Interstellar Adventures: The Sincerest Form of Flattery (Minty Noodles) // Review

Interstellar Adventures: The Sincerest Form of Flattery is a cooperative narrative puzzle game from Minty Noodles. Work cooperatively to solve escape room-style puzzles, complete tactile challenges, and unravel a captivating mystery. The crew of The Atlas needs you…

Players: 2-4 // Age: 12+ // Playtime: 30-45 mins (Pilot episode only) // Resettable: Yes

Requirements: No additional items required; offline gameplay.

Please note: This review is based on a prototype of the pilot episode of Interstellar Adventures: The Sincerest Form of Flattery. Episodes two and three are currently in development.

First impressions

When I first stumbled across Interstellar Adventures, I wasn’t actually sure what it was. It appeared to be a board game, but also showcased some puzzly/escape room-style elements. I contacted Harriet, Head of Creative at Minty Noodles, for clarification and ended up meeting her to find out more. What she pitched was a game that features many of the escape-room-style elements you’d expect to find in a tabletop game, but really beefs up the cooperative play through more tactile challenges.

Fast forward a few months, and I finally got my hands on a prototype of the first episode. Harriet’s vision quickly clicked into place as I played it, and I knew that it was something I wanted to cover on the site.

After completing the pilot, I was unclear as to the meaning of the game’s subtitle, ‘The Sincerest Form of Flattery’. I know the phrase, of course, but not the context for the game. I’m reliably told that the title will make much more sense after playing the remaining episodes.

Synopsis

“In the depths of space, a cryptic signal from a previously unknown planet reaches The Atlas. On board that spaceship, Captain Silna and her crew scramble to decipher the call. What follows is an adventure that pushes the crew to confront their limits.

Using powers of logic and deduction, the crew sets out on a mission to untangle the unknown. Exploring an obscure new world, battling ravenous plants, and narrowly escaping missile attacks, our crew embarks on a quest that tests both their wits and their teamwork skills, while also making them second-guess everything they thought they knew.”

Gameplay

What’s in the box?

Interstellar Adventures is primarily card-based, but does feature other physical components. The box includes multiple card decks, a plastic red alert card, 3D missiles and a wooden puck. You won’t need anything else, aside from maybe a piece of paper and a pencil. Gameplay is entirely offline, which I actually found to be a massive plus. With no internet connection needed, the game can be played anywhere.

Opening the box, you’ll find a ‘Rule Book & Overview’ booklet. This guides players through the game mechanics, offers handy tips and teases secret missions. Impressively, the box unfolds to become a game board used for one of the dexterity puzzles in the game. This is a clever way of utilising every inch of real estate available, showcasing outside-the-box thinking from the game designers. The prototype box features Velcro strips to hold the box closed; however, the final design will utilise magnets.

Nothing is destroyed during gameplay, which means you can gift the experience to someone else once you’ve finished playing it.

How gameplay works

If you’ve played an Exit or Unlock game, you’ll be familiar with how this gameplay mechanic works. You have an Adventure deck, with cards numbered from 1.01 to 1.90 and a hint/solution deck. To begin the game, you turn over the top card and follow the instructions. If there are any numbers on it, you are permitted to take the corresponding card/s from the deck. Cards remain ‘in play’ until you are instructed to discard them. With each new card you take, it clearly indicates if any should be removed from play. This keeps focus only on the cards needed to solve the next puzzle and stops players from becoming overwhelmed.

I love that the game has been crafted with the intention of promoting cooperative play. A key tenet is that everyone deserves their moment to shine. This is achieved by utilising different gameplay mechanics and puzzle types. So whether you are an expert code-breaker or have strong observation skills, there is something for you.

Unlike the remaining episodes, this pilot can be played solo. The overall intention, however, is that the complete game is a shared experience. I’ve not played episodes two and three yet, but I’m told that cooperative play isn’t optional. This will work for most, but is worth flagging for those who don’t have the option to play with others.

Presentation

I was impressed that, despite being a prototype, the game already seems very polished. One of the first things that grabbed my attention was its unique comic book-style artwork. Artist Adrian Iglesias has done a stellar job of bringing the world of the game alive through his impressive illustrations. The characters’ designs are marvellous, original, and really distinctive. It literally feels like they could pop out of the cards at any moment. The general quality of the components is great, too, although I know refinements will be made before it is released.

The final concept for the main box design looks superb (see below). I haven’t seen the finished product, but it rocks a great retro aesthetic. The box is also shaped like an old-school TV playing a sci-fi animated series; so cool! It will definitely take pride of place on my game shelf when it arrives.

Puzzles

There is a lot to love about the puzzles in this game, which feature a range of puzzle types. The pilot will test players’ manual dexterity, lateral thinking, code-breaking, observation and logic skills. Future episodes will branch out to include other puzzle types and challenges (language puzzles, map building, and moral decisions). Signposting was great, with one card in particular having a very clever piece of cluing. We certainly struggle to find our way forward at any point.

Interactions with the cards are varied and surprising. I’ll be zapped if I spoil anything specific, but one particular stand-out moment towards the end made us gasp. It was a clever use of the medium that I haven’t seen before. We were left wondering what other fun surprises might be in store down the line.

The inclusion of a penalty system forces players to be sure they’ve correctly solved a puzzle before selecting a card. If you get it wrong, you must take a penalty card from the deck, which may impact your overall score. The penalty system isn’t as crucial in the pilot, but it becomes much more integral to gameplay in future episodes.

Keep your eyes peeled for some hidden bonus puzzles. Don’t expect hand-holding; you’ll have to seek these out and solve them for yourself. If you do find any, you’ll win trophy cards and can feel very smug.

Hints & Difficulty

The game is labelled as 2/5 difficulty, which for most players will be accurate. If you are new to the space, you may find it slightly trickier, but very manageable with the hint cards. More seasoned puzzlers will likely find it very easy, but should still enjoy the experience. After all, the puzzles are just one part of the overall mission.

The hint deck includes both hint and solution cards, with at least one hint available for each puzzle. Some more complicated puzzles may have additional hints available. In a fun twist, the in-world hints are delivered by the Atlas crew members, which nicely maintains the immersion. We didn’t require any hints, but it was good to know they were there if needed.

Verdict

Interstellar Adventures: The Sincerest Form of Flattery is an ambitious debut from Minty Noodles. The comic book art style adds a distinct flavour to the look and feel of the game, with the standout being the striking character design. Fun interactions with the components spark joy in surprising ways, and the fusion of escape room-style puzzle elements with more board-gamey mechanics worked well. Do we wish it were more challenging? Yes! But we still had a blast playing it.

As a teaser for the longer episodes, it adeptly pulled us into its orbit. But just as we got into the flow, we felt that we were ejected from the ship too soon. The cliffhanger left us wanting more, which can only be a good thing. Thankfully, an additional 2+ hours of gameplay is on the way in the remaining episodes.

That’s all for now, but keep an eye out for our full review once we’ve played the remaining episodes.

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Join the Crew

For now, Interstellar Adventures: The Sincerest Form of Flattery is exclusively available on Kickstarter. The campaign launches at 6 pm GMT on 1 October 2025. Early bird pricing is available for the first 48 hours of the campaign. I’d recommend backing early if you want to make sure you get the best price.

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Disclaimer: Minty Noodles kindly sent me a copy of this game in exchange for an honest review. This in no way influences the content of my review, which accurately depicts my experience.