aliens, this isn’t the game for you. The closest it comes to fighting is stunning aliens with a mop. The same mop you use for cleaning rooms. It’s a war of attrition game where you struggle to keep the goo from taking over.

The goal is placing power cores. When every room is powered you win, whether or not there are any aliens left.

If you like strategy or cooperative games then you’ll like Out of Space. For a game with little actual fighting I found it is very challenging. Strategically performing tasks or placing items is required to win.

You use a mop to stun the aliens and clean up the goo they spread. They don’t attack you directly. Rather they spread goo everywhere they go, including on you.

If you’re looking for a game that’s fun to play with friends or solo, this certainly is the right game for you. I’ve enjoyed every game solo or multiplayer, win or lose.

Being overrun and losing is chaos, but fun chaos. Since they don’t directly attack you somehow losing doesn’t sting as much. You almost have to admire the efficiency of the little gremlins spreading goo and spawning more aliens.

If you’re looking for a game that’s easy to learn, Out of Space has a small learning curve. By the 3rd game we felt ready to tackle 12 rooms. We didn’t win, but we sure went into it with every confidence we would.

One of the things I liked about this game is the developers made it so as you progress in skill so does the game. Tougher aliens are unlocked as you progress. But helpful items are also unlocked.

It’s funny how 6 rooms seemed challenging at first but after several games we cleared 6 rooms in 10 minutes. Even though a veteran can clear 6 rooms without difficulty, speed running through 6 rooms is still fun.

If you’re looking for a game that’s played in 5 or 10 minute blocks of time, this game isn’t an ideal choice. You should expect to play an hour. Time flies when you’re having fun though.

We tested this game with 1 player, 2 players, 3 players, and 4 players. Each additional player ramps up the max aliens per room. The timers for recovering sleep, egg production, aliens spawning, and aggressiveness were also ramped up per player.

In our experience solo was easiest, while 4 players was hardest. 2 and 3 players fell in the middle for difficulty during our tests.

In my experience, the average 12 room game lasts 45 minutes. If things go well clearing 12 rooms in 25 minutes is common. When things go bad I’ve had games that last 1 hour 20 minutes, but that’s rare. Usually, the game is over one way or another in under an hour.

If you only ever play this game with 4 players, it might seem a different game. With 4 players, one rogue alien can quickly overrun your entire ship.

Playing with 2 players, one alien hardly overruns more than one room. Recovery is much easier. Mistakes are forgiven.

Out of Space is a co-op couch game, comparable to Overcooked, Moving Out2, Very Very Valet, Lumber Hill, and Shakes on a Plane to name a few. If you like any of those you should like Out of Space too. I’ve played all those games and Out of Space is my favorite by far.

Out of Space is similar to Overcooked in that you’re all working together toward a goal. You do routine tasks in an efficient manner to win. Unlike Overcooked, Out of Space is actually fun playing solo.

In my experience, Overcooked has a bigger learning curve due to all the ingredients and steps necessary for an order. Out of Space is cleaning goo with a mop or bucket of water and getting rid of stunned aliens. All while keeping hunger and sleep at bay.

Out of space is forgiving as far as sleep and food goes too. Your character falls asleep at inopportune times to be sure. But eating and sleeping don’t dominate the game play the way ingredients do in Overcooked.

Instead of struggling with the timer in Overcooked, you’re struggling to keep aliens at bay in Out of space. Whether you get to the last room in 15 or 50 minutes, the same number of aliens are there.

I found Overcooked got infinitely more fun when they added an assist mode to change the timers. Out of Space ramps up the fun by switching up the rules.

If you’re struggling to win, do a random challenge where you get a bigger mop, additional dogs, no power requirements, or hyper-charged bots.

Conversely, if you want to make the game even more challenging, do a random challenge where you get cocooned with 1 hit, a limited store, only armored aliens allowed, or secret Santa.

