Tardy arrives right on time

Written by Jack Allin — March 8, 2018 at 22:32

Lots of sci-fi stories feature hyper-advanced technology that practically operates itself. But what if the tech isn't quite that advanced, while you're anything but a mechanical genius and don't actually know how to work anything? This is your lot in life in indie Belarusian developer One Wing Cicada's newly-released adventure, Tardy.

The star of Tardy is Ramto, a "dolt and a rascal" who isn't very bright but is just smart enough to get himself out of the many troubles he delights in getting himself into first. At least, he has been until now. This time around, he stows away on a spaceship and accidentally falls asleep in a cryo capsule, only to awaken much later, all alone with no idea how to pilot himself home. What's worse, he's surrounded by "heaps of weird devices created by a schizophrenic engineer." In a quest that's all about "fiddling with computers, terminals gadgets and other hi-tech scrap of all sorts," it'll be up to players to "solve riddles, find out what happened to the missing crew and discover the horrible truth about the fate of this expedition." 

Despite its futuristic setting, Tardy sports a decidedly retro-styled appearance, but there's no need for a fancy graphics in a game where so much of the time is spent tinkering with various equipment. Tardy is designed to be very hands-on, as "all the buttons, switches and other controls can be pressed, turned and pulled almost manually (using the mouse). You can experiment, push buttons or drag and drop items by your own 'hands' and then watch what happens." In figuring out how each new mechanism works, you will need to "learn how to be an astronaut, a pioneer and an inventor" if you hope to ever find the answers you seek and make your way back home.

Having flown under our radar until now, Tardy has now arrived on Steam for Windows PC, with a Mac version expected within a few weeks.