![]() ![]() ![]() In Crying Suns, you command an advanced battleship as it makes its way across a string of star systems in search of answers. So yeah, we should probably talk about that. It’s a compelling hook, and one that kept me going after the gameplay started to wear on me. You’ll learn about the ruling houses of the Empire, what life was like under the OMNIs, how different groups reacted to the fall, and of course, the nature of the mystery itself. FTL’s plot is simply an excuse to hang the gameplay upon, but Crying Suns has a fully-developed world and lore that is spun out to the player over many journeys into its dark reaches. Nevertheless, this is the hook that Crying Suns offers over the likes of FTL: a story-driven adventure. The store page admits as much, as if it needs to after naming the main character “Idaho”. I’m sure you can tell by now that this game wasn’t just inspired by FTL, but also by literary works like Dune and Foundation. You and your Imperial battleship are perhaps the only hope of combatting the chaos, by uncovering what caused the OMNIs to go offline, and perhaps restoring them and the Empire to a semblance of their former glory. ![]() Without their AI administrators, the entire Empire collapsed into chaos, leaving systems at the mercy of scavengers, madmen, and fanatics. The hyper-advanced AI Kaliban explains that something has gone wrong in the Empire, which is that all the other OMNIs like Kaliban have shut down. You are Ellys Idaho, the greatest admiral the Empire has ever known…or, more precisely, you are a clone of him. On a barren, distant world at the edge of the galaxy, you awaken from a stasis chamber. I’d say that something is enough to recommend this sci-fi odyssey despite its flaws, but your mileage is definitely going to vary. But it does manage to save itself, to a degree, by offering something that FTL does not. Crying Suns, being so clearly inspired by FTL, does not fully escape this pitfall, unfortunately. It’s happened time and time again in the gaming world, from the deluge of messy DOOM clones in the 90s to the desperate modern attempts to ape the success of Dark Souls. The great pitfall in building something inspired by something else is that you miss key elements that made the first inspiring. ![]()
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