Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop Review

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to merge the tension of games such as Papers, Please and Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes with the tongue-in-cheek attitude of Stanley Parable or Manual Samual? Well, Beard Envy Games clearly decided it was a game the world needed, and they were so right. Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop is Beard Envy's second game. It is a funny, well-paced experience that is well worth playing.

There is something truly special about the first quest of a game being to "grab [the] corpse" of your predecessor and immediately jettison his body into space. It really does let you know you are in for a good time. So, how does the story possibly get you here? Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop has a very strange story. The general premise is that you are taking over Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop, where you work as a mechanic fixing ships for various clients. It seems very simple until, and this really does happen in the first few seconds, the whole "sending the previous worker's dead body into space" thing takes place.

From here, you are to fix various ships that come in with the intention of making enough money to make R.E.N.T, which is due every few days. Doose is the owner of the local cafe, which has the punch-in and out machine held within it, meaning you see him every day, helping you along the way. He is the one who tells you to jettison the predecessor to space; again, this is a wild way to start a game but really introduces you well to the tongue-in-cheek nature of what is to come.

After strapping the corpse into the ship, Doose notices the corpse is still clinging to his Grimoire. This book becomes crucial to the gameplay as it explains all the issues the ships can have to them and the ways to fix them. Doose similarly helps you in various ways throughout the opening of the game. This includes teaching you how to perform certain tasks, clock in for the day, and get the checklists for the jobs you are given throughout the day.

Doose also introduces you to a lot of the weirdness that happens in Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop. This includes the giant hologram who demands R.E.N.T or the seemingly mythical cat who sits in the cafe and speaks strange truths into the universe. But this is not the weirdest thing that takes place. Just a day in, you are woken as usual and receive a note from Doose to meet him at the landing pad. There, you find a cardboard cut out of Doose. Behind this cut-out is one of the strangest characters in the whole game.

This strange, blobby creature is an assassin, kind of. The assassin seems to have never killed anyone before, and he is very chatty before he finally shoots you in the head. Game Over? Right? You would assume so, but no. This is clearly a far stranger game than it first appears, and it really does start as an already very strange game. At this point, you go to some sort of purgatory and are greeted by a very strange (again strange) creature who sends you back to earth, and you aren't sure why this has happened.

The game's weirdness doesn't stop here. There is a strange ghost who shows up at your doorstep. The hologram demanding R.E.N.T. gets progressively more aggressive, and there is Kyle. How to describe Kyle? Kyle is a large worm who is underground, holding a weapon of some kind. He offers deals on magic upgrades and vague threats if you get too near the spike he is holding. You access him by climbing down the ladder in the fringe of the basement. It is all very strange. Again, this is a really strange game.

Strange, but great. The story in Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop is really engaging, and it doesn't even need to be. As a big simulator fan, I often find I can have a very simple story that isn't hugely fleshed out, although I prefer it when I have some substance and character stakes to really sink my teeth into. The writing is fantastic as well. Every character has a lot of individuality, and the writing is very tongue-in-cheek, making the game a lot of fun to play. You will find yourself laughing out loud at multiple moments, especially as you get to know the characters and their quirks, and they become even more likable to you.

The gameplay in Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop is a lot of fun. It is split up into a couple of different aspects that blend together into a perfectly paced experience. The main part of the gameplay takes place during the shifts, during which you have to fix the ships that visit. There is also a very odd slice-of-life element to the game as you run around and chat with the people around the tiny world you live in.

On top of this, there is also the best feature any game can have, inventory management. This is in your personal inventory, where you carry tools and devices for fixing the ships, as well as organizing your workshop in the most efficient way possible.

There is also a very strange roguelite element of the game. This is because in Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop, you can die over and over. This will restart the narrative within the run. However, the ongoing story of you being somewhat undead and being sent back to the mortal plane continues. There are a lot of ways you can die in this game, the most common of which (for me at least) is when you miss R.E.N.T, but there are also other ways you could die, such as being shot in the head or being too near an exploding ship part.

So, let's break it down piece by piece. Firstly, the roguelite- When you die, you come back to life. Oh, and there is a very creepy tall ghost who comes to you with cryptic messages. This is not the extent of the gameplay that comes from this section of the game, but the story here is so fun I really don't want to spoil what comes up later.

The second part of the game comes from the slice-of-life element in the gameplay. This is found in a lot of the dialogue. As the playable character, you are mostly silent, although you do have the occasional question you must answer with a "yes" or "no" to one of the other characters.

You also have a weird, small amount of choice when it comes to who you help. There is a slimy creature living under a manhole cover who is mad about the amount of noise coming from the Chop Shop. He offers a deal; you steal things from ships for him, and he doesn't get cross. It is up to you if you take part in his deal, although it is really fun to do if you want to have another element added to the game.

The main element of the game is the actual fixing of the ships as they come in. Every ship that comes in has a checklist that you have to check before you begin, or not, and just fix the wrong things by mistake, which I did almost every time. Each ship is adorned with panels, each labeled, that have different parts of the ship that can be fixed. To fix these, you must use the Grimoire, the one you almost jettisoned to outer space in the opening.

The Grimoire has instructions for every situation that can be encountered with a broken ship. It is very reminiscent of Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes; you will find the problem panel, turn to the section you need, and use the manual to diagnose and fix the panel.

These vary in difficulty, and many require you to walk over to the workshop, adding to the stress of getting them completed. You see, these tasks have to be completed perfectly in order to get the full amount of money from each client. In some cases, they will also have additions from other people, such as the occasional theft from your underground friend.

It is in the mechanic work that can really vary depending on which mode you choose to play Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop in. This choice is presented at the opening of the game and is one of the choices from the devs that feels slightly less planned out. This is because the first option is the more frantic timed mode, and the second presented to you is a focused mode.

The frantic mode being the first option makes it seem as though this is the standard way the game should be played. While the game can certainly be played in frantic mode, I think it is more fun. However, it is not the way to start at all.

The start of the game takes a lot of learning. It is never boring, and there is no memorizing the Grimoire—I promise you that—but you do need to gain some familiarity with the tasks you will be asked to continue repeating. Doing this under time pressure is very hard. The days are short, and you really need three jobs a day to make R.E.N.T, which is nearly impossible when you first start.

For this reason, it will probably be more fun to start the game in focused mode, with no time limit and more focus on doing a job perfectly. You can then move on to the more frantic version once you have more of an idea of what you will be doing. You can change within the same run, although you need to wait until you have died and come back to life in order to swap to the other mode. But don't worry, you die a lot.

The visuals in Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop are great. They are very stylized with a lot of characterization behind them; each of the characters is unique and has a different look, so the moment you see them, you know what type of character you are coming across. There are limited environments, but each of them has a life of their own. There is a space below the basement where Kyle lives, so you know it will be weird. It is its own very scary space with a completely different vibe from the above-ground world.

The sound is also amazing. There are no voice actors, and a burbling sound plays instead as the text scrolls across the screen. Sometimes, these fake voices can be really annoying, but this game finds a more fun and stylistic balance to go with the very strange world that was created.

The sound also highlights a key accessibility feature in Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop. A couple of maintenance tasks have a sound cue. Not only is this a very clear noise, such as the click of the safe, but it also has a visual cue, meaning the play is still accessible for those with hearing impairments.

Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop is the perfect blend of a comedic story being told with fun mechanics. Fixing every ship is suitably challenging, although the time limits do make it very difficult if you play the frantic mode before the focused one. The sound and art are nothing but assets to a game. Beard Envy Games have come out with a true hit and are one to keep an eye on for future projects.