Being able to choose a game with custom rules keeps Out of Space fresh. There are so many custom rules, each new ship is just different enough to keep it interesting.

Overcooked just puts the chopper in an inconvenient location or moves the ingredients around while you’re playing. I like Overcooked but inconvenient item locations got old real quick.

If Moving Out used aliens instead of furniture and added more ghosts and gremlins to get in the way, it would basically be Out of Space.

Instead of breaking everything in Moving Out, you’re trying to clean everything in Out of Space. Moving Out and Out of Space both have an easy learning curve, simple game play, and is loads of fun.

While you can’t slap other players in Out of space. You can have fun with other players by handing them useless items or tossing aliens at them. If you’re particularly cheeky, you can hog the couch. Hogging food may lead to solo play since nobody will play with you.

While Out of Space has a lot in common with Moving Out, Out of Space is much more challenging. Out of Space requires a strategy moving from room to room. The order in which you take each room directly impacts your workload.

It also requires much more coordination between players than Moving Out. While you can all do your own thing and still win, coordinated attacks make life easier.

Moving Out and Out of Space are two of my favorites. One because it’s fun breaking everything, the other because it’s challenging ridding a ship of aliens.

While Lumber Hill, Very Very Valet, and Shakes on a Plane are other multiplayer coop couch games, I’m not a fan of struggling against timers. All those games and Out of Space offer easy learning curves, simple game play, and loads of fun. However, I find Out of Space less frustrating.

Which is saying something. Because taking and losing a room over and over again in Out of Space is incredibly frustrating. But also rewarding when you finally win.

There’s just something about getting 3 out of 4 trees to the lumber yard, only for a meteor or animal delay you from getting the 4th tree there. Then it’s all for nothing and you have to start the order over.

Lumber Hill and Shakes on a Plane are the worst for this type of frustration. Out of Space doesn’t have a time limit. It actually has a max occupancy per room. So if you take your time with each room there’s no penalty.

The good things about Out of Space are the controls are easy, the game is intuitive, and there isn’t a time limit. The weekly challenges or choosing a random challenge keep the game from getting stale.

The bad things about Out of Space are the zooming out with multiple players and it’s easy to grab the wrong item. The camera zooms out when players spread out. So keep close when you’re fighting aliens.

The mop is especially sticky, which is good because you use it a lot but bad because it gets in the way when you’re trying to pick up other stuff. I’ve found turning 180° to drop it behind you works best.

One thing I should mention is 4 player is much harder than other modes. I’ve played a lot with 1, 2, 3 & 4 players and 4 people is noticeably more challenging than the others.

Sleep recovery is longer for players and aliens recover from being stunned quicker. Also, eggs and aliens spawn much quicker.

I didn’t notice any imbalance with 1, 2 or 3 players. They’re all fun and challenging from beginning to end. 4 players just gets a tad more intense after taking the 4rd or 5th room.

Losing and taking a room over and over happened more often with 4 players. I find the challenge exciting, some may find it frustrating. If you play with 4 people a rug in each room cuts down on the damage and recovery.

Those are minor criticisms though, overall the game is very enjoyable.

This Out of Space review gives it 9 out of 10 stars. Definitely my favorite game in a long time. Out of Space strikes a good balance between resource management and action. The game play isn’t bogged down trying to eat or sleep but they can’t be ignored either.

Instead of spending time developing multiple levels, bosses, or a storyline. They put a lot of effort into developing a balanced game. More games should follow their lead.

Fighting the clock or making routine tasks difficult are low effort ways to make games challenging. It takes a lot of effort to develop a game based on careful use of resources, employing effective battle tactics, and keeping pressure on the players.

Out of Space accomplishes this in a fun and engaging way. You can master it after several games, yet veterans enjoy fresh challenges by randomizing the rules.

If you’re looking for a fun game to play with friends or solo then Out of Space is an excellent option. I thoroughly enjoyed chasing the little aliens around the spaceship and cleaning up their goo.

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