In Breathedge: Cosmic Cluck, HypeTrain Digital has you taking on the role of “The Man” who, while carrying his grandpa's ashes to a galactic funeral, suddenly finds himself in the middle of a universal conspiracy. To make matters even more bizarre, your only companion through all of this is a wise-cracking immortal chicken.
When it comes to the gameplay in Breathedge: Cosmic Cluck, that revolves around exploring space wreckage, gathering resources, and crafting. The survival mechanics in the game are well done, with a constant need to monitor your oxygen levels adding a sense of urgency to the tasks of resource gathering and exploration. Players will also have to use their wits and whatever resources they can scavenge from the wreckage and, yes, survive the ramblings of a crazy chicken.
The core idea here is to float in space and jetpack around a debris field, and for the most part the game gets this right. While this is painfully slow in the beginning, soon after you get out there amongst the wreckage, you get the ability to launch tether lines that can quickly pull you over distances. You can also lock onto enemy robots, and it's pretty satisfying figuring out how to swing behind enemies for an explosive hit.
The visual style in Breathedge: Cosmic Cluck looked good and floating in the wreckage while soaking in the game's cartoonish charm adds to the immersion, with bright colors that play nicely with the Quest 3 we used during our time with the game.
The sound design, on the other hand, is a mixed bag. The ambient sounds and music are well-done, creating a nice atmosphere but the voice acting and audio balance could use some improvement. That chicken companion's constant attempts at humor feel far too forced, though, and most of the jokes fall flat. I feel strongly less of this would be more effective here, even though this is really just a minor issue, and only slightly detracts from the overall experience. I looked in the settings and unfortunately the only option found was to turn off all voices in the game. That's not ideal, as all I wanted was for the chicken to shut the cluck up.
Overall, Breathedge: Cosmic Cluck is a fun and engaging VR game that offers a unique blend of survival, exploration, and humor. Despite some shortcomings, Breathedge: Cosmic Cluck is a game that's not afraid to take risks, and for the most part, it succeeds.
