Astronimo is a co-op space platformer adventure with building and puzzle-solving aspects.
Astronimo is a construction platforming puzzler that will have you on a cute space adventure developed and published by Coatsink, a game dev and publishing studio based in the UK. This comes with being published by Thunderful Group, a group of companies active in developing and publishing games.
Starting Astronimo, we enter a planet similar to the Super Mario game camera work, with the camera panning onto your character. From here, you will be introduced to the tutorial in the form of illustrations on the walls of this 3D side-scrolling adventure. You’ll be shown everything from movement to jumping, grabbing, and navigating. The different elements are essential to the game, and as you progress, you will come across Captain Croc and the captain seems to be trying to communicate with his crew.
Your character is part of his crew, and Captain Croc is relieved to see you alive. You’ll be given your next objective and the captain’s location, though this is on the moon. You’ll have to use any contraption you can find or build to try and reach him. He promises you that he will try to guide you, but in the present moment, keep moving forward, and he wishes you luck while urging you on.
This is also where you will be introduced to the rest of the tutorial. While moving forward, more challenges will present themselves and increase in difficulty as well. This is where planning and grabbing will come in handy, as certain sections of the game will offer ways to boost your height or hang from ropes.
This could include dangerous obstacles like lava and so much more, but watch out, if you fall into the lava, your character will explode, sort of like a character from Fall Guys getting filled with too much air. However, fret not, as dying won’t make you start from scratch; you will have to start from the last checkpoint.
However, Astronimo requires some creative thinking and careful timing. Once you have gone through the training course, you will come across Captain Croc again, who will further point you to the game’s next mechanic, which would be a wheel of luck of sorts. While being a mechanic on its own, it also explains what the golden cubs you find from the start are for.
The ore these golden cubes will come to be known as will be used to spin the wheel, using a power move to slam on the button, and with each push, the wheel or what looks more like a tumble dryer will spin and drop items. These items range from different colors for your character’s outfits to accessories. This mechanic can also benefit the in-game building aspect as well as cosmetics.
Moving forward in Astronimo, you will come across your first workshop experience, where you will get to see how the build function works and how to work the tools within it. Once you have passed your obstacle, you will proceed to the next part of the building – the editing function.
The editing function will allow you to change the contraptions to fit certain situations. So, if you were to need more height or a contraption to bounce, editing the creations and contraptions would be useful in any and all situations. Some puzzles will have you jumping into ditches to activate bridges and, sometimes, building your way out of the situation.
Upon startup, you’ll be given a notification about Astronimo being best experienced with a controller, but you’re not tied down to just a controller. The mouse and keyboard layout is also quite smooth and doesn’t cause any issues or confusion. From moving directionally up or down and aiming or grabbing onto objects to dragging them, the controls are easy to use and have a direct building feel as if you were building with your hand.
Throughout Astronimo, you will find waypoints that, when activated, will act as a portal or black hole to the next level of the planet. Along with dragging, grabbing, and building, the game does offer actions such as a power cannonball drop or punching. These actions can be used to activate buttons or move ore around without having to pick it up and drag it around the game. It also allows certain objects to be picked up and moved about, making it easier to get objects or contraptions over obstacles like a river of lava.
Aside from its single-player story, Astronimo is primarily a co-op game, which means you might be better off bringing some friends in to take on challenges together, which will make this experience more fun and help players work together. Teamwork is key to making the challenges easier while having a good laugh with your friends.
Alongside the co-op and single-player story, Astronimo offers another option, one that will have you creating your own worlds and being able to share them with other players. Heading into the World Editor, you are given details on the mode and a suggestion to play the campaign first before playing with the World Editor, as the campaign will better explain how the tools of Astronimo work.
From placing and planning to making your challenges and worlds, they are tons of fun. After having created your masterpiece or monstrosity, you are given the opportunity to upload your worlds for other players to see and challenge, similar to the game Hidden Through Time 2 Myths & Magic, which also allows players to test each other’s creative thinking and create joy or frustration for other players.
How hard or easy can you make your challenges and worlds? Create worlds that require timing, skill, using height or hanging while playing customizable characters of varying colors to things that change your hands or what your character is holding, such as having a massive pointer finger or an instrument in your character’s hands. The possibilities are endless.
The music in Astronimo is friendly, with a light whistle tune and cheery instrumentals to accompany the whistling tune with characters of cute, child-like seriousness. The visuals, environmental colors, and level designs that go alongside the story of getting to the captain are cute and well-suited for children of young ages who are getting to know the gaming world. It includes constructional puzzles and co-op game modes for social meets that work for any occasion.
Overall, Astronimo is a fun and easygoing game that is fast to grasp with single-player or co-op modes. This construction and platform puzzler will have you on a children’s space adventure with puzzles and challenges that will require fun strategies, timing, and practice while following the story of the crew trying to get back to the captain. Astronimo is a very child-friendly game that is good for constructive puzzling beginners.
