Space Dementia

Space rage is supposedly what happens to some people after being exposed too long to the lonely and claustrophobic lifestyle that comes with being an astronaut. Naturally, it’s a concept seen in movies and video games rather than in real life, because the people who are actually sent into space by NASA and other agencies are well-trained professionals that can handle the pressure.

Space Dementia is a platformer with a sci-fi theme in which you play a nameless man trying to survive on a hostile planet somewhere in the depths of the cosmos. Not much information or background is provided on him, which means that you are free to imagine something instead. The game sports old school gameplay mechanics, as well as a 2D visual style reminiscent of a long gone era.

Your task is to find a way to escape the planet, which translates into having to reach the end of the level by going either left or right. The interesting part is that you are sometimes required to go back to previous levels and access different places, thanks to the new skills you learn along the way. It can also get repetitive, on the other hand, especially since the level design is basic to say the least.

One of the annoyances you might stumble into is that a certain item is hidden from sight at some point, and you cannot continue the game without it. It takes a lot of patience and trial and error to realize where it is hidden, which is not exactly pleasant. The boss battle is very anti-climatic, because there’s no incentive to give it your best. Instead, you just stumble into him looking for the way into the next level.

As mentioned before, the level design is disappointing at the moment. Everything looks more or less the same, which is especially true for the textures used to decorate the environments. While it is true that this is a very early version of the game, it’s difficult to get excited about it at the moment.

In the end, Space Dementia may not be very polished yet, but there could be something worthwhile underneath of it all. As long as the designers add a bit of variety and stop hiding important items from the players, this can still turn out to be a nice game.