Achievement Collector: Space

Achievement Collector: Space is a 2D side-scrolling action shooter set in a sci-fi universe where players pilot a spaceship tasked with eliminating escaped spacemen using lasers. The game features minimalist design, a low price point, and straightforward gameplay focused on shooting and survival, with a backdrop of cool in-game visuals.

Achievement Collector: Space: A Meta-Satire of Gaming Culture or a Cynical Cash Grab?

Introduction: The Game That Dares to Ask, “Why?”

In the vast, often homogenous landscape of indie games, Achievement Collector: Space (2018) stands as a bizarre artifact—a game so stripped of conventional ambition that it either brilliance or absurdity. Developed and published by the enigmatic QUIKIN Games, this $0.99 side-scrolling shooter reduces the medium to its most basic, almost Dadaist elements: a spaceship, escaped “spacemen,” and an unrelenting barrage of LASERS! (as the Steam description emphatically declares). Yet, beneath its minimalist veneer lies a game that is either a scathing satire of achievement-hunting culture or a lazy, exploitative product designed to capitalize on Steam’s obsession with completionism.

This review will dissect Achievement Collector: Space from every conceivable angle—its development context, its “narrative” (or lack thereof), its gameplay mechanics, its aesthetic choices, and its reception—to determine whether it is a genius deconstruction of modern gaming or simply the video game equivalent of a factory-rejected action figure.

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Development History & Context: The Rise of the Achievement Industrial Complex

QUIKIN Games: The Mysterious Architects of Meta-Gaming

Little is known about QUIKIN Games, the studio behind Achievement Collector: Space. Their portfolio is a surreal menagerie of similarly titled games—Achievement Collector: Cat, Achievement Collector: Dog, Achievement Collector: Zombie—each following the same formula: a barebones game mechanics wrapped in a thin thematic skin, all designed to maximize achievement unlocks with minimal effort. This is not a studio interested in storytelling, innovation, or even basic polish. Instead, they are architects of the achievement economy, crafting games that exist solely to be “completed.”

The Achievement Collector series did not emerge in a vacuum. It is a direct response to Steam’s achievement system, which, since its introduction in 2007, has transformed gaming into a quantifiable, gamified experience. Players no longer just play games—they collect them, complete them, and hoard digital trophies as a form of social currency. QUIKIN Games recognized this shift and weaponized it, creating games that are less about entertainment and more about feeding the completionist beast.

The Gaming Landscape in 2018: The Age of Saturation

By 2018, the indie game market was flooded. Steam Direct had democratized game publishing, leading to an avalanche of low-effort, asset-flipped, and outright scam titles. Amid this chaos, Achievement Collector: Space arrived not as a competitor, but as a commentary—a game that embodies the worst excesses of the industry while simultaneously mocking them.

Consider the Steam description:

“Achievement Collector: Space in this 2d action / shooter you play as a spaceship that kills spaceman that escaped. shoot the spaceman with LASERS! to protect your ship”

This is not just bad writing—it is anti-writing, a deliberate rejection of marketing polish. The game’s “features” are listed as:
– Cool in-game background
– Minimal allowable price
– LASERS!

This is not a sales pitch; it is a manifest. The game is proud of its own emptiness, daring players to engage with it on those terms.

Technological Constraints? Or Deliberate Minimalism?

The game’s technical requirements are laughably modest:
– OS: Windows 7, 8, 10
– Processor: Intel® Core™ Duo 1.83GHz
– RAM: 2 GB
– Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 240 GT
– Storage: 350 MB

These specs suggest a game that could have been made a decade earlier. Yet, this is not a limitation—it is a philosophical statement. Achievement Collector: Space does not need cutting-edge technology because it is not trying to impress. It is a digital haiku of futility, a game that exists to be consumed, completed, and discarded.

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Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive: The Void Where Story Should Be

Plot? What Plot?

The “story” of Achievement Collector: Space can be summarized in one sentence:

“You play as a spaceship that kills escaped spacemen with LASERS!”

