I have heard this game (favouribly) being compared broadly as a kind of 'space solitaire' game. But it doesn't look or even at first blush play like solitaire, so I want to explain why the analogy works for me:

In solitaire, you have the same 52 cards, arranged in such a way that their order is different, so sometimes you might get snuffed out early by an unlucky deal, and sometimes you might fly through for victory - you don't really mind which, because games don't take long so the stakes never feel so high that you'll never play it again.

Weird Worlds shares some of this in common. The star system is filled with mostly the same items and hazards, but the order you encounter them switches out, so in one play through you might have exactly the item you need to best deal with an encounter, and another time you might not.

This means that a lot of it is luck based, but half the fun is replaying the game and seeing where luck will take your exploration of the galaxy this time.

That's not to say it's all luck - fitting out your ships with the best gear takes a bit of decision making, and it's possible to learn the function of special objects to understand whether they're worthless and tradable, or could come in handy. Plus the real time combat segments are basic, but reward people who avoid combat before becoming sufficiently tooled up.

Occasionally, too, the game likes to switch things up by layering a 'meta' plot, usually difficult to resolve, above the usual exploration. Some sort of crisis which the player must solve in order to score a 'win.' These are rare, but always welcome.

Like Solitaire, this is an ideal game to kill a short space of time with, but better than solitaire, it rewards repeat play with just a modicum of depth to be discovered beneath the surface.

As much as I want to like this game I can't. I enjoy the space opera, exploring, seeing new things but htis game just doesn't scratch that itch. Here's a brief breakdown.

PROS:
1) it's a short and sweet game. Want to blow a little time? Here you go
2) Easy to pick up, easy to 'master'
3) There's fun to be had! Explore space, meet new things, see how you do.

CONS:
1) It's -short-, as in after less than 3 hours I'm seeing nothing but repeats of things I've seen 3-4 times already
2) Combat is rather dull and straightforward, rarely get any chance to try any tactics
3) perhaps too easy to pick up and to master, I don't feel like there's anything below the surface I scratched 3 hrs in
4) Far too much of your score and your game seems entirely dependant on the RNG at universe creation

All in all I wouldn't reccomend it. I'd been watching it for a while and it looked up my alley but despite getting it with another bundle (so there's no buyer's regret, I bought the bundle for a different game) I'm still rather disappointed with how this turned out. I hope the creators go on to make a more interesting, expansive 'infinite space' type game.

This game combines all the exploration fun of the original Star Trek with the quirkiness of early science fiction pulp stories in a game that plays about as fast as solitaire. Like solitaire, it will take you a little while to figure out a strategy, then you'll play several games back-to-back. Very fun!

This is a coffee break game in the old-school sense of the phrase. It's a turn-based "board game", with play sessions lasting from ten to thirty minutes, depending on whether you die early or play to the end.

Basically, you pick a "class", which determines your starting gear and the value of given items (Military players will want to collect weapons and tech, Scientists will want samples of alien lifeforms with a secondary emphasis on tech, and Pirates will focus on "treasures", mostly consisting of otherwise useless sulptures and shiny things).

The endgame score is equal parts skill and luck. You'll need to figure out what does what, and you'll need to be lucky enough to find things to do the things that do things. (Hint: Smash the Timeless Bauble and type "Nova Cannon" or "Hyperdrive", depending on which you don't have yet.)

Every so often, the game board will spawn with one of three "Major" random events. To beat these, you'll need to either look up a game guide, or try your hand at trial and error.

By the time you've got things figured out, you'll really only be playing this game to try to beat your last score. This is the primary charm of the game. "Oh neat! I found this really valuable thing really early on in the game! I sure do feel lucky!". The parts of the game that require skill are equally emotionally-rewarding. "Wow! I can't believe I vapourised an entire Urluquai armada!"

For $10, you really can't go wrong for something that'll always be in your library whenever you need to kill ten minutes. Time is money, especially in this game.

Eh.

This is a fun and cute little game but it just doesn't quite hit the mark.

It's fun for a while but it has major balance issues. I played on the easiest difficulty level and never won a battle, not a single one.

