As outlandish as it sounds, the recently-released indie management strategy gameSpace Warlord Organ Trading Simulatorperfectly captures its premise and central gameplay loop in a five-word title. Developed by Strange Scaffold—previously known for the equally bizarreAn Airport For Aliens Currently Run By Dogs—it’s essentially a day trading simulator with a retro-futurist bent and a breakneck pace. The developer also confirmed that, for some strange reason, the PC port of the game is compatible with theXbox Kinect.
Kinect was Microsoft’s attempt at cashing in on the motion control craze Nintendo had started in the mid-2000s. Innovative in that it didn’t require a controller to use, the Xbox 360 peripheral was able to track a player’s motions and translate them to in-game movements. Those who fondly remember the waning years of the seventh console generation may still have a soft spot for the thing, but the general consensus was that the device’s difficulty to read smaller, more intricate motions made it unsuitable for gaming.The Kinect was originally shipped with Xbox Onewhen the console launched in 2013, but it was discontinued rather quickly.
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However, Strange Scaffold and its equally strange game are returning the Kinect to its former glory.Currently available on Xbox Game Pass,Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulatoris compatible with the Kinect 2.0, a labor of love from the team’s “unhinged creative programmer” Sam Chiet who apparently aspires to become the “final Kinect developer.”
In a post currently pinned on the game’s Steam forum, the developer describes the unusual addition as a labor of love, questions whyanyone would want to use a Kinect to play a 2D indie title, and offers up a $50 Steam gift card to anyone who can make it within the top 0.1% reputation level in-game while using the motion-tracking peripheral. Perhaps this challenge will pique the interests of speedrunners known for beatingDark SoulswithGuitar Herocontrollers, though this might come across as even more unorthodox.
Weirdly enough, there does seem to be at least some sense to the inclusion of Microsoft’s decade-old tech. The game seems to have been made with keyboard and mouse controls in mind, and navigating its rapidly-changing menus with a controller can be cumbersome. Rather than forcing players to plod through the game with a sub-optimal setup, Strange Scaffold opted to allow gamers to live out their interstellar organ harvesting dreams in bold andperhaps frighteningly immersive new ways via the Kinect.
Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulatoris available now for PC, Xbox Series X, and Xbox One.
