Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor
One of the more unorthodox releases of its time, Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor sought to explore themes of capitalism, mental health and gender issues. As the Janitor, your job is to pick up and incinerate trash, hoping to someday escape Xabran’s Rock. It’s easier said than done though – you need to fulfill your daily duties, sticking to the drudgery of routine in the hope that things improve. The gameplay isn’t the most exciting but it’s intriguing from a story perspective, if nothing else.
Things get weird when it comes to the reception. Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor has a 69 Metacritic score but only 7 critic reviews – five are positive while the remaining two are in the “strictly average” category. A peak at the user reviews reveals few positives and several negatives but ratings-wise, it’s a staggering 2687 positive to five mixed and 100 negative. Looking at its Steam reviews, the title has received praise for its themes and presentation while a few highlighted issues with the bugs and the general repetitiveness of the gameplay. But why the hugely positive user score on Metacritic especially compared to the critic’s score? We may never really know.
