Star Salvager

Awesome and super challenging puzzle meets shooter game... in space! This game is fast paced and the objectives are much more complex than they initially appear, but the gameplay is actually pretty intuitive once you get the hang of things. Loving the retro vibe, which is nicely enhanced by the art and music. Funny and engaging dialogue, which was a nice surprise. Lots of care and creativity went into this game, and I'm looking forward to diving into the next levels (if I can make it past the first ones!). So happy for A-Game Studios that this total gem of a game is finally out in the world for all to see and play and replay.

This is a puzzle roguelike with meta progression. It's quite baffling that the devs decided to use one of the worst progression system that only works for short and simple games like 00s flash games or vampire-survivor-likes. Vampire Survivor is a simple action roguelite where meta progression is fun because the gameplay is so simple. It's also not that deep. But what would happen if you tried to attached that kind of meta progression to Slay the Spire? It would completely fall apart! Star Salvager has a game structure similar to Slay the Spire, except it has meta progression like Vampire Survivors, where the game gets easier the more time you play it, because you can start the game with more Health, more Damage, more currency, etc... It's absolutely baffling that the developers made that decision. After trying 3 more times, you might not actually have gotten better at the puzzle, but you just started the game with more health and upgrades so.... Progress? The actual gameplay is ok. It's like solving a match-3 /puyo puyo on a rotating base, while playing space invader at the same time. It's not bad but it's not as satisfying as any classic arcade puzzle games. For example it's very easy to mess up because you have to be so precise on where the block falls on your ship. Back with the roguelike aspect: mixed with this puzzle gameplay it simply doesn't work. The enemies don't change that much, you'll just want to 1: Do the match 3 game, 2) Shoot enemies, 3) Dodge projectiles. So the challenge that you are facing on the first stage is the same flavor as on later stages. So to summarize: 1) Doesn't have the replay value / excitement / novelty of roguelikes like Slay the Spire. Doing a different run, not much will change in terms of decision / gameplay. 2) Doesn't have action gameplay satisfaction of regular shooter games. weak weapons, few enemies, long stretches of times with not much to do except for waiting for new waves of enemies, or new blocks. 3) The puzzle gameplay is not so satisfying. It's like playing tetris, but instead of moving tetris blocks snappily, you move them in a continuous/smooth manner and are not as accurate / fast as a result. 4) The +stats meta progression borrowed from action roguelike completely destroy any desire to get good at the game. The game could have been something of value if it stayed an arcade puzzle game. But because they wanted to "be a roguelite", it ended up compromising the flavor of what could have been, finally, a "new game".