AMBROSIA SKY

Decoding mortality, one scrub at a time

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After our hands-on experience at Summer Game Fest, we're eager to jump back into the Cluster, the ruined space station at the heart of Ambrosia Sky. Minus the crowds and noise of the LA show floor, it's a luxury to take in the sights of this intriguing clean-'em-up at a more leisurely pace. Then again, the first message we read on an in-game terminal doesn't exactly feel like a warm welcome: “Who calls for the undertaker before they call for a doctor?” It's a reasonable question, and neatly encapsulates the liminal space which protagonist Dalia and her order, the Scarabs, occupy in Soft Rains' debut: not quite scientists, yet not quite spiritual figures either.

This point is perhaps best illustrated in the ritual of bioremediation. Your job as part of the mysterious organisation is to respond to catastrophes at human settlements across the galaxy, cleaning up afterwards. Often that equates to power-washing away aggressive outbreaks of contamination. But when you find bodies among the biomatter you must perform last rites and take samples to advance the Scarabs' research into reversing cellular decay – a hunt for immortality, effectively.