Strange Scaffold Double Feature - Part 1
This week its An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs and Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator!
I adore weird games and years ago I heard about El Paso, Elsewhere and how good it was. It was made by Strange Scaffold, a developer who has become known for making incredibly weird games. So with my partner poking at me to go play their games and me already knowing that I love weird experiences, last year I bought the entire Strange Scaffold catalogue that is on Steam when it was on sale and today I am launching a brand new series that I call the Strange Scaffold Double Feature!
See, their games aren’t usually long so I figured I could lump two of their games together. Also, I’m going chronologically from their first game on Steam to their newest. I was genuinely surprised how much fun I had with this week’s 2 games and despite having issues they were very enjoyable.
An Airport For Aliens Currently Run By Dogs
This is the first game from Strange Scaffold that is on Steam and, while not their first game ever, you can definitely see how this is the game early on that they started figuring out the kind of game the team wanted to do. Strange Scaffold on Itch has prior games to this, but they’re all either browser games or more visual novel-like as opposed to a game you have more gameplay in, like this one. An Airport For Aliens Currently Run By Dogs is rough (haha) around the edges but it’s the beginning of the Strange Scaffold team finding their footing, their identity as a developer.
The Premise
What is An Airport for Aliens Currently Run By Dogs, however? Okay, imagine a series of airports across the solar system run by 2D images of dogs. Then, imagine playing one of the last 2 humans in existence and you have to go around these airports choosing to do things for these dogs because...well...what else would you do after the whole human race has been destroyed? Over time you’ll also meet up with your fellow human survivor, your fiancé Karla, who is a scientist working for R&Dog. You’re engaged, but long distance so she can do her science...things and you can help dogs across the system. And now, imagine that these dogs are fucking strange beings that make little sense and just have absolutely nonsensical personalities. And that they ask you to do things that sometimes either dont make sense or have questionable reasoning. This game you’ve imagined is exactly what An airport for Al...fuck it, this game you’ve imagined is exactly what Dog Airport Game is about. Because this is The Premise section and describing the games’ premise to you is what it’s for.
The Good
The weird ass writing in the game is one of the best parts of it. I’m aware that’s kinda the shtick of most Strange Scaffold games, they’re weird and make you laugh or at least have fun above anything else and the game definitely made me have fun in this regard. I enjoyed talking to the different dogs, helping them do the things they were doing might have been tedious but the hilarious dialogue were what really solidified my enjoyment of the game.
There’s also just weird shit. Like when you find a dog that has another dog with it and apparently is sitting on missiles which it will then give you one and say it better not regret doing that. Or the dog that’s been cursed to be a human and you have to help them figure out how to be a dog again. Or the dog that sells briefcases but hates briefcases, which also is when you’re able to express your dislike of briefcases as well which is fuckin hilarious. Or the dog who wants to give you a souvenir so gives you an “Actual Gun”. Or how the ticket dog for the route to Uranus often chuckles before saying it. Or how when you ask for 50 boarding passes the dog says “you like to live dangerously” which is a hilarious reference. Plus you can keep requesting 50 boarding passes over and over and over and...well...in the first 10 minutes the video below happened. I couldn’t help myself okay? It was just so funny! The game is just filled with this dumb hilarious shit that makes ya smile.
The Bad
The game essentially boils down to a bunch of fetch quests (how the turn tables with the dogs making the human fetch). The way to progress is by going from airport to airport to grab items from some dogs and give them to other dogs to get items from them and give them to other dogs. With a couple cats mixed in. The worst part of this is just how boring it is running around, finding dogs in the big maps if airports that exist, which can sometimes be difficult to navigate. Plus you don’t run very quickly and the area is large so much of the game is just walking. It sucked.
A frustration I had was also kinda just a core part of the game in that not all airports go to other airports. So when you’re doing the fetch quests and going to find Karla at different locations you’re often just going around, slowly, from one airport to another to the one you actually want to go to. I get that’s kinda part of the point but it just didn’t feel good that not only did I have issues knowing where the gates are each time, but I got so damn tired of moving so damn slowly around the maps. It got tiring and eventually once I had done most of the fetch quests I just said fuck it and went around to find Karla and finish the game.
The Ending - Reaction
The game is very loosely strung together, but it did kinda have a good payoff. It also had a good message, enjoy the time you have with those you love because it will eventually come to an end. Kinda sad but there is some hope there for what the future of the characters will hold. It was also rather satisfying to be done with the game and not have to run around so damn slowly.
The Conclusion
The game has some issues but I was expecting that. What I wasn’t expecting was the absolutely wacky game that I played. I never expected to find some of the things that I did, to get items like an alien orb or a Dog (Doug) Dimmadome ultra big hat, or even a Polaroid camera. I expected something weird with some jank but not something this weird. And that elevated my experience with it significantly. Add in that it’s only about a 4-5 hour game, depending on how many dogs you fetch things for, and you get a nice experience.
I genuinely think you should play Dog Airport Game but maybe wait for a sale. Sure I’ve scored it high but for 20 bucks that’s a lot to ask for such a short game. It’s definitely worth a playthrough though and I highly recommend it.
Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator
The jump from Dog Airport Game to Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator is a drastic one. Not only is it a completely new type of gameplay for Strange Scaffold to be making but it’s also a game that very quickly shows that they now know what type of stuff they want to make. They went from a much more basic game with not a whole lot of interacting parts to this much more ambitious experience with multiple mechanics all working in tandem to create the experience that is Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator. This is the game that really shows me the Strange Scaffold I have heard about time and time again, Dog Airport game was the teaser, this one is the actual starting point of the out of the blue game styles and wacky shit that the studio has become known for.
