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[Indie Spotlight] Dragons and Magic meets Space Travel and Technology | Early Preview - Starstride
3K View2023-09-24
✨Overview
Starstride is an online hack and slash action RPG where dragons and magic meet space travel and technology. I had the opportunity to play a seemingly very early version of the game, which is currently in development, and it holds a lot of promise. The game is planned for release on both mobile and PC (Steam), although a clear release timeline has not been provided yet.
📖Premise
The premise blends the unlikely combination of high fantasy with sci-fi, and it works out quite well. Two allied factions, Neoterrans and Wokens, are at war against a mysterious alien civilization. Your character is one of the few powerful fighters remaining after a mysterious defeat at the hands of the enemy's leader. It might appear daunting and unusual at first, but this uniqueness is what makes it a refreshing addition to storytelling premises and world-building. Thinking about it, the whole premise, even the character designs seems heavily inspired by the Phantasy Star Online series of games.
Starting out, players must choose between these two factions, and they are born into and fight for it, with the aim of becoming the most powerful Star Warrior. The power armor and energy cores are the main centerfolds of the progression and character power. You have the freedom to create your own character (up to five on the same account), customize them, and level them up.
After choosing the faction, players create characters of either gender with customizable appearances. Additionally, players select their character identity, which determines their class. As a solo player, I preferred the assault role over defense or support roles. Apart from the role, players can also choose from a variety of weapons, shaping their combat style and moves. I was only able to play solo, but there is an option for creating a party with other players to raid rifts together.
📺Gameplay Presentation, Combat and Graphics
The combat is already highly satisfying at this early stage; the controls are responsive. Even with less than ideal performance running a 720p graphics preset, it still was enjoyable. The animations are solid, featuring flashy attack sequences done impressively. However, the running speed appears hilariously fast. In which they even double down on this concept by introducing an ability that will even make you run even faster that you look like The Flash, this combined with the auto-pathing they made for the objectives creates a genuinely hilarious, fun, and relaxed experience. I actually like it! It’s hilarious how my character keeps overshooting its autopathing destinations while boosted, cause she’s ridiculously fast.
During combat, there is a high level of visual clutter that can make it challenging to track the action, particularly when trying to monitor enemy attacks for dodging. Moving beyond that, the graphics are detailed and crisp, but they may lean toward being excessively clean without much graphical effects and post-processing. In that aspect, it sometimes looks like somethin that came out of the PS2 or PS3 era. Notably, there are significant texture and model pop-ins, with a very close draw distance. It's crucial to remember that this game is still in its early stages of development, and improvements are likely. I can't deny though that some of the details are already gorgeous to look at.
📜It’s still under development
While the core gameplay remains intact, and there's a hint of fun to be had already, it's important to note that the game is still very buggy and incomplete. I experienced disconnects every few minutes of playing, and many aspects are either not yet implemented or merely acting as placeholders. For instance, the traders are present, but trading with some of them isn't possible. Additionally, one rift — essentially a dungeon — required me to defeat specific monsters for a full 3-star rating, but these monsters fail to spawn. Furthermore, only the first hour's worth of the main campaign is accessible. On one occasion, I even encountered a crash that returned me to the main menu while in conversation with a character, and the character's dialogue continued regardless. It's worth noting that these issues are understandable given the early stage of game development.
💵Monetization
As for the monetization model, it's likely that this game is adopting the free-to-play model with microtransactions. I haven't noticed any gacha mechanics, but the groundwork for a stamina system and premium currency is already in place.
⚖️Conclusion
Where does that lead us? Well, the game is very, very promising. Despite the current technical issues and incompleteness, Starstride manages to deliver an enjoyable and unique gaming experience. The blend of fantasy and sci-fi, the engaging combat, and the potential for character customization make it a title to keep an eye on.
As the game continues to develop and the developers address the existing issues, Starstride could easily become a hit when it finally releases. If they can maintain this level of promise throughout the development process, we may have a future gem on our hands.
