Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime demands player co-operation
One of the best parts about cooperative games is the ability to bring in separate players and encourage teamwork through gameplay, particularly within hectic settings where time is of the essence. In games like these, communication and understanding between players is truly what forms the gameplay experience, with the mechanics serving as an underlying structure for players to use in their interaction.
Enter Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, is a co-op game with a fairly simple goal; rescue stranded space-bunnies located around the game map while avoiding dangerous enemies and the vacuum of outer space. Navigation in Lovers is via a spaceship controlled by two players (or one player and one trusty AI partner), with different stations being located within the ship. The players must run back and forth between these stations to control movement, shields, and weapons. Lovers employs eye-popping neon 2D visuals and colourful palette designs.
The controls for Lovers are fairly easy (simple movement and interaction), making the technical aspects pretty straightforward. The challenge comes in how well the two players can cooperate with each other to switch between stations as new obstacles and challenges appear. Despite the feelings of urgency experienced with its frantic outerspace gameplay, Lovers makes for a great co-op game among friends.
Lovers is the work of local Toronto studio Asteroid Base. The game is composed by Matt Hammill, Jamie Tucker, and Adam Winkels, with audio work from Ryan Henwood and UI design by Emily Tu. Lovers was first imagined in January 2012 during Global Game Jam, an annual event held world-wide where game developers come together during a weekend to create a game within the time allotted.
Since its creation and development, Lovers has appeared in several festivals including PAX East, Indiecade East, and the Independent Games Festival. The game has also received awards from Destructoid, Brazilian Independent Games Festival, the Extra Credits Awards, and more.
Lovers was recently released on September 9, 2015 for Steam and Xbox One at $16.99, with a timely Valentine’s release for February 9th 2016 on the Playstation 4.
