NIM, the AI running the simulation, pulled up a memory I had of the crew’s engineer, BrX. In a freeze-frame style, the memory is laid out before me: BrX had been charging down the hallway with his gym bag and accidentally slammed into the cart I was using to carry my samples, ruining weeks of critical research. It was at that moment I signed off the meathead as being nothing but an obstacle to my research. NIM wanted me to relive the memory, to see it from another perspective, so I began to look around the frozen scene, piecing the puzzle together. The siren on the wall flashed brightly. BrX had a patch sewn onto his uniform, from his old job on Earth as a firefighter. And at the end of the hall, a red-orange glow illuminated the hallway deeper into the facility. BrX hadn’t thoughtlessly slammed into my cart during a simple run; He had been trying to rush past me to put out a fire, and I had been so wrapped up in my research that I hadn’t noticed the warning signs. NIM dropped the memory, the lesson learned, and pulled up the next chunk of the simulation.
Destination Primus Vita is full of introspective moments like this. Episode 1: Austin centers around the scientist of a spaceship crew, Austin, on a vital mission: Reclaim Earth’s water. Centuries ago, massive building-sized aliens, dubbed Shatters, arrived on Earth and drained the oceans, leaving as quickly as they came. Humanity held together through the apocalypse and rebuilt, surviving on water dredged from dangerous water mines that tapped into pockets of water trapped in the Earth. Now, Earth has found the home planet of the Shatters, and has sent forth a ship with a clear objective: Take the water back.
But the game is called Destination Primus Vita, and you never actually set foot on the planet during the episode’s short duration (My playtime on Steam from beginning to end clocked in at just over 3 hours). Instead, NIM, the ship’s artificial intelligence, is running the crew through simulations to prepare them for their mission mentally, and more importantly, emotionally. The game weaves between freeze-frame flashbacks meant to challenge Austin’s preconceptions of the rest of her crew, and hypothetical scenarios of the threats on Primus Vita to prepare Austin for the trials ahead.
The flashbacks play out as first-person point and click adventure scenarios, where you analyze different aspects of the memory to put together what NIM is trying to show you. Admittedly, this style of game is not my bag, but I found these sections largely intuitive and easy to follow, and the way the memories slowly unfolded felt natural. The movements of the other crew members during these scenes were jagged and dreamlike, which enhanced the feeling of re-living an old memory.
The hypothetical scenarios were where the game especially shined for me. These scenes challenge the player with varied puzzles set in physics-defying environments with excellent ethereal, atmospheric music that perfectly conveyed the simulation nature of the game. Hunting for clues in the environment to assist with the sometimes-arcane puzzles felt like a puzzle in and of itself. Also strewn about the environment are small entries that feed the player tantalizing bits of backstory about the crew, the mission, and the history of the devastated Earth. The hypothetical scenarios also have a few quick-time events scattered about, which are a little jarring but are mercifully short and forgiving.
Despite the short nature of Destination Primus Vita, I still found myself invested in the members of the crew through the short but significant moments NIM selects for Austin to revisit, and from their assistance in the hypothetical scenarios or their comments on the player’s progress and their relationship with the crew members. These moments were grounded by the game’s solid voice acting, a major boon in a game with a cast this small.
This investment seems like it will pay off, because, without giving away too much, the ending indicated that the other episodes would each focus on a different member of the crew. The episode does feature some light replayability, with achievements for accomplishments like finding every memo or completing all the puzzles without any clues, but the narrative nature of the game left me feeling like I didn’t have much to revisit. I greatly look forward to seeing more of this rag-tag group and learning more about the Earth and the Shatters as the story unfolds in future episodes.
