Cosmic Top Secret

Indie Game Reviewer ( ) (80%)

It’s a fascinating means of storytelling that goes well above and beyond the usual attempts at making a conventional narrative or documentary piece “interactive.” Cosmic Top Secret isn’t a documentary with a couple of pasted-on video game elements; it’s an actual game that also happens to tell an autobiographical and historical story. No wonder it won the Culture Award at IndieCade in 2017.

GameSpot (7 out of 10) (70%)

Cosmic Top Secret's very existence and ethos makes it special in the realm of gaming. It's conceptually brilliant and heartwarming. Arguably, it's still worth fighting the game's mechanics just because Trine--and you, by proxy--deserves to know the truth and hear every angle of these peoples' captivating story firsthand. Trine started her journey with curiosity and finds herself closer to the people who raised her than ever, while also giving them the ultimate familial gift: a literal living history of their youth, and their work for the greater good, through the fantastical, imaginative eye of their clearly talented, inquisitive daughter. But there's a barrier to entry here, and it has nothing to do with the embarrassment of asking a parent what they were like when they were younger or their hesitation with the truth, and everything to do with the aggravation of even exploring the world in which their story is told.

Jump Dash Roll (5 out of 10) (50%)

As a TV programme, Cosmic Top Secret would have been an interesting if ultimately slight documentary, detailing the history of two former government agents as their story is revealed to their bewildered daughter. But burdened by the weight of a game which stretches out their journey through often painful levels of hoop-jumping it ultimately becomes more of a curio, one which is sadly likely to remain locked in the dusty depths of a Steam vault and only unearthed by history buffs, or those willing to grit their teeth and see it through to the bitter end.

Indie Game Website, The N/A

Unfortunately, the experience doesn’t last long enough, as you’ll want to see much more of this spectacle of a game. And beyond its brief platforming and exploration segments, it’s arguably less of a game than it is an interactive look into one of the strangest family stories you’ll ever have the pleasure of deciphering. Cosmic Top Secret certainly won’t all make sense, but that’s the fun of it – and if you come out of it on the other side, just know that you’ll probably never see anything like it again.