Death is everywhere in video games, but it’s rarely something we’re asked to think much about. It’s something to escape or inflict onto others, marking the end of your run in a roguelike or a goal to reach for in a competitive shooter. What’s explored much less often is what’s left behind, in the form of grief, memories, and physical remains, all of which in real life require careful handling and reflection. Ambrosia Sky: Act One grapples with those messier considerations while setting up a game that’s as enjoyable to play as it is thought-provoking.
In Ambrosia Sky, you play as Dalia, a woman returning home for the first time in 15 years. That home is the Cluster, a colony in the rings of Saturn where food grown on the back of a long-dead space-faring creature is used to feed humanity’s expansion into space. Dalia’s return is no typical homecoming, as she’s coming in her capacity as a Scarab, a group of scientists dispatched in the wake of catastrophe to collect DNA from the recently deceased in an attempt to study cellular decay and grant humans practical immortality.