The Premise
You are a Space Warlord who trades Human and Non-Human Organs on the space trading market. It’s time to earn some money by fulfilling the requests of consumers and maybe use that money for upgrades and playing the Organ Trading Stock Market. Will you get to all 11 endings? Or will you get absorbed in the craziness of the organ trading world and forget that there even are endings? I guess it’s up to you.
The Good
Ya know, I never expected to enjoy anything about this game. It doesn’t really interest me and it just overall seemed rather boring. Yet, I still found myself coming across things that made me keep playing. I continued to play and play and play and, even better, I found myself actually wanting to play. I was house-sitting during my playthrough and when I couldn’t sleep I would play the game, it was addicting and satisfying to slowly get more money, unlock more things, game the stock market, see the weird shit that exists, see the often hilarious writing of the blurbs for the requests. They all made me interested and kept me going, even when I got tired of other aspects.
Actually let’s go into the core gameplay since I mentioned the majority of it but haven’t gone into detail. Essentially you’re an organ trader who buys organs to fulfill requests from buyers. But when you buy these things the organ stock market fluctuates accordingly. You start your stock trading day which lasts 2 minutes and 30 seconds and during that time you pick up requests, buy the organs, fulfill requests, and try to buy things before other organ traders (run by the games AI (not that kind) buy them. You have to also manage how much money you have and grab things that you can afford and requests that you’re sure you can get within your budget. Then your trading day ends and the possible request board is closed and you can no longer buy new organs, but you can still fulfill any requests that you have already picked up. Then you can then use your picked up requests to game the stock market before and after your trading day. You also have the opportunity to upgrade your storage and pay off other traders so you don’t have to fight them for organs and/or up your reputation by paying other traders for favors. You also have moments in the trading day when an event pops up, like you possibly having to pay taxes or just an influx of a specific organ to the market. That’s basically it. All of it together might sound complicated but it’s honestly pretty easy to grasp when you sit down and press play.
The game also moves fast. Those 2 minutes 30 seconds might seem like a decent amount of time but it is not. In reality the other traders move super duper fast so you just have to move quick. But with how the controller controls are (more detail in the next section), it just takes forever to get to the organs you need. While the ID of the organ shows the info you need to know, I did not remember how to read that and my dyslexia kinda makes that difficult anyway so I have to click on every organ to see the details I need.
With that, there’s an amazing accessibility setting (which you can see in the video above) that allows you to slow down the game pace significantly. You can literally make it more than double the time and at will, there’s no locking you in to your selection. Each second is stretched which means you’re able to go through all of the organs and buy the ones you need while still being able to go back and forth between the requests you have and the organs because who can remember all the organs you need when you have 6 different requests and each requires multiple organs? This setting literally saves the game from being something that is just kinda annoyingly fast and keeps it from being super fun to actually being able to be played without being as super focused.
The Bad
All of my frustrations stem from the controls. Specifically scrolling through the organ menu. Even more specifically you have to use the right stick to scroll but it doesn’t really scroll the selection. Plus when you’re not used to this you try to just scroll down with the left stick and you will go down to the last organ visible and it won’t keep scrolling through the list but jump to the menu item below. I think it was probably designed for PC with controller as secondary so it makes some sense that it wasn’t perfect, it just takes getting used to and doesn’t feel intuitive.
The Ending - Reaction
There are multiple endings to the game but what kinda bugged me about them is how they came about when I wasn’t expecting them. I was never clear on how to make them come about, what the goal was, or when I would end up getting an ending. They take the form of specific requests for you to fulfill so I did like, know when they were within reach, but not what got me to the point where I was even able to accept them.
Despite that I found the multiple endings I got fun and enjoyable. Weird and wacky. And even better, satisfying. Sure I had more endings to go until I hit 11 (which I didn’t end up doing) but each one (after the first one) still felt like it wasn’t a bad place to stop.
The Conclusion
As I said earlier, I really never expected to like this game. I expected to just be bored, to get annoyed with all of the...well...everything. That held me back from starting this series for a long time. But once I started it I just kept playing. Sure, I had a few days there where I didn’t charge my Legion Go S so I couldn’t play it on the couch but I was still itching to play it and kept thinking about it. Again and again I thought “I need to charge that, I want to keep trading those organs”. This is what makes a good game. One that worms its way into your brain and just keeps you thinking about it even when you’re playing other games. As such, Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator is a damn good game.
It’s very much worth the money it costs, and if it’s on sale? Grab this shit if anything I have said sounds interesting. Sure, there’s some issues but all games have issues, this is a great experience that is very unique and fun. Plus, it teaches you a little on how to play with stocks...a bit. I mean it’s not super accurate but you’d be surprised how accurate it actually is.
Part 1 - Conclusion
Welp, that’s the end of Part 1. Two interesting games, one more fun and weird and one not a game I expected to enjoy but I ended up having a great time with! The interesting thing is seeing the Strange Scaffold team go from just finding their footing to actually seeming to know what kind of developer they want to be and I’m looking forward to seeing them improve on that vision in part 2 which will come...eventually. Hopefully about a month from now but I’m unsure depending on how things go.
Part 2 will be about Witch Stranding and El Paso, Nightmare. Strangely the second one is a side story for El Paso, Elsewhere which is their better known Max Payne-like game that came out a bit under a year later. That one will be in Part 3 but I’m getting ahead of myself. What matters is that Part 1 is in the books and I can’t wait to play more Strange Scaffold games. They’re genuinely a developer that if I had the opportunity to work with then I would jump at it without any hesitation. Maybe one day...
Meow,
Cat