Thursday, August 03, 2023

Cosmos Chronicles




Gamopat goodness!

It's always exciting to hear of new games being released for our amazing Atari ST/e. Sadly, it always feels that other vintage computers get the support that our 16-bit fuji lacks (hey, whatever happened to AGT). Anyhow, I've been following the Cosmos Chronicles on/off for many moons but it's originally a French Gamopat game - that means I understood now't as I know little beyond "bonjour" and "jeu"! So I eagerly awaited an English version I could playtest.

Well, you knew this was coming... Wait no more, the international edition of Cosmos Chronicles is finally out. It's beta v0.95 so it may feature a few problems in translation - but that's nothing your feedback cannot fix! I've played a little after work today and I must say it's impressive. You might say it's Ultima-impressive so very much worth the wait!!

The game was coded in GFA Basic, a tool that never ceases to impress. The full credits are:
    Programming: Laurent Fontaine [Dr. Floyd]
    Music: Nic Alderton [Count Zero]
    Sound effects: Laurent Fontaine [Dr. Floyd]
    Visuals: Laurent Fontaine [Dr. Floyd] & Francois Pino [Grostonton]

Wanna see a couple of screenshots about the background story? Yeah, come on and gander at these babies...



It's a bit "empty" and soulless I thought. Are you still interested?



I'd say so! This is a strange baseline but carry on scrolling...



Frontier, Ultima, Sundog, whaaaaat?

I instantly got that Ultima V vibe, which is excellent! However, there is more to this game than first meets the eye. Roguelike comes to the Atari ST yet again and what's more, it looks the part with a style I love. Yes, it does draw heavily on the imagination but that's the best way - I don't want anything "better" as this would bloat and spoil the whole experience. Also, I cannot help but mention the audio surprise when first booting up - thank you Count Zero!!

Okay, this #roguelike is completely free to download. However, please consider contributing a little of your hard-earned cash to help support Dr Floyd/Gamopat for all the hard graft that's obviously gone into the production of this tremendous game. I truly mean this, because the game is very promising!! I'm hugely excited about it :)

Here is the download link with a copy & paste of the basics along with some of my fabulous screenshots...

The whole universe in your ATARI ST: 200 billion galaxies, hundreds of billions of stars and planets in each galaxy (*), the possibility of visiting every patch of grass or rock on every planet, houses, caves, the ultimate open world. The ability to eat, drink, poop, shower, repair your ship, booze in the pub, fight in arenas, play in casinos and arcades, pray to the Gods, buy condoms, go on space trips, slalom between asteroids, see things no one has ever seen at the edge of space, to infinity and beyond.

The uncompromising #ROGUELIKE
- Persistent universe
- You only have one true life
- There's no going back. You die, it's over... just like in real life ;)
A combined tribute to the following
- ULTIMA IV and V, for gameplay & visual rendering (which draws heavily on the imagination)
- ELITE and ELITE FRONTIER (for the open world and space trading)
- SUNDOG (for futuristic adventure and numerous gameplay possibilities/interactions)
Atari computer compatibility
- ATARI STF
- ATARI STE (supports Blitter)
- ATARI MEGA ST
- ATARI MEGA STE 8-16Mhz
- ATARI TT (a little fast)
- FALCON 030 (too fast?)


So, first things first, we need to seek out the farm as there's trouble afoot!



As you can see, these aren't friendly soldiers at all and kill your family.



Look inside the house for a weapon and let's kick their arse!



The English breaks up a little in places but you get the general gist. Hey, check out that rabbit!



The family are slain but there's no time to mourn as we go looking for anything useful.



Yeah, I found a cave and hoped for treasure but all I found were demons!

7 comments:

  1. Man this looks fun and sounds excellent!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is :) Glad you like the sound of this Jeff. The play through is fun although I'll kinda be glad when it's over so I can play the game better (and quicker lol). Spending more time writing than playing... doh!

      Delete
  2. - ATARI TT (a little fast)
    - FALCON 030 (too fast?)

    Should it be the revers. ATARI TT has faster CPU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. IF only I could test, but I was stupid 20 years ago and sold both my Falcon and TT :(
      Tbh it's probably better on Falcon as Cosmos Chronicles supports the Blitter. I've played on my ST and STe and the STe was significantly snappier.... So perhaps it's a similar high-end situation on the big boy Ataris

      Delete
    2. You've been VERY active on my website lately. For that i THANK YOU :D

      Delete
    3. Very good content.

      Delete
    4. Far too kind! Although I now wish that I could clone you!!!! :D

      Delete

More random ATARI ST articles from the archives

Like what I do? Hey, do you wanna help support AtariCrypt??