Given that NASA successfully launched (and returned) the Orion capsule into deep space and back this past Friday, I’ve been thinking about the fantasy of being on other planets. There’s a lot that Destiny doesn’t get right, but making each planet that isn’t Venus (which honestly just looks like a jungle most of the time, apart from the sulfuric pools) feel like a real other world. Sure, it could have gone further—different gravitational pulls, or maybe different lighting based on distance from the sun and atmospheric composition (again I go back to Venus, which fails to look appropriately…sulfurous, terraforming aside), but whether or not these would’ve been any fun to actually experience is another matter entirely. The sight of the Martian plains, however, continues to look kind of gorgeous, and the moon’s surface looks appropriately grey and cratered (plus the human structures remaining still look like the idea of a moonbase to me).

I’ve always been drawn to the fantasy of being off Earth, if nothing else the idea of being somewhere so utterly different is intoxicating, especially if you’re the sort of kid who got picked on a lot in grade school and maybe always longed to leave everything behind. Other, better writers have talked about humanity’s urge to explore, and our wanderlust is perhaps best represented by the sheer amount of science fiction involving space travel we’ve managed to put together. I don’t ask for much—I just want to go to the moon or Mars and maybe chill out there for a while.

So it should be no surprise that my favorite games as a kid dealt in some way with space travel—particularly the criminally underrated and all-but-forgotten Commander Blood, which even today remains near and dear to my heart (and always will, regardless of how long ago it was I was able to get the damn thing running). More than any other game I remember, Commander Blood was built on exploring bizarre environments, from an entire planet that was essentially a scrap heap to a factory planet to the giant planetary mall that is Venusiaaaaaaaa, every world (and its inhabitants) was wholly unique. The game’s sense of humor appealed to a kid who had maybe read Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy more than a few dozen times, the exploration and wild-looking visuals (and the soundtrack, oh man the soundtrack!) kept me entranced all the way through the end (and subsequent playthroughs).

That’s also a large part of what got me so excited for Mass Effect, of course—the presence of our home solar system (even though you couldn’t run around on Earth in the first game, which was a bummer) was a big deal for me. I loved the fact that in Mass Effect 3 you got to run around on Mars for a while (and had to deal with the lack of atmosphere and dust storms and everything—I love the idea of our never bothering to terraform Mars), as well as more than a few trips to Earth itself. I like the idea of leaving Earth and running around the galaxy, then returning to Earth for a little while. Any game taking place in outer space will catch my eye, although that doesn’t guarantee I will enjoy the experience.

There are plenty of shitty games that take place in outer space, or games that I just don’t manage to get into (I want to be interested in Eve Online so badly, because the mind-boggling scale of the galaxy is well-represented, but I just can’t get into it, and before you offer me a million suggestions on how to enjoy the game just bear in mind I’ve tried four or five different times to get into it). I am very tempted to pick up Elite: Dangerous, and in spite of the fact that I remain deeply, deeply suspicious of the claims of No Man’s Sky (did anyone get hands-on time with that game over the weekend? Has anyone ever had hands on time with that game? I just don’t know, man, it’s a two-man team and I just… am maintaining my skepticism for now) I want nothing more than for it to be everything they claim it will be. I was so excited for Destiny—and even after the initial disappointment I am still charmed by the stupid opening cinematic of astronauts bouncing around on Mars on their way to meeting the Traveler, because I want to see astronauts bouncing around on Mars before I shuffle off this mortal coil—plus the soundtrack for Destiny has that epic feel of how fucking amazing making it to another planet would be.

It’s a good time to be a fan of space-based games, and hopefully even Star Citizen will wind up being the Ur-space game I need in my life, but who can say? Until then I’ve got a Commander Blood CD to dig up (I could swear it’s in one of the boxes in my room somewhere).

Creds go further at Venuuuusiaaaa

UPDATE: I couldn't find my CD of Commander Blood, but I could find an .iso and a copy of DosBox, so GUESS WHO'S PLAYING A SHITLOAD OF COMMANDER BLOOD? THIS GUY.