Epic Astro Story

Genre: Management Simulation

Players: 1

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Review:

Without a doubt the most prolific developer and publisher of Management Simulation games on Nintendo Switch is Kairosoft, who specializes in games with a retro-style isometric pixel art style, often with the word “Story” in the title. As of this writing, Kairosoft has released 55 games on Nintendo Switch, most of them Management Simulations.

After their earlier games, Kairosoft had established a few templates for their Simulation games that later games would largely follow. Game Dev Story established a Simulation-style game more focused on managing employee time and focus, while Hot Springs Story established a Simulation style in line with Theme Park Simulators where you try to cater to guests’ tastes to maximize attendance and income.

When Epic Astro Story was released on mobile devices in the US in 2011, with ports to Nintendo Switch in 2019, PlayStation 4 in 2020, PC in 2022, and Xbox One in 2024, it created a style of game not quite like either of the two prior games. While closest to Hot Springs Story due to the way you get to choose the layout of what you’re placing, Epic Astro Story isn’t primarily about managing any sort of tourist destination, but instead it was about planning the growth of a space colony as you recruit colonists, build infrastructure, manage economic growth, and further explore the planet.

As I mentioned above, this game makes use of Kairosoft’s signature presentation style using simple retro-styled pixel art visuals presented in an isometric view, paired with repetitive chiptune music and sound effects. Apart from the forgettable music, everything about this presentation is really endearing, and it’s made even more so by the cute designs for aliens and other adorable little touches, like how all the colonists’ names are clearly derived from the names of Star Trek characters.

Epic Astro Story has a simple “city builder” core – build housing for residents, connect that housing via roads to fields to farm and factories within range to process exports, and as your income grows, continue to expand outward. However, here the game adds a few additional clever elements.

To grow your population, increase your area of operation, and discover new technologies to research, you have to send your citizens out on expeditions. These expeditions can be to outlying lands, to caves you’ve discovered, or even off to other planets, each with their own benefits – exploring nearby land will be sure to expand your territory, caves are often the best place to look for new technology advancements, and off-world expeditions are one of the best ways to get new citizens.

However, success in these expeditions isn’t automatic. Not only will you have to assign up to 12 members of your population to these tasks, taking them off of other jobs, you’ll also have to prepare them for hostile forces they may encounter, equipping them for battle and raising their stats much like an RPG. The game doesn’t have any sort of permadeath, but losing your team to a hostile force of space chickens will mean taking a loss on the money spent to order the expedition, meaning that you’ll have to take this possibility into account when looking at the risk assessment of the mission.

There are two main issues I have with Epic Astro Story. First, while this game is much better at explaining what everything does than some of Kairosoft’s earlier games, there are still areas where it’s lacking. If I want money, am I better off improving my export economy or improving my tourism (an element seemingly borrowed from earlier games in the vein of Hot Springs Story)? What’s the best way to determine how many resort hotels I should place? The answers to questions like those are not always forthcoming.

The second issue is one that some may see as a benefit – once this game establishes its core mechanics, it’s fairly simple and straightforward. For some players, this may make this an extremely compelling time-waster, but for fans of the genre looking for a deeper experience, this may lack the depth they’re yearning for.

Still, for a mere $12, it’s hard to complain too much about Epic Astro Story. This may be a relatively simple and straightforward Management Simulation, but it’s a well-crafted one that’s surprisingly creative and really compelling. I found myself repeatedly tempted to keep playing on, explore one more new territory… no, improve my farming economy… no, check out that cave… no, research better weapons for my explorers… one of the most important things for the Management Simulation genre is that it nails the “hook”, and this game absolutely does that.

tl;dr – Epic Astro Story is a Management Simulation where players manage a space colony, and so it is fitting that this game marks developer Kairosoft exploring new territory as well. There are some really creative elements here, and some surprisingly compelling gameplay. Fans of the genre may find this game to be a bit lacking in depth, but for its low $12 price tag this is a superb Management Simulation.

Grade: B+

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