Rockets Are Super Hard

Launching a rocket becomes a gloriously stressful team exercise when nobody in the room has the full picture. Rockets Are Super Hard is an indie local co-op puzzle game built around communication, timing, and a deliberately intimidating technical manual. One player operates the launch-control panels while the rest of the crew consult a sprawling hyperlinked guidebook, calling out codes, switch positions, procedures, and emergency fixes. The mood lands somewhere between a space-agency simulation and a frantic party game, with successful liftoffs feeling earned because they come from coordinated problem-solving rather than reflexes.

Missions unfold across the major stages of a launch, asking the team to clear prelaunch checks before the countdown, manage propulsion and flight systems once the rocket leaves the pad, and handle orbital procedures after it reaches space. Panels are packed with buttons, dials, switches, and numerical inputs, while the manual contains the essential instructions needed to interpret each puzzle. Players naturally divide into roles: one person reads a procedure, another searches diagrams or tables, and the operator turns that information into the correct actions under pressure. More than 50 puzzles, 20 rocket types, dynamically assembled scenarios, 35 authored missions, tutorials, custom setups, and a solo option provide a substantial range of challenge levels for different group sizes.

Its most distinctive idea is making the instruction manual part of the game rather than an inconvenience outside it. The 100-plus-page document creates memorable moments of crossed wires and panicked page-flipping, but hyperlinks keep it practical enough that careful teams can develop genuine efficiency. Unlike online co-op games, the local format works best when everyone shares a room, a screen, or at least a voice channel and is willing to talk constantly. Fans of Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Overcooked’s cooperative chaos, or the systems-heavy side of Kerbal Space Program should find plenty to enjoy, especially with a regular group of two to five players.