The gaming community has been crying out for a new BioShock game for well over a decade. The legendary first person action adventure has, surprisingly, not inspired the creation of as many titles as one would expect. What made the BioShock trilogy so superb was its excellent integration of gameplay and mechanics, oddball characters, and most importantly, its engaging and dystopian universes that are relatable to the real world.
Developed by The Wild Gentlemen, known for The Chicken Police titles, RetroSpace is a new space-based horror BioShock-like which collides first-person shooting with an interesting story of real world human, societal and scientific issues. As a huge fan of 2017’s Prey (and the 2006 original, for the record), which this too takes inspiration, I had very high hopes ahead of RetroSpace’s launch.
Arriving just in time for spooky season, RetroSpace has fierce competition in the horror genre. With some new, and some tried and tested ideas, is the so-called ‘disco-punk’ horror worth your time this Halloween? There are a lot of positives to say about this game, there too are many negatives. Our spoiler-lite review will start by discussing the very good, before turning to the bad, then the (b)ugly.
A Journey Across Space and Time
Set in 2177, with a 1970s aesthetic, The Wild Gentlemen’s new title takes place above a research vessel, the Aurora 5 which is on a 100 year long mission to find a new home. Having left earth, and as you’ll discover, many people behind, everyone aboard is on a great journey to an unknown beyond. En-route, your ship gets sucked into a black hole that completely shifts space and time, including morphing some of the crew themselves. Divided into two entirely different timelines, 37 years apart, the Aurora’s crew are desperately seeking to either reunite with those lost, or sever ties completely.
You are one of the ship’s unnamed janitors, who before entering the black hole was charged with protecting the human crew during their deep, century long snooze. Once the higher-ranked crew reawaken, they place their trust in you to navigate this sprawling ship and use your tools to stave off the mutants who have appeared aboard. But who is this nameless janitor? One of your main objectives on your handheld log device is trying to discover your true identity. There are twists, there are turns and the game’s conclusion wraps everything together very competently, with two satisfying endings.
Assisted by some very suspicious AI including MI-A, alongside Dr Nebula, your oddball human and non-human aides will guide your survival endeavours across the ship. They are very engaging characters who help build suspense and narrative intrigue throughout the approximately 10-hour playthrough, which is further heightened by the well-written text and audio logs you will find on your way. Like BioShock and similar titles, the audio logs feature a small set of characters who repeatedly feature, filling the backstory with their musings – often amusing – and tales of desperation aboard the off-trajectory vessel. They feature just the right amount too, usually located in segments where the main story gets quieter.
With themes of artificial intelligence, human morality and questionable scientific experimentation, RetroSpace asks a lot of contemporary questions that are tackled in a mature but approachable manner. The crew of the ship, all classed as experts in their field, probe whether what they, and you, are doing is for the greater good of mankind. As you progress through the game you will bring a small surviving crew back to the hub area. None of them are saints and have histories of acting up to no good, thus engaging with them and uncovering their unsavoury histories is always a satisfying, narrative expanding exchange.
The Aurora
RetroSpace’s shining star is the exceptional Aurora 5. The research ship is an environment that owes a lot to some of the finest titles in the space-based Metroidvania genre. Inspired locations are woven together by the developer in a way that makes the interconnected Aurora 5 a true delight to explore. And, to a deal greater than I expected, player agency is provided enabling you to tackle objectives, enemy encounters, and exploration in your own way.
As a janitor for the ship, you are afforded access to areas of the ship that are off limits to many of your more esteemed crewmates. When set off on an objective, partners like Miriam will tell you where to go and its your job to utilise the tools and routes at your disposal.
The game really rewards backtracking too. Like other Metroidvania titles, you will discover new keys – in the form of human heads that you use on retina scanners – to open previously inaccessible doors, alongside revealing new passwords to open areas you couldn’t enter before. Returning to places previously traversed will reward you with some tasty new weapons including a turret which absolutely destroys enemies. Meanwhile, the lively cast of crew you encounter on your travels will offer optional side objectives that enable you to return to locations, now offering new lore and backstory to the Aurora 5’s perilous mission. The Janitors Haven, the game’s hub world, also acts as a fast travel conduit, enabling you to quickly get back to destinations you’ve tackled before.
