What Kind of Game is Apolune 2?

Apolune 2 is a love-letter to those classic console experiences. Travel back to the early 1980s, when video games were in their infancy, and 8-bit gaming ruled the day. 

Apolune 2 is a joke – and that’s intentional.  It’s a funny little game that doesn’t cost much, but can give you and your friends hours of enjoyment.  It has the R-word: replayability.

Apolune 2 is a discovery game.  The controls are fairly simple, it’s what you do with them that’s challenging.  You don’t need to read a manual or be told exactly where to go and what to do.  You don’t have to be beaten over the head with arrows telling you what to do next.  It’s up to you.  You just pick up a controller and start trying out buttons. You may not do the thing you intended, and that’s okay.  You find a new item and learn the hard way: trial and error!  So try, try again. 

One thing to keep in mind is that Apolune 2 doesn’t require you to break your hand to play it.  It’s impulse driven.  You press a button.  You hold a button.  You don’t need to mash it or strain yourself.  Pace yourself.  Go for the long haul.

The target audience for Apolune 2 is anyone who wants to casually experience something with someone else.  If you are someone who wants to just explore and experiment, with friends or on your own, Apolune 2 is for you.

Oh yeah, and you mine asteroids for a living.  That’s the job you play in this game.

Is Apolune 2 Hard?

The game doesn’t offer “saving”. Once you start the game, you’re in it, start to finish.

To quote a famous galactic traveler: don’t panic.

If you get knocked down, just get up again.  Start over.  Play it differently.  Push harder.  There are secrets, even if they don’t seem obvious at first.  There are variations, it’s not always going to be exactly the same.  Apolune 2 has replayability.  If you get discouraged, try, try again.  It’s not really meant to be won, just to be experienced.

“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for,” famously attributed to John A. Shedd, is a metaphor urging people to leave their comfort zones, embrace risks, and fulfill their true purpose. It signifies that life’s value lies in taking risks, seeking adventures, and enduring challenges rather than merely staying safe and secure.

Multiplayer Party Game

With Apolune 2, if you’re all alone on the couch, maybe pick up the second controller and play two. Or three. If you’ve got some friends over, see if they’ll give it a go.  Ask them to bring their controllers – did you know you can hook up eight to an Xbox?

This game is even more fun with a bigger group of friends.  In a dorm room, or frat house, in your neighbor’s basement, at a party, on a weekend, in the attic, Apolune 2 is something, for an hour or two, that can bring people together. Try it again, see what zany things happen.

Apolune 2 is a game for people who want to push the limits, break records and explore the unknown.  On LostAstronaut.com, you can find our Discord, and visit the #apolune2 channel where we love to see pics of people’s high scores. No one has yet completed the game by buying all six contracts.  So, I hope it will be you who stops by one day and posts a picture of your interstellar casino, mall and deli, etc.

A friend of mine recently sent me this:

Six Years on, and it’s Still Evolving

In 2020, if you had asked me if I would be still working on Apolune 2 in six years, I would have scoffed.  What a journey it’s been.  It all started when someone suggested I make a new game.  So, I spent an afternoon getting the basics together.  One astronaut, one station. Two months later, I had most of what you see today.  Up to eight players, all tethered to the same station, lugging it around the screen, busting asteroids and cracking eggs.

For years, I worked on the game when I had time. I would add something new to it, then it was time to balance the game. Then rebalance. Iterate. Test. Add new items. Make it easier? Make it harder. Made it better? Balance it again. Fix bugs.  The hard work of doing quality assurance, marketing, really everything, as just one guy.

Eventually, I got some fans, so I put their ideas into the game. It took a village, even if I’m just one lone developer punching away at the keys.  Now, you get to enjoy it.

I hope you’ll play it with someone you love, your friends and comrades, who will mine the asteroids with you, and enjoy the rewards and bonuses that come with cooperation and real-time collaboration.

By the way, the name of this game series, “Apolune”, is actually a term from astronomy that means “the point at which a spacecraft in lunar orbit is furthest from the moon” …and is part of a group of words that begin with apo- including its synonyms, aposelene, apoapsis, apocynthion.  The words appeared in Jules Verne’s“All Around the Moon”.

To give you one important tip, it’s to do the obvious: mine the asteroids.  Get the bonus every time if you can. That’s the most important thing. Another tip is not to press any buttons during the title screen – I know, players are impatient, they want to play the game, after all, it’s why they buy Xboxes and stuff – but if you hold off for a little while, it will tell you a bunch of other hints that might help you save the day and extend your career as an asteroid miner in Apolune 2.

I’m happy to bring Apolune 2 to Xbox, so fans and newcomers alike can get together for some challenging fun today.

Apolune 2

Lost Astronaut Studios

☆☆☆☆☆
3

★★★★★

$4.99

Get it now

Mine. Shoot. Collect! Repair. 2D retro arcade-style, comedic and fun roguelike single player or party game! Couch co-op adventure in space as an asteroid miner! Apolune 2 is a hilarious and shocking resource management game where one player (or more) experience life on an asteroid mining team in deep space. Immerse yourself into the life of an OreCorp asteroid miner. It's a galaxy full of opportunities including: weapons, aliens, asteroids, space pirates, merchants and … ICE CREAM! Apolune 2 is a stand-alone adventure single player and local co-op game set in the asteroid belt. You and your team of astronauts are asteroid miners on a mission to make spacebucks, survive and thrive in deep space. Fill the local high scores to challenge your friends and family to a fantastic experience. Collect resources, buy upgrades and fight aliens and space pirates! Apolune 2 is a controller-friendly game that is super easy to pick up and play.

“Fun for five!”
-Bacon Ice Cream Productions

“A lengthy co-op game with up to 8 local friends … it's far more engaging than you might expect. The game can be addicting.”
-Mockduck Plays Games

“I'm mining away, and ah ha ha ha …. oh no! Aliens! Fortunately I have a gun…”
-Coffee and a Game