Approximately Up Review

Building a spaceship is only half the fun. The real magic comes from four friends trying to fly the thing without accidentally sending everyone into space.

Some games are designed to be played for twenty minutes before moving on to something else. Approximately Up feels like the complete opposite. It is the sort of game that can quietly turn into an entire evening because one small problem leads to another, and suddenly the group is still trying to land a badly assembled spaceship several hours later.

Approximately Up started making waves with its demo, which introduced a surprisingly clever mix of spaceship construction, exploration, physics, and cooperative gameplay. Instead of throwing players into a giant sandbox and expecting them to create their own fun, the game gives them actual missions and goals. You build because you have somewhere to go and something to deliver.

The review version already provided enough content to show what made the game special. Players could work together on a homemade spacecraft, complete delivery jobs, and eventually attempt a trip to the Moon. The full release builds on that foundation with more destinations, technology, missions, and reasons to keep improving the ship.

The result is a game that sits somewhere between a space simulator and a puzzle game, but never becomes completely buried under its own complexity. Approximately Up does not rely on a huge cinematic story or a cast of characters constantly explaining what is happening. Instead, the adventure comes from the things the crew is asked to accomplish.

The basic idea is simple. Start with limited equipment, build a spacecraft, complete missions, unlock new technology, and travel farther into space. The early objectives are deliberately small. Players might need to travel somewhere on Earth, collect cargo, and bring it back. That sounds easy until the game reminds the crew that they actually need somewhere to put the cargo. Then there is the small matter of keeping everyone inside the vehicle.

Those little problems gradually become bigger ones.

The crew starts experimenting with better ship designs, new engines, additional seats, cameras, instruments, and other equipment. Eventually, the game pushes the team toward interplanetary travel. The Moon becomes one of the first major tests, and getting there is far more involved than simply pointing the ship upward and holding down a button.

Later missions suggest even stranger adventures. One objective is to deliver a submarine to a distant water-based planet. That opens up an entirely new side of the game, with underwater exploration, floodlights, ballast systems, and deep-water challenges waiting further ahead.

It gives the progression a nice sense of escalation. What begins as a group of people struggling to build a functional delivery vehicle can eventually become a full-blown space expedition. The main attraction is, obviously, building the spaceship. But the important part is that Approximately Up does not give players unlimited freedom from the beginning. The game gives players a limited set of parts and challenges them to make those parts work.

That restriction is actually one of the game's smartest decisions. The parts include seats, structural pieces, engines, batteries, cables, controls, cameras, instruments, and other components. Players have to figure out where everything belongs and how it should connect.

It sounds straightforward until four people are all trying to build the same vehicle. That is where the co-op becomes so entertaining. One player might be working on the engines while another handles wiring. The 4th guy asks why there are still no seats available. Somebody else might be working on a suitable cockpit.

This organically promotes separation of duties among the participants.

A minimal power and data system is also available. Power cables connect equipment to the main electrical system, while data cables allow controls and instruments to communicate with other components. It is detailed enough to make players feel like they are actually building a machine, but it doesn't bury them under an enormous programming system.

That balance is important. Many engineering games become exhausting because every tiny action requires another menu, another logic block, or another technical explanation. Approximately Up keeps things relatively understandable while still giving players enough freedom to create clever solutions.

And sometimes those solutions are extremely stupid. That is not an insult. It is part of the fun. A badly designed spaceship can become more memorable than a perfect one because everyone remembers the moment it nearly fell apart. The game also considers weight and balance. Engine placement can affect how the ship moves, while changes to the vehicle's weight can force the crew to rethink its design.

A ship that worked perfectly during an early mission might behave completely differently after several new components are attached. That means building is never truly finished. The game places very little emphasis on traditional combat. Instead, the challenge comes from solving engineering and navigation problems. Each mission is a puzzle.

The game tells the crew what to accomplish, but it doesn't necessarily tell them exactly how to do it. Need to transport something? Build enough space for it. Need to keep everyone inside? Seal the hull. Need to fly properly? Balance the ship. Need to reach the Moon? Figure out how to navigate there. Need to land? Good luck.

That last part is where things can become hilarious.

