I have never played ‘Power Wash Simulator’, although I do see the allure. However, I have grown up playing ‘Metroid’ and can recall fighting Mother Brain in the early 90s. So, when I was offered a chance to play ‘Ambrosia Sky: Act One’ and had it described to me as a combination of the two aforementioned titles, I had to see what this game was all about.

Beautiful Yet Dark

The game opens with a few cut scenes and a narrative, explaining who and what Dalia is. As the main character, and with the job title of Scarab, she is sent to investigate colonies of human life that have met untimely and unfortunate ends. Dalia is dispatched to one such colony, The Cluster. This one being located on the rings of Saturn.

Pretty quickly, players are introduced to the weapon Dalia wields. It’s a gun, called a sprayer, that begs the comparison to a Super Soaker. It’s mainly used to clean alien fungi off the walls, floors, and ceilings. While it was both cathartic and relaxing to blast the fungi away, there was a darker message here. Through pieces of story picked up from emails and other bits along the map, the players discover two things. One, the fungi is the cause of all the death and destruction. Two, this colony was once Dalia’s home. The gorgeous vistas of this game and the calming activity of blasting away fungi suddenly became much heavier.

Spraying Away Your Problems

Fungi block Dalia’s path at nearly every turn. And while it can be as simple as spraying it all away, this can be detrimental. Many fungi offer fruit that can be harvested and later used to upgrade Dalia’s arsenal. But these fruit can be damaged if not treated carefully. They can even be destroyed if too aggressively sprayed. The game does a great job of explaining this and players must learn the best methods for clearing the fungi while preserving the fruit.

Some fungi burst into flame and can hurt or even kill Dalia. Other fungi live to feed off electricity, blocking Dalia’s egress and requiring its removal. Each has its own distinct mannerisms that require different approaches by the player. It really gives the environment a dynamic, living feeling to it and pulls the player into Dalia’s world.

Dalia’s sprayer is her only weapon and comes standard with a few different settings. As mentioned, as players collect fruit more upgrades and tools become available. However, her sprayer is not omnipotent. There is a gauge that is depleted as it’s used. A warning tone will chime if the bar gets too low and if emptied, her sprayer will clog. This can spell disaster in moments where fungi and other living entities are attacking you.

Bio-Say What Now

Aside from scrubbing away varying kinds of fungi, Dalia has another task. She must find bodies of those who pass and qualify for the process of ‘bioremediation’. In essence, this term translates to willing donors whose organs can be harvested. While this may seem macabre, Dalia handles this task with reverence. Every body players encounter is treated with respect. This is not a game where you see a body propped up in the corner and the only thing it lends is its gore. They each are people who met untimely ends and also often played a role in Dalia’s early life. And in this process of organ harvesting, there too is storytelling of what occurred.

Zero-G

Players run into several environments in which the gravity is shut off or can be shut off. While a fun mechanic on its own, it also allows players to float into nooks and crannies they otherwise wouldn’t have found. Dalia is also equipped with a tether that lets her grab objects or move around the room as well. While helpful, I often found myself tethering into things that would damage me. When using it to traverse rooms, I’d often drop midway across.

I will admit, often this was user error and simply pressing the wrong buttons. I played mainly on PC and use a PlayStation 5 controller. While this controller works fine, the glyphs shown in game are steam controls. I often found myself going off muscle memory to utilize the correct button, sometimes resulting in disaster. The grapple hook was really the only semi-frustrating mechanic I interacted with while playing.

The Tale Continues

The story is told through replayable missions. Each can be redone for several reasons. There are items to find that can be missed as well as fruit to be re-harvested if your initial samples were damaged. However, if players simply want to play the stage again, that is always an option. This is accessed through an easy-to-navigate UI screen that is also housed with the locations for crafting

I found myself deeply entrenched in the story of this game. The music, the visuals, the narrative; it’s a gorgeous melancholy that is right up my alley as a gamer. Dalia’s voice actor, Bailey Wolfe, does an incredible job bringing her to life. My biggest pain points were really non-issues: that of varying glyphs from the controller I was using and some skill issue with the grappling hook. My biggest complaint is this is only act one. Act two and three are coming in 2026, which means I must exercise patience.

Verdict

Overall, the gameplay loop is fun and largely relaxing. Dalia is a compelling character as is her job and the world in which she operates. The sounds and music create an eerie and heavy environment and the storytelling grabs you almost instantly, keeping your attention until the very end. I did also play on Steam Deck and had no issues, although I prefer a bigger screen to enjoy the colorful world Dahlia inhabits.

Score: 9/10

Ambrosia Sky: Act One is available 11/10 on Steam and Epic Game Store.