I love co-op games like Overcooked—you know, time management style games that involve doing a series of tasks within a time limit, all while pressure is mounting. I also loved FTL: Faster Than Light, a single player crew management game where you maintained a ship in combat by fixing broken systems and dealing with alien boarders. I was hoping Fueled Up would be a nice mix between the two—and while it sort of is, it definitely leans more towards the Overcooked side, and that’s a little to its detriment.
Fueled Up (surprisingly, without any exclamation point) is a co-op game for 1-4 players that tasks you with rescuing spaceships stuck in space before they are attacked by the space kraken and destroyed. It’s a little similar to FTL: Faster than Light insofar as there are multiple rooms, each housing different ship components, and you have to maintain those components while keeping your ship fueled and moving forward. If you stall for too long, you’ll be caught by a space octopus, and it’s game over.
Games like Overcooked and Tools Up! have you performing tasks within a certain time period, and while Fueled Up is the same basic idea, it feels a little bit more hectic than those two titles. First of all, fuel is always a consideration: you have to constantly be refining and refueling your engines—often, because of the level layout, it’s easier said than done. There is also the constant threat of airlocks opening if you don’t keep them powered (why can’t they default to closed when power goes out?!), and then you’ll also have to constantly repair meteor holes that pop up on your ship. If you don’t repair the hull damage and it reaches 0 percent, your ship will be destroyed before the space octopus can even get its suction cups on it.
In Fueled Up it’s not necessarily that tasks that are difficult to perform, rather, it’s the environment you’re forced to perform them in that makes it hard. For instance, you might have to constantly cool down a generator before it bursts into flames, or throw asteroids into grinders before they spew sticky green stuff that slows down your crew (or adds more flames!) There are also moving platforms, doors that can only be opened when a crewmember stands on them, and even mushroom floors that disappear after you step on them.
While it’s possible to play Fueled Up in single player, it’s obviously recommended (and much, much more fun) if you play with 1-3 other people. While playing single player you have control of two crew members, and you can alternate between the two to accomplish tasks. That’s not nearly as fun as tripping over your friends in the chaos that’s bound to ensue in Fueled Up.
If you love co-op games like Overcooked and are interested in the space theme Fueled Up provides, you’ll probably not be disappointed. However, I do wish that Fueled Up took a few more chances. I guess what I really wanted was something more like FTL with multiple crew members—even if it ended up being a little silly. Instead, it feels like Fueled Up took fewer chances and instead has become another Overcooked clone—but a pretty decent one. If you’re absolutely itching to get into co-op chaos with friends, Fueled Up is not a bad option.
Fueled Up is available today for PC on Steam and on Xbox Series S|X and PlayStation 4.
Steam keys were provided to us for this review.