Approximately up beginner guide

First hour checklist

Your first hour in Approximately Up is about learning to crash on purpose. This $19.99 adventure simulation from Approximately Games asks you to assemble a spaceship, fly it, and rebuild it when things fall apart. Go slow, break things on purpose, and let the tutorial set your pace.

• Finish the tutorial and unlock the Tutorial Completed achievement before touching free build.
• Find the tutorial sheep and practice moving cargo. You will revisit this task later for the Baaa-ck To Headquarters achievement.
• Test Time Rewind right after your first crash so you understand its limits while the stakes are low.
• Use Save Anytime before any launch that carries cargo or passengers.

Core game loop: build, crash, rebuild

"Build, crash, rebuild! Explore new planets in co-op multiplayer with your fully modular spaceship made from whatever bolts together long enough to fly."

Every session in Approximately Up works the same way: assemble a ship, launch, watch something snap, and rebuild with that new knowledge. The tagline is not flavor text, it is the literal gameplay loop. Your first successful flights will look terrible and barely hold together long enough to reach orbit.

• Build a minimal ship first, then add systems one at a time.
• After every crash, identify the exact part that failed before rebuilding.
• Repeat designs that already worked so you stop rebuilding from scratch.

Progress comes from completing objectives, not from covering distance. Achievements like First Milestone and One Step Further reward finishing objectives and discovering new planets, so prioritize task completion over record distances.

Understanding ship modules and thrusters

Your ship is fully modular, so every component is a decision. The game steers you toward mounting giant thrusters,annoying cables, and everything in between on a hull that was never designed to fly straight. Early on, treat the ship as a physics experiment.

• Thrusters provide power, but more thrust means more stress on the parts holding everything together.
• Cables connect systems, but messy routing makes repairs harder after a crash.
• Balance your ship by spreading modules evenly instead of bolting everything to one side.

Watch what happens during launch and landing, since those are the moments when weak connections fail. The Need For Thrust achievement, which asks for a speed of 1,000,000 m/s, is a long-term goal, not something to chase in your first hour. Master stable flight before aiming at extreme speeds.

Early mistakes to avoid

New players tend to make the same mistakes, and most of them come from overbuilding. A bigger ship is not a better ship in the first hour, and every extra module gives the game a new way to end your journey.

• Adding too many thrusters at once. Add power in small steps and test after each change.
• Ignoring Time Rewind. The No Rewinds! achievement is a challenge run, not the default way to play.
• Skipping the tutorial animals. The sheep teach you the cargo and transport mechanics you will use across the whole game.
• Pushing for far planets before completing early objectives. Work toward First Milestone before plotting long routes.

Co-op basics: playing with your crew

Approximately Up supports co-op multiplayer, and the short description is upfront about one of its core activities:arguing with your crew. If you play with friends, make sure one person owns the ship design before launch, or everyone will try to rebuild at once.

• Assign roles before a mission:pilot,engineer, and cargo handler.
• Warn the crew before making thrust changes, since a sudden adjustment can tear the ship apart mid-flight.
• Let new players experiment with their own builds in your session so they learn the module system before a critical mission.

Online co-op shares the chaos of a mid-flight breakup. A ship that fails alone becomes a good story with a crew, and rebuilding goes faster when everyone grabs a module at the same time.

What to do next: first missions and planets

Once you finish the tutorial and a few local objectives, the game opens up into a solar system with named destinations. Achievements point to Earth, the Moon, and farther targets like Aundara,Outcast, and Tenebra, the farthest known planet.

• Complete your early missions to unlock First Milestone and One Step Further.
• Plan a sheep run from Earth to the Moon for Wool Age, and a return trip with a mastodon for Ice Age. Both require keeping the passenger alive.
• Watch for solar storms,Black Hole Tunnels, and unusual encounters such as dinosaurs as you push into new regions.
• Try reaching 1,000m below sea level for Houston, We Have A Submarine if you find an ocean world.

Do not rush to the edge of the map.Almost Crispy asks you to survive within 1,000,000 meters of the Sun, and Small But Spicy pushes that down to 100,000 meters of the Red Dwarf. Those are endgame challenges for a ship built across many hours of crashes.