Animal Crossing…in space! That's what Young Suns is, the latest game from Goodbye Vulcan HighDepanner NocturneAnd GNOG Developer mode KO_OP, it seems, if put reductively. But let's not reduce it, because this is one of those cozy life simsthere seems to be something to it, especially for the more revolutionary among you.
Young Suns takes place right after a revolution has occurred on Jupiter, apparently in the distant future because I don't even know if you could actually stand on the ball known as a gas giant. In any case, after the revolution there is something to work on to make this place better. So, you are given a ship, tasked with going to other planetoids, ruins and stations, alone or with three friends.
The Animal Crossing aspect of it all comes through in the ability to customize the look of your character, spaceship, and living quarters, with many of the UI and UX elements reminding me of the most recent entry, New Horizons in particular. There's also a very neat character editor, with options for things like prosthetic limbs and even being fat – being a larger person myself, this is one of those overlooked aspects that I really appreciate, so thanks for highlighting it with a dedicated belly slider section in the trailer.
However, while Animal Crossing has its characters whose stories take place in the background, Young Suns brings the narrative to the fore. There are a whole bunch of characters to interact with, apparently 30 of them, each with a “unique appearance, behavior and over two months of unique daily chats.”
What I personally need from Young Suns is an understanding of the genre's inherent flaws. Animal Crossing started out as a simple little game where you lived in a town where your neighbors kind of hated you (but in a fun way), and now it has evolved into a game where you have to mine every resource you come across to build and shape the land as you see fit.
It's a little nasty, and I noticed in the trailer that Young Suns also features resource mining. What good is revolution if we support the systems that oppressed us? I think I'll see how KO_OP handles the situation when the game launches on Steam – you can add it to your wishlist. Here at this time.
