Within the Cosmos – Early Thoughts from a Supportive Critic
Negative (But Hopeful) Review

Let me start by saying I won’t be refunding Within the Cosmos. I’m uninstalling for now, but I’m holding onto it because I can see the heart behind the game—and I genuinely want to see where it goes from here.

This isn’t a cash grab. It’s a passion project. One person made this (from what i red online), and that alone deserves respect. That said, passion doesn’t always equal polish—and this release simply isn’t ready for the big stage yet. Calling this a "1.0 launch" is... generous. It feels more like a late alpha or early beta, and that’s being fair. The core concept is compelling, but there’s still a long way to go before the gameplay experience matches the ambition.

The Good Stuff:
Beautiful Visuals & Atmosphere:
The environments are genuinely impressive. There’s a strong sci-fi vibe here—lonely corridors, sterile labs, and outer space backdrops that scream "cosmic isolation".

Great Concept & Lore Foundation:
The setting—humanity escaping a dying Earth, cryo-sleep voyages, fractured factions, mysterious android enemies—is classic space RPG material. The narrative groundwork is solid, and I’d love to see it fully realized down the road.

RPG Intentions Are There:
Character creation, attributes, skill systems, perks—it’s clear this game wants to offer deep customization and player agency. While not fully there yet, the structure exists and just needs further development and balancing.

What Needs Serious Work:
Gameplay Feels Rough and Unfinished:
Movement and combat feel janky and unrefined. There's no real weight to shooting or melee, and enemy AI is wildly inconsistent. Sometimes they charge you fearlessly, sometimes they get stuck. Animations and hit detection often feel off.

Buggy and Unstable:
During my time with it, I ran into quest bugs, UI issues, audio glitches, and the kind of wonky physics you'd expect from an early-access project. Doors refusing to open, dialogue events not triggering, and quest objectives not updating properly were common.

UI/UX and Quest Flow:
Menus are clunky, and quest tracking often leaves you guessing. Sometimes it’s unclear where to go or what’s broken versus what’s intended. It interrupts the pacing and kills immersion.

Shallow RPG Execution (Right Now):
The skill and perk systems are in place, but they don’t feel impactful yet. Choices don’t seem to carry weight, and many mechanics (like hacking or persuasion) feel more like placeholders than fully functional systems.

Final Word:
There’s real potential here, and I don’t want that to be lost in the criticism. This is a labor of love from a solo developer, and it shows—but so does the strain of doing it all alone. Within the Cosmos is not a bad idea—it’s just not a finished product.

For anyone expecting a polished RPG like Mass Effect or The Outer Worlds, this isn’t that. Yet.

I’ll be back for future updates.
But for now, it’s getting uninstalled and shelved. I want to see this game succeed—and I sincerely hope the dev sticks with it, refines the systems, and delivers the experience this concept deserves.

Rating (for now): 6/10
Still in development spirit. Needs polish, but shows promise.

Good effort esp for a one man band. The controls are a bit more floaty with the controller vs keyboard/mouse but I'm also not as on point with my reflexes anymore. Has VO and character customization where I wasnt expecting it + the skill system is pretty varied so far. Will check back in on this game once I get into the mood to bury myself in gaming once more.

This has potential to be very fun.

but as of Apr 2025 it is very buggy and needs polish on some of its maps. it can be easy to get stuck of fall out of world. and some quest triggers don't flip when they should. I also think there may be missing quest markers.

but it is clear the dev is working on it and I look forward to seeing how good it gets