The Moon mission demonstrates how well this approach works. Players must rely on a mix of instruments, cameras, thrust controls, and good old-fashioned judgment. The first attempt can feel like a homemade version of the Apollo program. The crew has to work out when to accelerate, when to slow down, how to position the ship, and how to approach the destination.

There is plenty of room for mistakes. That makes success much more satisfying. Instead of simply receiving a reward because the game says the player has leveled up, progress comes from actually solving the problem. Completing missions unlocks new technology, which in turn makes future missions easier or even possible.

That creates a natural progression system without forcing players into repetitive XP grinding. There is no need to kill the same enemy fifty times just to unlock a better engine. Rewards come from exploration and completing objectives. And that fits the game much better.

The first trip to the Moon might be messy and stressful. Later journeys can become more manageable because the crew has better equipment. That sense of learning is one of the game's strongest qualities. Approximately Up isn't trying to win a graphical technology showcase, but its visuals suit the experience well.

The spacecraft have a wonderfully homemade quality.

Early ships can look more like something assembled in a garage than a billion-dollar space program, and that actually makes the progression more enjoyable. As new technology becomes available, the ships can gradually become more sophisticated. The environments also do a good job of creating a sense of scale.

Earth, the Moon, distant planets, mountains, and open space give the crew a believable feeling of moving farther and farther from home. Space itself can look especially impressive during major moments. Watching a planet disappear behind the ship or seeing sunlight break through the darkness can turn a relatively simple journey into something surprisingly cinematic. Lighting also affects gameplay.

Landing at night can make navigation considerably harder, while the arrival of daylight can suddenly reveal mountains, terrain, and other hazards that were nearly impossible to see moments earlier. These are small touches, but they create memorable moments. The soundtrack plays an important role in making those moments work.

The music changes dynamically depending on what the players are doing. Construction and preparation feel different from actually taking the spacecraft into flight. Once the ship leaves the planet and enters space, the atmosphere changes again. The music helps convey that something important is happening. That matters because much of Approximately Up's excitement comes from anticipation.

The crew might spend a long time preparing a ship, checking connections, moving components around, and arguing over the best way to handle a mission.

Then the engines fire. At that point, the planning is over. Everyone has a job. If something goes wrong, there is no magic button to save the day. That combination of sound, movement, and teamwork makes successful missions feel genuinely rewarding.

Approximately Up works because it understands something many sandbox games forget: giving players freedom isn't the same as giving them something fun to do. There is nothing wrong with games that provide thousands of parts and let players build whatever they want. But that kind of freedom can also become overwhelming.

Approximately Up keeps things focused. There is a mission. There is a problem. There are limited tools. Now figure it out. That simple structure gives every part of the building system a purpose. The four-player co-op is another huge part of the experience. When a crew is well organized, tasks can be divided, and the ship begins to feel like a true team project. One player can handle propulsion, another navigation, another controls, and another monitoring.

Of course, not every group will work perfectly. If everyone wants to control everything, things could become chaotic very quickly. But when players actually cooperate, the experience can be fantastic. The game also deserves credit for resisting the temptation to automate everything. The awkward controls and hands-on construction are part of its personality.

Having to physically move around the ship, remove parts, reach awkward wiring, and rebuild sections might sound inconvenient on paper. In practice, those limitations create many of the game's funniest and most memorable moments. The biggest question is what happens next.

Approximately Up has plenty of room to expand. More planets, more missions, new equipment, underwater exploration, deeper environments, and increasingly difficult engineering challenges could give players plenty of reasons to keep coming back. But the developers need to be careful.

Turning the game into another massive sandbox filled with thousands of logic blocks could strip it of what makes it special. 

Approximately Up does not need to become the next Space Engineers. It has its own identity. Its strength comes from giving players just enough complexity to feel clever without making the experience feel like homework. The game wants players to solve problems, laugh at their failures, improve their ship, and try again.

That is a much more approachable formula. Ultimately, "Approximately Up" is at its best when four people are sitting together, staring at a barely functional spacecraft and asking the most dangerous question in gaming: "Do you think this thing will actually fly?" Sometimes it will. Sometimes it absolutely will not. Either way, that is where the best memories are made.