SpaceVenture (2025), developed and released by Guys From Andromeda
It finally happened on the 24th of December 2025. 13 years after SpaceVenture, by the creators of Sierra's Space Quest-series, entered into development after its original Kickstarter, the game is finally officially out for everyone to buy. After all the delays, it's finally out, so the final question remains: how is it?
If you've ever played the original backer build or the Steam early access version, then you already know the story. Nothing has changed there. Ace Hardway is a spaceplumber, who gets a call to repair the life support system of reserchship Nostrodomos. The ship ends up blowing up, and Ace gets the boot from his job, which leads him to build a new spaceship to become his own boss. This entrepreneurship leads Ace to stumble upon a conspiracy of Centari corporation wanting to rule the galaxy with the help of their new Facebox gaming system.
But of this, Ace is mostly oblivious; he just does his work while Agent Veronica is doing her own job, tailing the corporation. And of this, Ace is also mostly unaware, as are the players. These two stories cross at times, but we are mostly in the dark about what Veronica is actually doing. And narratively, this whole conspiracy plot feels like the biggest stumbling block of the game. Every time it presents itself, it feels like there are huge chunks of the story missing. Chunks of which we get only small bits of exposition when Veronica or some other character decides to divulge them. Ace is mostly there just for the ride, stumbling his way through a bigger story he doesn't know he is a part of.
Just as the story is the same, the puzzles are also the same they've been since the earlier backer builds. There are perhaps minor changes in how hotspots work, and there's a tad more feedback for the user, but other than that, there's nothing groundbreaking in them. They are serviceable obstacles, but nothing more than that. They are relatively well tied to the slim pickings of the story there is, but they should not give much of a trouble for seasoned adventure game players. All in all, depending on how fast you solve the puzzles, the game takes around 3 hours to beat, less than 2 hours if you already know what you are doing.
All in all, the experience of playing SpaceVenture is now much smoother than it was before. Bugs have been ironed out, more feedback has been added, and the save system now works anywhere, with some caveats, as it should have from the get-go. I assume this is now the final form of the game, and it will not get any more overhauls in UX.
I reckon I am somewhat biased in my take on SpaceVenture. I've been following it for far too long, since its inception, and the time that it has taken has soured my take on it a bit. I find it okay at best and a bit disappointing at worst. It feels to me like a missed opportunity from two developers who were responsible for one of the most memorable series of old Sierra. And in comparison to Space Quest, SpaceVenture feels somewhat lukewarm attempt with good intentions but lacklustre execution. You can see the seeds of Space Quest here and there, but it doesn't quite manage to reach the heights Space Quest was at its best with Space Quest 3, 4 and 5.
That said, if you approach it not knowing much of the long development cycle, you might find it a decent enough game. Nothing groundbreaking and a bit rough around the edges, but still something fun enough to pass a couple of hours and then forget about after finishing it.
Was it worth the wait? No, not really. I do find it remarkable that the developers did push the game through, even when its development slowed down to a crawl. Most would have abandoned it, but they still pushed it out, blemishes and all. For what it is, SpaceVenture is fun enough, but that's that. It is a fractured experience.
If you are interested in giving SpaceVenture a go, you can get it from Steam. It should be around 15 euros.
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