It's fun and clever and I'm glad I played it. But there just isn't enough there.

Kids from 90's might recognise this game well. Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space is a sequel game from Strange Adventures in Infinite Space (SAIS) as far I could remember due to zorg race showing up at main screen and gameplay as well seems very familar yet lot of improvement for its predecessor.

3/10 as a game. 6/10 if this were a Which Way book.

I wanted to like this game. Someone recommended that if I like SPAZ and/or FTL, two of my favorite games, I'd like this game, but it's nothing like them. It very quickly became apparent that there was nothing at all to this game, but I played for a few more hours just in case I was missing something. I wasn't. It's like pulling a lever on a slot machine. So if you like pulling a lever on a slot machine, you'll love this game. If you like strategy, there's none to be had in Weird Worlds.

Note: If you look at the play time on the positive reviews, they actually played less than I did. So they say they like it, but not enough to actually play it.

Big replay value on this one! You can easily beat game in half hour but then go back and see new stuff and try different ways to explore space and handle meetings with alien races. Simple and fun.

I feel like I'm just doing random stuff and I have no use in the game. You can change your ships parts, but the descriptions are pretty useless and there are no stats. Mechanics are not explained well. I want to like this game, but I don't.

Not half bad for a FTL-like game but the combat isn't any fun. Not half bad though.

Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space falls somewhere between Civ 5 and FTL, incorporating diplomacy aspects and space battles. For the majority of the game, you will be flying to different star systems, picking up valuable items, specimens, ship parts, or ambassadors to bring back to your homeworld in the Glory system. The combat can be pretty interesting when you manage to get good upgrades and recruit multiple pilots for your flotilla, but it's usually best to avoid confrontation in the beginning.

Unfortunately, all of the events and alien races can be seen in about 20 playthroughs on the "long" setting, and the long setting itself seems too short. This game would be far better if it had much more content and even longer playtimes, and I can't help but feel it would be more fun to continue upgrading your ships and battling for much longer instead of having to return back to your planet.

If you like games that have some depth yet allow you to sit back and relax whileplaying, Weird Worlds might be right up your alley.

Didn't like this one.

That game can make the time you spend playing it fun and quite addictive. That was a unique experience playing that game. I liked it, the game has a fine graphic and good gameplay, the soundtrack is cool

This is a dungeon crawler in space and with a spaceship instead of a hero. Sadly this game is managing the visual and overall presentation of itself much worse than "faster than light" or "endless space 3" wich are both essentially the same game but much better. I still recommend this game for people enjoying dungeon crawlers or space games.

Trash

ridiculous. if i want to read, i'll buy a book and not a computer game.

Spent 20 min getting a bunch of stuff that I had no idea what they did, but they were all high level, ran into a guy, didn't tell me anything about him, and he blew me up in 5 seconds. No life indicator let me know nothing about how well I was doing nor was he. You move super slow in combat and there is no way to avoid and shoot. You just try and move and get shot while moving in a direction. The combat sucks and there is 0 player control during it. Waste of 20 min, no wonder it has been given away for free and has bad steam reviews.

I got this game for free.

And I STILL THINK I have wasted my money.
This game was fun for less than 10 minutes. The actual gameplay (on the "long" setting) ranges about 8 - 10 minutes. And it isn't even fun.

In a way the game felt mindless to me. Click here to this area, fight, click here etc. It dosen't exactly tell you how to play, and gets more confusing as the game goes on. The game is unineresting. . I tried to like, but I don't reccomend it at this price.

Well it’s not a bad game if you’ll get it for free in a bundle or sth. It’s short, easy, fun to kill time and to play from time to time, but If you want to play something with strategic background or just want a game that you will not leave for ever after 3 hours of playing it’s not for you. This game is not worth money. It has some nice ideas but it’s very repetitive and actually there is not much to do in it. Unfortunately Flash Trek: Broken Mirror is a lot better game than this one: it’s longer, more strategic, and you have more to do there (even building stations and start your own empire) and it’s free. Weird worlds is random, what is good but boring after a while because you have nothing to do here.