I can refuel a spaceship. That’s right, a ship that can go into space. Can you? Uncle Chop’s Rocket Shop is a game about being a mechanic and, weird flex aside, it’s actually capable of teaching you important and useful skills. Admittedly, these are more about being able to follow instructions and retain information rather than actually refuelling spaceships. Still, NASA know where you are if they need you, right?
You play Wilbur, a four-eyed space fox with more than a little Wes Anderson film about him, who somehow falls into mechanical-based servitude to Uncle Chop. You rent a space above the café, and each morning, you clock in for work and attempt to repair and maintain a steady stream of extraterrestrial craft. The better job you do and the faster you perform, the more money you earn, which in turn lets you pay your R.E.N.T. and continue to survive for another day or two. Phew, I’m glad the real world isn’t quite like that.
This isn’t the only brush with the real world that Uncle Chop’s Rocket Shop has, as you have to research and remember the correct way to maintain all these spaceships. That means opening your Grimoire and finding the correct section on whatever part or subsection needs looking at. At first, that’s just figuring out how to refuel the ship, but as you progress the tasks become longer, tougher and more complicated.
What makes Uncle Chop’s Rocket Shop so special is how tactile these tasks are. You have to physically complete them, with Kasedo Games translating each of these to the physical controls on your controller. So, analogue sticks operate as levers or socket wrenches and screwdrivers, all of which need to be selected, grabbed and physically moved. Even clocking in requires you to pick up your card, stamp it in the machine with an oh-so-satisfying pull of the lever, and then slot it into the waiting slot on the other side. It’s clever and utterly unique.
As you leaf through your Grimoire, you really have to learn the different methods and machines that will enable you to complete the task. Each page has a batch of infographics, and while they’re not always completely explicit, relying as much on arrows and ticks to show you the right place or correct way of doing things, they help you come to understand the task at hand.
You’ll fumble through the first few, before, without warning, you can suddenly replace a spaceship’s oil in the fastest, most efficient way possible. It’s bizarre how easily this previously complicated task becomes, and frankly, maybe we should put a bit of Uncle Chop’s Rocket Shop into our secondary curriculum planning. They’re definitely onto something educational, though the puzzling action can be slightly more frantic than you’d probably want a classroom to be. Its academic chops are also hidden away behind an alien fox and more than a couple of rude words.
Uncle Chop’s Rocket Shop is set up as a Roguelite, and while it might feel like this has become the most ubiquitous gameplay mechanic of recent years, it does at least make sense and have some narrative drive behind it, as each run lets you gain more currency to unlock permanent upgrades and boons. Spaceships are procedurally generated too, so each time you start a new run, you’ll encounter all-new layouts and different customers behind the wheel.
Everything is complimented by the off-kilter, irreverent humour. There’s plenty of expletives, wry nods to the camera and a bucketload of self-awareness that has the game taking aim at those in positions of power, capitalism and the conditions that the working classes endure. It’s fun and knowing, and it’ll put a smile on your face while giving you something to think about, which is what good comedy is all about. The soundtrack is flipping fantastic too, with a Western guitar drawl that feels cool and laidback, even when everything is going to hell and you’re fumbling with the socket wrench again.
