Base price: $12.
1 player.
Play time: ~15 minutes.
BGG Link
Check it out on Kickstarter! (Will update link when Kickstarter is live.)
Logged plays: 2
Full disclosure: A preview copy of Astro ROVE was provided by Button Shy. Some art, gameplay, or other aspects of the game may change between this preview and the fulfillment of the Kickstarter, should it fund, as this is a preview of a currently unreleased game.
I genuinely loathe the first like, month of Spring, where my body has no way of knowing if I’m dying or just experiencing the idea of pollen after 200 weeks of darkness. I should probably go get an allergist screen or whatever, but sitting at home under a blanket and complaining is more spiritually fulfilling, I think. I could also get … Zyrtec? I’m never certain. This is not an advertisement for allergy medication; I am not a doctor or trained medical professional. Either way, no better time to just lay on the couch and watch TV while I edit photos. So let’s talk about Astro ROVE!
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum from my lazy days, Astro ROVE takes our favorite rover and casts them into space. “But wait,” you say, “wasn’t the first ROVE game in space?” It was, but it was on an unexplored planet. This is space space (not to be confused with the similar-sounding Space Base). You’ll be reconfiguring modules in a whole new way to blast through the vacuum, meet cool aliens, meet significantly less-cool aliens, and do what you do best: explore! As usual, there’s a twist. This time, your modules have been revamped. They’re now interchangeable! Sort of. Once. And your Movement Cards have been significantly upgraded to compensate! Now you can use their abilities to help you get the right modules in the right spots for your missions. So get ready to blast off and explore space! What will you find out there?
Overall: 8 / 10
Overall, I think Astro ROVE is great! It’s really becoming a pretty venerable series, these ROVE games, and I like how they’re mapping new things each time around. This time, the big shift is that the modules no longer have abilities of their own; instead, they can be flipped to a different module once, and the Movement Cards have shift and swap abilities to replace that. I think, of the ROVE games, this one feels the most seamless; the cards and the modules work well together, and the game is extremely smooth and easy to play. I picked it up near-instantly and it’s been a decently long time since I last delved into ROVE in any of its forms. The standard Button Shy advantages are there as well: the rulebook is clean and comprehensible, the game is inherently very portable, and the design ethos of a compact game that can expand out to be something interesting is never missed. I think Button Shy’s development continues to be strong, but also, the design team here knows what they’re doing at this point and continues to deliver. It’s an elegant and streamlined experience.
If I had to pick something that I didn’t necessarily love, I’d say that Astro ROVE doesn’t necessarily feel incredibly new or novel. I think part of that is that the initial ROVE game was about exploring an unfamiliar planet, so the thematic distance between the two is not wide enough for my brain to immediately notice the difference. It’s not the worst thing in the world, but say, Jungle ROVE or something with an intensely green palette would have situated itself in my mind further from ROVE and Aqua ROVE, you know? Plus they could have given the robot a little Indiana Jones hat. Adorable. The mechanical conceit has a similar issue. I actually like it a lot, since it offloads more of the thinking to me considering what’s in my hand, but I wouldn’t say it flips the game on its head or anything like that. I think that’s inherently a challenge when you’re trying to expand within a game family. If you stray too far from the core, you end up with something weird and completely unrelated, and if you don’t, you end up with something that might feel too familiar to experienced or frequent players. These are low-grade complaints, but still worth mentioning.
I do think, however, if you’re anything of a ROVE fan like me, you’re likely not going to care too much. ROVE is a great series, and each game is a lot of fun for a quick spatial puzzle to do while you’re waiting for something or hanging out in a coffee shop or trying to prevent yourself falling asleep on the couch because it’s Sunday and you haven’t started any of your reviews for the evening because you forgot Astro ROVE at home and you were out all weekend on a trip. Just, you know, three random ideas that just popped off the ol’ brain. I think there’s something indelibly excellent about the puzzle of the ROVE series, and I’m excited to see where they take it next. I keep pitching ROVEopolis, to just make the Two Big Franchise Games Kiss, but I’m not a designer so I have no idea how that would work. I think Jason and Long are sick of me bringing it up. And yet I will continue to do so. I have a vision. In the meantime, however, I think Astro ROVE is another fun entry in the series, and frankly, if you haven’t played one yet and you like spatial puzzles, I’d strongly recommend checking any of them out. If you fit that bill, you enjoy the adventures of a cute robot, or you just are itching for a highly-portable solo game, Astro ROVE might be right up your alley! It’s a good one.
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