60 Parsecs! Completing Missions

Last time I played 60 Parsecs! I focused on the Voyager game mode. There are also Survival and Mission game modes that I didn’t explore. So I decided to spend some time completing the missions within the game. A few simple tweaks to the gameplay and you get a truly different experience.

Missions

The Missions game mode in 60 Parsecs! introduces a few differences to a standard game. The main difference is that each one has missions based on a specific scenario for each character. For example, Maegen’s mission sees you trying to get to a planet before you run out of oxygen.

The Voyager game mode has missions as well, but these missions are given to you as you play through the story. Here, you have three specific missions from the start, one main mission and two “bonus” missions. The game ends when the main mission is complete (or if your captain dies).

Depending on how many missions you complete, you will earn a number of shields. These shields can be used to unlock other scenarios with new and exciting missions for your crew!

Each mission mode will introduce a new mechanic. As an example Dude, where’s my oxygen? sees you having to maintain a life support system that will break periodically. When this system is broken, your ship will slowly run out of oxygen, threatening the life of your crew.

You will have to spend resources to repair this system, otherwise you will fail your mission due to a breathless crew. This adds an extra challenge to to each game you play, over and above the usual survival mechanics.

The Mission games tend to be shorter than a Voyager game. They skip the normal beats that you get during a Voyager game. You don’t have to detect life, find a planet, land on the planet, repair communications, etc. in every game. Dude, where’s my oxygen? ends when you find a planet. Other Missions, such as Star Raiders pretty much starts you on a planet right away.

The missions also skip the space station section where you collect crew and resources, instead giving you a set starting crew and equipment in each scenario. This makes the games a bit more deterministic at first, but you will still have to deal with the whims of the RNG.

It’s a fun extra game mode, using only a few tweaks you give you a very different experience. Instead of playing a repetitive story, you get a slightly different focus in each mission. Repair your engines to escape from pursuing robots, explore a planet so it can be colonised, or find a cure to a deadly virus. Or die trying.

It also adds a collection mechanic to the game, which is always a plus since humans love collecting things. Can you complete every mission and collect all the shields? Well I’m giving it my best shot right now!

One other little quirk with the game mode is that most achievements are disable. This is likely because the achievements were designed around the Voyager game mode, and this mode can make it a bit too easy to obtain them. For example, one mission starts you with a full crew, which means there is zero challenge in getting the All Seats Taken achievement.

Don’t Think About It

Sort of a sidenote here, but there are a lot of references to pop culture in the game. I really enjoyed one I came across when playing the Missions. A man with a portal gun arrives…

He looks slightly different to what I expected, and I’m not sure if that’s a name or a description of the character. It’s definitely not C-137 either way.

Anyway, I just thought this was a cool little reference. The game is full of little references like these, and I’m sure there are a few I don’t get. Just another thing that makes this game interesting.