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I love sci-fi with style and Ambrosia Sky is oozing at the seams with it, propagating stunning visuals at a dangerous rate. This is much like the fungal problem that's overrun an asteroid space colony by the time Dalia reaches it. Playing the first few missions during Steam Next Fest, armed with a chemical-spewing water gun I get to work, dousing sprouting mushroom blocks to cut them back, scooping up lore notes, and getting to the bottom of just what happened here.
With beautiful, colorful visuals and a setting that's really worth poking around, the chunky demo is worth a try – something you can do for yourself (check out our Steam Next Fest guide for more on how). An immersive sim in the style of System Shock, I'm digging the tool-based approach to its exploration. Developer Soft Rains are on their way to crafting a truly special space odyssey, and the first part (of three) will release as soon as November 10.
Space, the fungal frontier
This is no random space colony, either. It's a place Dalia used to call home, before leaving on a journey to find greater meaning beyond a lifetime cultivating fungus in space. Joining the ambrosia project – an organisation on a quest to unlock the secret to immortality – Dalia has become a Scarab, an agent who follows disasters to secure the remains of the recently deceased who are ambrosia donors, using their remains to further research. The last thing Dalia wanted was to see was Home becoming a designated tomb.
The Cluster is contaminated with fungal growths. Dalia can adjust the nozzle of a PowerWash Simulator-style chemical gun to shoot in horizontal or vertical spreads, or a single precise blast to forge paths ahead. The basic spray regenerates over time. Using a mouse and keyboard, at times I gleefully shake the mouse while aiming in precision mode to send out large, twisting streams. This can be used to remove blocky fungus that gums up space station hallways, but different fungus types require a different approach.
Angular, twisting, electricity-conducting fungus, for instance, can be simply severed from interacting with systems rather than needing to remove the whole thing. So too can fungus produce fruit you can hoover up to upgrade your equipment. Cut these carefully from the stem rather than blasting them loose and the resource yield will be far greater. In some areas, gravity can be switched off to float around the station, and in others, thanks to a grapple tether on Dalia's gun, you won't need to – Spider-Manning up sheer surfaces to plumb the devastated, lifeless station for secrets.
Mission based, Dalia sets out with a specific objective into different areas of the colony each time. One mission has me working my way A to B to secure a special seed, then having to rush my way back out on a time limit as the growths get funky. Another whacks me in a small but dense open area, using a scanner to track down resources. My final mission has me tracking down a specific dead body for Dalia to harvest for the ambrosia project – a face from Dalia's past now a skull. Like System Shock, there's plenty of ways to get around and creative uses for Dalia's tools. Fire can spread. Electricity can be conducted. Vents can be twisted through.
Exploring the colony means going through plenty of emails and documents, with fantastic character artwork bringing these often final missives of this fungal doomsday to life – building a picture of what life has been like since Dalia left and just what might have happened for the plant life to grow so varied and out of control. I love poring over it all, and exploring this vibrant space that's become home to a deadly alien ecosystem. Despite the splashes of color, there's a melancholy vibe too. But, like Dalia, I'm too curious to stop exploring – I have to see what lies deeper within the asteroid. Ambrosia Sky: Act One launches on PC on November 10, 2025.
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