Violet: Space Mission Review

There’s a reason why astronauts are heroes in our culture and 'rocket scientist' is shorthand for genius. Doing stuff in space is really hard. It takes unbelievable patience and precision, massive intelligence, and the courage to step out into endless, life-sucking blackness. Violet: Space Mission may not require those last few qualities, but patience and precision are definitely a must.

In Violet: Space Mission, players control an astronaut attempting to retrieve a series of caches floating out in space before returning back to the station. To navigate the flat void, players must carefully use their jetpack to modify thrust and direction while avoiding deadly asteroids. However, since they're out in space they can also let go Sandra Bullock-style and let gravity do the work. Since fuel is limited and extra tanks are scarce, that’s a legitimately important strategy. Ultimately, players must methodically balance all of these options to complete their mission.

And boy is that a lot to balance. The game’s Lunar Lander-meets-Pilotwings premise is simple enough to grasp, but the margin for error is razor-thin. Even a trajectory that is just slightly off can send players hurtling away from the target while wasting precious fuel, and hitting an asteroid with any amount of speed spells doom. There are only ten levels with one or two caches each, but actually getting through all of them takes nearly as much time as a real space expedition after factoring in all the retries.

Meanwhile, the presentation does an admirable job of being nice to look at while still selling the stark and silent isolation of space. The subdued comic book art style contrasts strong colors with dark shadows, and background objects like cosmic clouds and broken shuttles add visual variety while their gravitational fields put even more obstacles in players’ paths.

Violet: Space Mission is so frustrating upfront that players will quickly learn whether or not the demanding explorations are right for them. But its challenge comes from authenticity, not unfairness, and you at least have to respect it for that.