RetroSpace pushes you to use the environment around you in every way possible. For example, if there is a turret, above a door (which early in the game will tear you a new one), you have options. These can include, 1) finding a vent to get through another way; 2) locating the security terminal password from a body to hack it; 3) destroy it using it your limited resources. There is a semi-sandbox feel to the game, enabling you to stack boxes to reach new areas too, with your exploration rewarded with new weapons, upgrades and other useful items.
Visually, the Aurora and the game more widely is a delight to look at. Set in the 1970s, much of the ship is steeped in the taste of the times, from colourful disco lighting, to posters with artwork from the era, to the individuals the unnamed protagonist meets – including one eccentric synthetic who has a disco ball as a head. Alongside its semi-voxel art style, the Aurora is a truly diverse environment with each themed location feeling unique in visuals and geography. The Borealis Gardens, the bio park wing of the ship, is a highlight with its lush green trees and test chambers for the growth of peculiar plant-based enemies.
Without revealing too much, the ship will also jump between different times, owing to the shifts in the black hole. When the time changes, as does the ship itself. Locations I visited early in the game had morphed with new items and the need to traverse objects that weren’t there before. And with respect to the excellent world design, it didn’t feel that the developers were simply asset flipping, the changes made me thoroughly enjoy revisiting each location.
Map and Design Flaws
The Wild Gentleman have poured a lot of time and energy into creating an excellent, vast spaceship for the player. But why they opted to spend so little time creating a useful map is something I cannot quite get my head around. RetroSpace’s analogue map is almost entirely pointless – it doesn’t tell you anything; it offers little more than a vague floor plan; and it is controlled in a terrible input intensive manor. The formula for video game maps is almost perfected, the studio simply needed to replicate it. Whilst the lack of a quality map in its own is an issue, the broader problem is that this will deter players from spending extra time completing side objectives and fully discovering the ship.
On a gameplay level, I found there to be several combat-related issues. The AI quality isn’t great, enemies often time doing little more than standing still shooting, or just rushing me whilst I shot back. Whilst mechanically fine, the game’s shooting just feels spongey with guns lacking any sort of audible oomph. Frequently I was taking fire without even realising as shots are often so quiet, or drowned out by the on repeat enemy encounter music. Finally, environmental damage needs turning down significantly as stepping on unavoidable flames, or toxic waste can easily burn half your health away – immensely frustrating when you’re already low on health.
Technical Black Hole
RetroSpace, unfortunately, has some technical issues that need prompt attention from The Wild Gentlemen’s team of bug-swatting janitors. Some of these issues even prevented me from progressing the story. Early in the game a mission sent me to look for a key card which just didn’t exist. Almost 2 hours trawling the same corridors to find the card was to no avail, fortunately a reset of the game enabled all of the items to spawn. What made these 2 hours even worse, was that many other assets didn’t spawn either, leaving me to run out of ammunition to repeatedly die to tougher enemies. At the same time – and in retrospect is rather funny, certainly not at the time – in-game ground fires weren’t loading either, meaning I was playing floor is lava without actually knowing where the fire was.
There are also many visual glitches with texture popping, doors appearing closed when they’re actually open and on several occasions, sections of the ship completely missing until approached. I’m confident the developers will quickly tidy up these issues after launch but all prospective players should be aware of the current state.
Normally, I am very willing to forgive some technical jank from smaller indie teams but progression blocking is unequivocally unacceptable. I am confident that RetroSpace will receive a swathe of patches in the weeks ahead. Alas, it seems that the developer and publishers endeavours to meet the October Halloween rush is one that may come back to haunt them (no pun intended).
Final Thoughts
I firmly believe the Aurora 5 will one day be entirely worth boarding, but for now it needs to come out of the black hole with a drastically improved map and many bugs squashed. This is a mature, well-told story aboard a genuinely brilliant space ship which is fun to explore in any way you wish to approach it. RetroSpace needs a handful of updates before I can offer the 8/10 I’d have loved to give.
RetroSpace releases October 1, 2026 on XBOX Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC. This review was played on XBOX Series X. Thank you to the developer and publisher for the code provided for review.