Starstride is an online hack and slash action RPG where dragons and magic meet space travel and technology. I had the opportunity to play a seemingly very early version of the game, which is currently in development, and it holds a lot of promise. The game is planned for release on both mobile and PC (Steam), although a clear release timeline has not been provided yet.
📖Premise
The premise blends the unlikely combination of high fantasy with sci-fi, and it works out quite well. Two allied factions, Neoterrans and Wokens, are at war against a mysterious alien civilization. Your character is one of the few powerful fighters remaining after a mysterious defeat at the hands of the enemy's leader. It might appear daunting and unusual at first, but this uniqueness is what makes it a refreshing addition to storytelling premises and world-building. Thinking about it, the whole premise, even the character designs seems heavily inspired by the Phantasy Star Online series of games.
Starting out, players must choose between these two factions, and they are born into and fight for it, with the aim of becoming the most powerful Star Warrior. The power armor and energy cores are the main centerfolds of the progression and character power. You have the freedom to create your own character (up to five on the same account), customize them, and level them up.
After choosing the faction, players create characters of either gender with customizable appearances. Additionally, players select their character identity, which determines their class. As a solo player, I preferred the assault role over defense or support roles. Apart from the role, players can also choose from a variety of weapons, shaping their combat style and moves. I was only able to play solo, but there is an option for creating a party with other players to raid rifts together.
📺Gameplay Presentation, Combat and Graphics
The combat is already highly satisfying at this early stage; the controls are responsive. Even with less than ideal performance running a 720p graphics preset, it still was enjoyable. The animations are solid, featuring flashy attack sequences done impressively. However, the running speed appears hilariously fast. In which they even double down on this concept by introducing an ability that will even make you run even faster that you look like The Flash, this combined with the auto-pathing they made for the objectives creates a genuinely hilarious, fun, and relaxed experience. I actually like it! It’s hilarious how my character keeps overshooting its autopathing destinations while boosted, cause she’s ridiculously fast.
During combat, there is a high level of visual clutter that can make it challenging to track the action, particularly when trying to monitor enemy attacks for dodging. Moving beyond that, the graphics are detailed and crisp, but they may lean toward being excessively clean without much graphical effects and post-processing. In that aspect, it sometimes looks like somethin that came out of the PS2 or PS3 era. Notably, there are significant texture and model pop-ins, with a very close draw distance. It's crucial to remember that this game is still in its early stages of development, and improvements are likely. I can't deny though that some of the details are already gorgeous to look at.
📜It’s still under development
While the core gameplay remains intact, and there's a hint of fun to be had already, it's important to note that the game is still very buggy and incomplete. I experienced disconnects every few minutes of playing, and many aspects are either not yet implemented or merely acting as placeholders. For instance, the traders are present, but trading with some of them isn't possible. Additionally, one rift — essentially a dungeon — required me to defeat specific monsters for a full 3-star rating, but these monsters fail to spawn. Furthermore, only the first hour's worth of the main campaign is accessible. On one occasion, I even encountered a crash that returned me to the main menu while in conversation with a character, and the character's dialogue continued regardless. It's worth noting that these issues are understandable given the early stage of game development.
💵Monetization
As for the monetization model, it's likely that this game is adopting the free-to-play model with microtransactions. I haven't noticed any gacha mechanics, but the groundwork for a stamina system and premium currency is already in place.
⚖️Conclusion
Where does that lead us? Well, the game is very, very promising. Despite the current technical issues and incompleteness, Starstride manages to deliver an enjoyable and unique gaming experience. The blend of fantasy and sci-fi, the engaging combat, and the potential for character customization make it a title to keep an eye on.
As the game continues to develop and the developers address the existing issues, Starstride could easily become a hit when it finally releases. If they can maintain this level of promise throughout the development process, we may have a future gem on our hands.
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It might appear daunting and unusual at first, but this uniqueness is what makes it a refreshing addition to storytelling premises and world-building. Thinking about it, the whole premise, even the character designs seems heavily inspired by the P
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✨Overview
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