There is no lore, no character development, no world-building, and no motivation beyond the mechanical act of shooting. The “spacemen” are faceless, nameless entities—mere targets for your ship’s weapons. There is no explanation for why they “escaped,” why you must kill them, or what the consequences of your actions are.

This is not lazy writing—it is anti-narrative. The game rejects the very idea of story, reducing gaming to its most primitive, Pavlovian form: stimulus (enemy appears) → response (shoot) → reward (achievement unlocked).

Themes: A Mirror Held Up to Gaming Culture

If we interpret Achievement Collector: Space as satire, several themes emerge:

1. The Hollow Pursuit of Completion

   • The game’s 90 achievements (with 7 unobtainable ones, according to Steam Hunters) are not rewards for skill or exploration—they are participation trophies. The act of unlocking them is meaningless, yet the game dangles them in front of the player like a carrot.

2. The Devaluation of Game Design

   • By stripping away graphics, sound, narrative, and depth, the game forces players to confront what they truly value in gaming. If a player enjoys this, what does that say about their expectations?

3. The Absurdity of “Content”

   • The game’s Steam page boasts about its “cool in-game background” and “minimal allowable price” as if these are features, not failings. It is a joke at the expense of AAA marketing, where even the most basic elements are hyped as selling points.

4. The Player as the Real Villain

   • You are a spaceship murdering escaped prisoners. There is no moral justification—just mindless violence for the sake of progression. The game implicates the player in its own emptiness.

Dialogue & Character: The Silence of the Void

There is no dialogue. There are no characters. The only “sound” is the hum of your ship’s lasers and the silent screams of the spacemen you vaporize.

This is not an oversight—it is a deliberate erasure of humanity from the gaming experience. The player is not a hero, an antihero, or even a villain. They are a function, a button-pressing machine in a system designed to extract engagement.

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Gameplay Mechanics & Systems: The Illusion of Depth

Core Gameplay Loop: Shoot, Unlock, Repeat

The gameplay of Achievement Collector: Space is brutally simple:
1. Move your spaceship left and right (side-scrolling perspective).
2. Shoot lasers at oncoming “spacemen.”
3. Avoid getting hit (though the consequences of failure are unclear).
4. Unlock achievements for arbitrary milestones (e.g., “Kill 10 enemies,” “Kill 50 enemies”).

There is no progression system, no upgrades, no boss fights, and no variety. The game is a single, endless loop with no beginning, middle, or end—just a treadmill of achievement hunting.

Combat: The Most Basic Shooter Ever Made

• Controls: Direct (keyboard/mouse or controller).
• Weapons: A single laser with no alternate fire modes.
• Enemies: One type of spaceman, with no behavioral variations.
• Difficulty: Nonexistent—the game is easy to the point of being a joke.

This is not bad design—it is anti-design. The game refuses to engage with the player on any level beyond the most primitive reflexes.

UI & Achievement System: The True Star of the Show

The only aspect of the game that receives any attention is the achievement system. With 90 achievements, the game floods the player with notifications, creating a dopamine rush with no substance behind it.

• 7 of these achievements are unobtainable, a deliberate troll by the developers.
• The achievements are arbitrary (“Kill 1 enemy,” “Kill 10 enemies,” “Kill 100 enemies”).
• There is no in-game tracking—players must rely on Steam’s overlay.

This is not a bug—it is the entire point. The game exposes the emptiness of achievement culture by reducing it to its most absurd form.

Innovation? Or the Ultimate Joke?

Is Achievement Collector: Space innovative? In a way, yes—but not in the traditional sense. It does not push boundaries—it erases them entirely. It is Duchamp’s Fountain of video games: a readymade object presented as art, forcing the audience to question what makes a game a game.

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World-Building, Art & Sound: The Aesthetic of Nothingness

Setting: The Cold, Empty Void of Space (and Meaning)

The game takes place in space, but not in the grand, operatic sense of Mass Effect or EVE Online. This is space as a blank canvas—a scrolling starfield with no planets, no starships, no sense of scale.

The “cool in-game background” (as the Steam page brags) is a static image of stars, barely animated. There is no atmosphere, no immersion, no sense of place. The player is floating in a void, both literally and metaphorically.

