Tales of Cosmos

I have a soft spot for small games that quietly build their own solar systems and ask you to get lost in them, and Tales of Cosmos landed in that territory for me almost immediately. Red Dwarf Games is a solo-ish indie outfit, and that handcrafted quality shows in the cartoon art, the ambient soundtrack, and the odd warmth of its two protagonists: Perseus, a talking dog who serves as narrator and hint-giver, and Professor Gagayev, a silent genius monkey who does all the heavy lifting. Their dynamic is the mechanical spine of the game - Perseus handles all dialogue with NPCs and barks at certain objects to clear obstacles, while Gagayev picks up, combines, and uses inventory items. Some of the best puzzles require both characters working in tandem, and those cooperative moments are genuinely satisfying when they click. The world itself is an open planetary system. You build a rocket, blast off from your crash-landing site on a planet called Chlorine Beach, and navigate freely between planets, moons, and whatever strange things drift between them. The scale is real and the visual variety across different worlds is mostly good, though a few planets lean too heavily on dark, gray palettes that blur together during backtracking. And you will backtrack. Space travel between locations is slow and uninterrupted, which has a meditative quality the first few times - drifting past a nebula while the music does something quiet and lovely - but wears thin once you are stuck and cycling between every surface trying to figure out which item you missed. That is the honest tax of playing something this old-school. The puzzle design sits firmly in the LucasArts-and-Sierra tradition, which is both its appeal and its sticking point. Items have situational, sometimes opaque uses. Perseus provides hints that are genuinely helpful if you pay close attention, but the game occasionally commits the classic adventure-game sin of refusing a logical action because it needs a specific trigger elsewhere first. A walkthrough will probably be open in another tab before you finish. Critics landed in the mixed-to-positive range, with the atmosphere and character work drawing consistent praise and the pacing of late-game content drawing frustration - reviewers noted a promising mechanic introduced near the end that felt undercooked, and an ending that arrives a bit abruptly. Steam players sit around 79 percent positive across a small sample, which tracks with the experience: charming enough that most people are glad they finished it, rough enough that nobody is calling it flawless. What saves it is the soundtrack and the sincerity. The music knows when to recede and let the hand-drawn visuals breathe, and when to do something genuinely atmospheric. The humor is dry, sometimes absurdist, never obnoxious. There is also a level editor bundled in, which is a quietly generous extra for a game at this price tier. Mac players should note a compatibility warning for macOS Catalina and above - the game predates the 64-bit requirement and may not run on modern Apple hardware without workarounds. If you grew up with Gobliiins or Day of the Tentacle and you want something that carries that flavor into space without asking for more than a weekend, Tales of Cosmos earns its place on the shelf. Just keep the hint guide close and let the soundtrack do its thing.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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