Every so often, a game comes along that looks straight out of the late ’90s — the kind of thing you’d swear you once played on a GBA cartridge with a slightly chewed label — yet somehow feels fresh. Avemary Rocket – Captain Patchwork – is exactly that sort of oddball surprise.
Announced by Kyoto-based publisher room6, this new single player “RTA action adventure” (their words, but fair enough) drops you aboard an autopiloted spaceship that is… well, barely held together. Watching the trailer, it’s clear the Patchwork lives up to its name. Every corridor looks like a maintenance nightmare, every room is a fire hazard, and every time you think you’ve earned a break, something else falls off, blows up, or bursts in.
Here’s the Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4145380/. Note that Steam Deck compatibility is currently unknown.
A spaceship that hates you (but also wants you to succeed… maybe)
The setup is simple: you’re fleeing some mysterious pursuer and hop onto a ship already locked onto a course for Earth. Perfect time to relax, right?
Nope. The Patchwork immediately starts breaking in every possible way, and because time flows in real time, you’re constantly being shaken awake by your navigator to deal with whatever today’s catastrophe is — fires, ruptures, critters, you name it.
There’s a frantic but cosy rhythm to it: sprint to fix the problem, patch up the ship, swat anything crawling around, breathe for about a second, then brace for the next wake-up call.
Speedy fixes, shortcuts, and secrets
When things aren’t exploding, you can poke around the ship for shortcuts, tools, and items that make future crises easier to handle. It has a bit of a speedrunning flavour — the better you know the layout, the more efficiently you can dart around like an interstellar handyman.
There’s also something strange going on behind the scenes. The developers hint at deeper mysteries hidden within the Patchwork, suggesting the game is more than just a cosmic firefighting simulator.
A ridiculously charming… dev lineup?
One of the most interesting elements here is the team itself:
- Masashi Kimura (room6) – story and production, fan of ’80s PC classics.
- Shuhei Miyazawa (room_909) – director and programmer, 80s Namco arcade zealot.
- Pixel – yes, that Pixel, the creator of Cave Story and Kero Blaster, handling graphics and advising on the game design.
If you’ve watched the trailer, the visual style probably makes more sense now — it absolutely has Pixel’s DNA in its chunky, expressive sprites and gently nostalgic colour palette.
Coming in 2026
Avemary Rocket – Captain Patchwork – launches on Steam sometime in 2026. It looks frantic, weird, and weirdly cute — the sort of thing you play “just to see what happens next,” only to realise you’ve been sprinting through corridors fixing broken pipes for an hour.
I wasn’t expecting much from the description alone, but after seeing it in motion, this one could be a little gem.
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Christian Cawley is the founder and editor of GamingRetro.co.uk, a website dedicated to classic and retro gaming. With over 20 years of experience writing for technology and gaming publications, he brings considerable expertise and a lifelong passion for interactive entertainment, particularly games from the 8-bit and 16-bit eras.
Christian has written for leading outlets including TechRadar, Computer Weekly, Linux Format, and MakeUseOf, where he also served as Deputy Editor.
When he’s not exploring vintage consoles or retro PCs, Christian enjoys building with LEGO, playing cigar box guitar, and experimenting in the kitchen.