Visual Design: Minimalism or Laziness?

• 2D side-scrolling with no parallax effects.
• Spaceship sprite: A basic triangle (likely a placeholder).
• Enemy sprites: Stick figures in spacesuits (if that).
• No animations beyond basic movement.

This is not retro charm—it is visual apathy. The game does not care about looking good, and it does not want you to care either.

Sound Design: The Silence of the Lambs (of Gaming)

• Music: None.
• Sound effects: A single laser noise, no enemy death sounds, no ambient space hum.
• Voice acting: None.

The absence of sound is deafening. It reinforces the game’s nihilistic tone—this is not a world to inhabit, but a machine to operate.

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Reception & Legacy: The Game That Players Love to Hate

Critical Reception: A Resounding “Why Does This Exist?”

• Steambase Player Score: 12/100 (based on 26 reviews).
• Steam Reviews: 20% positive (5 reviews, with 23 negative).
• No professional reviews (MobyGames, Metacritic, and other major sites ignored it).

Players who bothered to review it fell into two camps:
1. Those who saw it as a joke and laughed along.
2. Those who were outraged at its blatant lack of effort.

A Steam discussion thread from 2020 reveals the confusion:

“Hiya, the game comes with 93 achievements preunlocked, but how do we unlock the remaining 7? I’ve killed 104 enemies so far, but I really doubt killing any more will unlock anything.” — GENiEBEN

This is not a complaint—it is a cry for meaning in a meaningless game.

Commercial Performance: The $0.99 Experiment

• Price: $0.99 (often bundled with other Achievement Collector games).
• Player count: Peak of 2 concurrent players (via PlayTracker).
• Owners: ~1,000 estimated (Steam Spy data).

The game did not sell well, but it did not need to. It was never meant to be a commercial success—it was an experiment, a provocation, a mirror held up to Steam’s achievement-obsessed culture.

Legacy: The Game That Refuses to Die

Despite its terrible reception, Achievement Collector: Space has not faded into obscurity. It lingers, a digital ghost haunting Steam’s vast library. It has inspired:
– Copycats (other “achievement collector” games).
– Memes (mocking its lazy design).
– Debates about what constitutes a “real” game.

In a way, it has achieved immortality—not through quality, but through infamy.

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Conclusion: A Masterpiece of Anti-Game Design or a Worthless Cash Grab?

The Case for Genius

If Achievement Collector: Space is satire, then it is brilliant. It:
– Exposes the emptiness of achievement hunting.
– Mocks the indie game gold rush of the late 2010s.
– Forces players to question why they play games at all.
– Reduces gaming to its most basic, mechanical form—and dares you to enjoy it.

In this light, it is not a bad game—it is anti-game, a Dadaist rejection of conventional design.

The Case for Cynicism

If Achievement Collector: Space is not satire, then it is one of the laziest, most exploitative games ever made. It:
– Offers nothing of value—no fun, no challenge, no art.
– Wastes the player’s time with meaningless tasks.
– Exploits Steam’s achievement system for cheap engagement.
– Represents the worst of indie gaming—asset-flipped, soulless, and disposable.

Final Verdict: A 7/10 for Sheer Audacity

Achievement Collector: Space is not a good game—but it is an important one. It is a time capsule of Steam’s achievement-obsessed culture, a mirror that reflects the worst and most absurd tendencies of modern gaming.

It is not fun, but it is fascinating. It is not deep, but it is thought-provoking. It is not a masterpiece, but it is a statement.

And in a world where thousands of games vie for attention, sometimes the most memorable ones are the ones that dare to be terrible.

Should You Play It?

• If you love achievement hunting: Yes, but only to confront your own addiction.
• If you enjoy experimental/anti-games: Yes, as a curiosity.
• If you want a good game: No, this will disappoint you.

Final Score: 7/10 (For Being the Gaming Equivalent of a Rorschach Test)

Achievement Collector: Space is not for everyone—but no one who plays it will forget it. And in the end, isn’t that what art (or anti-art) is supposed to do?

Now go shoot some spacemen. For no reason at all. 🚀💥