Destination Primus Vita – Episode 1: Austin Review

Destination Primus Vita is a narrative, first-person and episodic puzzle game developed by Epsilon Games and published by Green Man Gaming. The game is now available on Steam and thus, I am lucky enough to lay my hands and eyes on this title, and share my first impressions with you.

Destination Primus Vita is set in a sci-fi universe in the year of 3044. Again, the future of humanity went the wrong way and we find ourselves in a world without water, the life essence to all beings. We expect that the absence of water is humanity’s fault when it comes to a sci-fi game, but this time, it was stolen from us hundreds of years ago by an alien species.

While the inevitable end is clear, a team of six humans travels to Primus Vita to retrieve what was stolen from us. In the absence of water, everything is at stake. Living a life where a sparkle of fire can end all life, forces these six people to take a hard journey to get back what is needed.

Destination Primus Vita features six episodes and every episode is focused on a different protagonist. The first episode tells the story of Austin, a very challenging and successful Quantum Physics Scientist.

While we are travelling to Primus Vita, the ship’s AI NIM is to train us for what is coming in the planet. During our gameplay, we will be in a simulation and must be ready before we take our first step to the alien planet. Both emotionally and physically, NIM will be testing us.

I need to say that the emotional part is harder for Austin, since she is a woman who is having some struggles when it comes to healthy relationships. Even with his brother, who is at the same mission. Austin seems like a girl whose focus is somewhere else, mostly on her mission and can not deliver the attention to others while she must. A little heart-breaker, we can say. While we learn how to protect ourselves from the Shatters who stole our water in these simulations, we will also fight hard against Austins emotionless heart.

While playing the game, we will find notes scattered all around which will tell us the story in a more detailed way. How people survived after the event without water, how their life became so intolerable, how they decided to get back their water and so on.

Austin is focused on Shatters’ technology since they are very advanced and want to learn their ways in order to use it on their advantage. Shatters are huge and invincible aliens, by the way. She is fearless and maybe this is why she is the most successful quantum physics scientist of all times.

When it comes to the gameplay, I already told you that NIM will be testing us both emotionally and physically. Both charming and enjoyable. NIM will create environments for us which are our personal memories  shared with our crew members. Each memory is a different puzzle to solve and they are designed beautifully.

In the beginning, the memory will be mostly empty and by completing the puzzle, the environment will be complete. Since Austin is an emotion-killer, NIM will test you with your relations with crew members. It is time to make up your own mistakes.

When it comes to the physical part, yes, there will be Shatters. Since you are no warrior, you will be defending yourself and find ways to run from them. The game will not let you fight, instead, you will be defending yourself with WASD buttons like you do in Telltale’s games.

Apart from that, you soon will realize that everything you can interact with is a puzzle. Each is different and some are hard in their own way, but each is unique and brilliant. I loved that part of the game and enjoyed it at full. Except the one with the limited time. I hate those.

Another charming part is the environmental design of the game. Since you are in a simulation, what is there to hold back? The environment is out of the Inception movie and a little bit too shinny. I loved the way how by completing puzzles, we create unique environments to unique memories. The general art sytle is just brilliant.

Each member of the Crew 121 has their own unique personalities and each has a personal relationship with you. It is hard to wait for other episodes to know them better, but seems like they are all fun to play with and will let us experience a very different gameplay each time. While Hayao is a zen biologist, Artemis is a gambler and drinker who likes to create a mess.

The only thing I can criticize is that mouse controls are getting crazy from time to time and this may get frustrating while you are trying to solve a puzzle. The cursor is so very persistent and won’t let you move.

The other thing is the white button which shows you the places you can interact with. This little symbol sometimes hides itself, but gladly there is a sound effect which will let you know that there is something to interact around. These all are tiny technical issues and will be solved easily.

Overall, Destination Primus Vita’s first episode is a highly enjoyable masterpiece with a charming story, beautiful environmental design and cleverly designed puzzles. I can’t wait to meet the other five members of the crew since I feel so close to Austin now even though she is a cold-hearted smartass.

The game is now available on Steam and if you like what you read, you can visit here. Destination Primus Vita is also based on a comic book which shares the same name. For more detailed information about the comic, you can visit here.

Destination Primus Vita – Episode 1: Austin was reviewed using a Steam key provided by the publisher.