Preview: Nom Nom Galaxy

The guys at Q Games are about to break the mould and try something different. Not that there really WAS a mould to begin with — each of their previous titles have been about as far removed from each other as possible. The one thing they do have in common, however, is that they’ve all been on a PlayStation device. Nom Nom Galaxy (recently retitled from the tentative PixelJunk Inc) is the newest title to come from the developers, and it’s headed straight to PC. In fact, it’s already available as an Alpha via Steam Early Access. Q Games passed us a code to look over, and who was I to say no?

Of course, releasing first by PC is somewhat of a milestone for the company, but don’t expect anything to have changed. Nom Nom Galaxy is just as mind-blowingly imaginative as any prior title. I don’t even know where to start.

Essentially, Nom Nom Galaxy puts you in the shoes of a rotund fellow in charge of a soup factory. At first, you need to find where to get the ingredients for your factory-default soup-making machine, so off you trundle in to the big wide world. Punching some plants will yield the results you’re after, yet your little rotund alien can only carry one item at a time. The soup machine requires two ingredients; they can be the same, but different combinations will result in different types of soup. A couple of back-and-forth trips later, and you will have your first soup factory — this machine will now continue to make the same type of soup indefinitely. All you need to provide is the ingredients.

And therein lies the beauty. The landscape is huge. There are hundreds of soup flavours, and different types of soup will bring in more space dollars (the distribution method of choice? Rocket, naturally). It’s not very long into the game that you will want to work out how to more efficiently mine the planet for resources; how you can more efficiently bring these items to your various factories; and how you can make more and more kinds of soup.

Then the monsters start attacking.

Nom Nom Galaxy is an achievement in that it is so simple — mine a planet and make soup — yet so complex, all at the same time. Dividing your time between designing your base (and, of course, making it more efficient), going out and doing some hunter-gathering, protecting the base from attack, as well as simply exploring (keep an eye on your oxygen levels!) – it’s not as easy at it feels at first blush.

There are some bugs at present — it is an alpha, of course — but I honestly wasn’t too put off by the minor clipping issue I encountered, nor the difficulty in attacking without a weapon. In some ways, I enjoyed the procedural regeneration in much the same ways that fans of rogue-likes enjoy the challenge of regeneration. This is just such a different game that it’s difficult to place in to a genre. More than that, the developers are constantly making improvements, with updates and additions being released every other day.

I’m interested to see where Nom Nom Galaxy goes. I’ve only played a few hours so far, but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve played, and will continue to build my dream soup factory (not a sentence I ever imagined I would say). There are some control issues, and bugs here and there; Q Games have mentioned several times that the games is a “buggy mess,” but it’s not that bad at all. For an alpha, it’s entirely playable. And did I mention there’s a two-player mode? I didn’t get the chance to play it, but having someone to help forage while I build and protect sounds like a pretty good plan to me.

Nom Nom Galaxy is not yet ready for the big time, so it’s not yet ready for a firm review either. Still, it’s more than worth your time, even in its present state.I have a feeling it will end up on at least one console in the future, in addition to Steam, and I already feel that it’s worth your time. It’s definitely one to keep an eye on.