2017's most anticipated indie game is finally here.
Tacoma, the sophomore game from developer Fullbright, puts players on a spaceship called (you guessed it), Tacoma, far from Earth in the year 2088. Players will explore the ship with a mission to recover data from its AI, but through the process, they will discover recordings of the ship's former occupants and find out what happened to them during the last days of their mission.
What kind of game is Tacoma?
Tacoma is best described as a first-person exploration game, similar to Fullbright's first breakout title, Gone Home. But toss in a bit of time control. As the player watches the recordings of the last days of the ship, they can rewind and watch them from different angles and even different rooms, providing new perspectives and clues to solve puzzles.
It's almost voyeuristic, like a theater or TV show of someone's last days. Some might also classify it as a interactive drama, and, no, they wouldn't be wrong.
When is Tacoma coming out?
Tacoma launches on August 2 on PC, Mac and Xbox One. PC vendors include Steam and GOG. The game costs $19.99.
The game was described at E3 as a console launch exclusive, suggesting that it could come to PlayStation 4 later. There are no official plans for a PS4 release date.
What specs do I need to play?
While Xbox One owners won't need to worry about this, here are the minimum and recommended specs to play on both Mac and PC, according to Steam.
Minimum specs:
OS: Windows 7 or higher, 64-bit, macOS 10.9 or higher
Processor: 1.9ghz Intel i5-equivalent processor or higher
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: Onboard or dedicated graphics accelerator with 1GB+ of video RAM
Storage: 11 GB available space
Recommended specs:
OS: Windows 7 or higher, 64-bit, Most recent version of macOS.
Processor: 2.9ghz Intel i7-equivalent processor or higher
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Dedicated graphics accelerator with 2GB+ of dedicated video RAM
Storage: 11 GB available space
Fullbright says the game runs best when installed on an SSD.
How are the reviews?
Reviews for Tacoma have been largely positive. While the game isn't very long, critics appreciated the game's stories and sense of exploration. Destructoid praised the game for its storytelling and GameInformer appreciated the "relaxing aesthetic" and enjoyed the rewind function. While GamesRadar found it to be a chilling experience, it found that plot threads could dangle if you miss something, Polygon found the experience of being alone in the station almost more satisfying than watching the crew.
What's Fullbright?
Fullbright is an independent game studio headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Several members of the team worked on downloadable content for 2K Games' BioShock 2 before starting their own development house. Their first game, the first-person mystery and exploration game Gone Home, launched in 2013, was an instant indie blockbuster, and is one of the most beloved games of the last five years.
