PVKK: Planetenverteidigungskanonenkommandant – yes, let’s go back to the title – is described in the first sentence of its Steam bio as a “fun” game. I have suspicions about cozy or cozy games, as they are increasingly portrayed as some kind of antidepressant in the face of a darkening world, but that’s okay because the remaining seventeen words in the sentence are: ‘Operate your planetary defense cannon to defend the world. of an interplanetary invasion from the comfort of your home [cozy] bunker.”
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To give some quick and dirty characterizations: PVKK is Papers Please, but you get a planetary defense cannon. It’s an escape room game, but you get a planetary defense cannon. On second thought, I think a planetary defense cannon could also serve as a kind of antidepressant in the face of a darkening world – and indeed a means to darken it even further – but hey, it seems a bit more cathartic than a pastel garden simulation. , right? Let go a little more?
You can see the cannon through the reinforced window of your bunker, a brutal Schwerer Gustav-ass weapon threatening the sunset over a rocky valley. Armed with this cannon, an unlimited supply of tea ejected from some kind of dieselpunk Star Trek replicator, and a teleradio full of cheerful tunes, you shoot enemy spaceships out of the sky. Mind you, PVKK involves more than just shooting. It seems that your bunker is haunted, possibly by feelings of displaced guilt at being the stooge of an autocratic regime, whose propaganda newsletters and broadcasts you can watch on the aforementioned teleradio.
Well then, that title. Planet Defense Cannon Commander, hah. This is the title of a game whose developer has no regard for the possibilities of digital media, a developer that does not care about the limited number of Twitter characters, the length of headlines, the demands of SEO or the limitations of touchscreen keyboards. The abbreviation in advance should be regarded as a gesture of pure contempt towards people who cannot fit the word Planetenverteidigungskanonenkommandant into their heads without connecting an external RAM memory.
Now that we’ve digested that title, it’s no surprise to discover that the game’s interface is an inventively overwhelming MicroProsey jumble of analog devices. To fire your planetary defense cannon, you’ll need to operate a cockpit of wheels, dials, levers and switches, grid displays, and light-up buttons with annotations almost too small to read. Mech Engineer players will love it so much that it will make them incredibly excited, I suspect. Maybe being the stooge of an autocratic regime is worth it if you can be locked in a dugout with the interface of your wildest dreams and the greatest phallic metaphor your planet’s technology can provide. I mean, it looks like you have to oil and repair the dash between sessions! Absolutely dirty!
Those who aren’t into the MicroProsey stuff should know that you’ll spend quite a bit of time exploring the bunker, which holds secrets about the outside world. “The regime keeps you in the dark and feeds you half-truths and political euphemisms,” the Steam page explains. “Look behind these deceptions to understand the real situation and navigate the demands of the various factions in your own interest.” This, of course, is where the escape room puzzles come in. You will also have to make choices during the dialogue with your superiors that lead to a series of endings. Intrigue, there is plenty.
PVKK: Planetenverteidigungskanonenkommandant is the work of Bippinbits, who, oh goodness, are the developers of Dome Keeper??? It’s all clear now! It’s like they’re parodying their own work. I probably should have put that in the intro; instead I put it in the headline. The game does not have a release date yet.