Stardust Origins

I really enjoyed playing this retro styled game. There are many quests to fulfill, and a big universe to explore. The fact that you can form your own adventure makes this game super fun!

I am following this game for many months already. This game cleary does not fit my type of gaming, because I am just too impatient and you can explore such a huge universe in this game. The effort the dev took to implement so many different things is amazing. You can trade goods or stocks, try to follow the story or do just some sidemissions, upgrade your spaceship and go for a bounty hunt. If you are patient enough (not like me :D ) I am sure you will have a lot of fun with this game.

Stardust Origins is not a pretentious game. I think that the best word I can use to describe it is [b]functional[/b]. This is a sub-refund period review; I'm planning to finish the game because I love it but time is of a limited supply. Gameplay: 7.5/10 [b]SO is a light space sim with limited gameplay elements. Trading. Story quests. Limited mission types at message board and a bounty board to help find enemies that have have bounties on them. Buy and sell ship, ship equipment and weapons for your one and only ship that can be used and controlled.[/b] Endgame unknown to me although I have no reason to expect one. There are some tutorials popups but for the most part you are left to your own device in a relatively simple game world. My experience of it is limited but it does show nice touches here and there. By example: I took a mission to to carry a message to somewhere. On my way I got shot down by an enemy ship saying you can't just fly around with information like that and was promptly shot down. Felt very good! Same thing when news broke out, paper journal style, of a new system being discovered. Quality of Life: 6.5/10 [b]If you don't do something new, it should be done well and while the game is fully serviceable, it doesn't go very far in making it convenient to play.[/b] Trading is the meat of this sort of game yet there is no in-game quality of life support to keep track of any of it. The UI is too often in the way. You generally can't use Escape or a custom key to leave menus and have to hunt little X's and buttons like "Leave Station". The default keyboard scheme is from another time and will need rebinding. There is no option to auto-move, set waypoints or use any kind of auto-pilot like go to X, follow Y or set trade route Z. Graphics: 6.5/10 [b]Some of the nicer touches include the user interface, which is of good quality visually speaking, the creation of an avatar for your character at the start of the game and that nice retro feeling.[/b] Unfortunately the various ships (almost completely) blend together while weapon effects and hits on the enemy feel extremely underwhelming, and generally too speed up. Movement and Combat: 5/10 [b]Probably the worst aspect of the game for me. There are no side thrusters, no reverse and no way to lock speed. At least partly forward you go, all the time.[/b] So not only are you constantly struggling to adjust speed but you have no option to match that of your enemy. There seem to be many options that one can buy to make combat more fun [b]but[/b]... at the start it's just you and the enemy flying past each other. There is no option for the zoom factor to adjust to your target either, which is aggravating at least, again, at the start. Music and Sound: 6/10. I can confirm that there is music and sound. The most important thing in my opinion would be to be able to have at least one memorable track, which to me personally didn't happen. Price: 7/10: [b]How does one rate a labor of love? I assume that roughly 95% of the core work is done by a single programmer. So the price is fair for the work.[/b] The lack of a demo make for a somewhat though sale and I don't consider the refund period a demo. If there was a demo, I would rate the price around 8.5/10. There are always sales, right?

I really like this game! It somehow feels like Star Control 2 meets Elite. I feel like I've only scratched the surface and look forward to working my way up to some bigger ships and bigger missions.

Fun game, i wish more games would just take the simple approach get a firm foundation and then build on that. Plays like the old Elite games but in 2d, plenty to do.

Huge and procedurally generated, Stardust Origins will keep you occupied for hours! Unfortunately, I don't have the patience for doing more grind than I already do, but if you would like a deep 2D Elite / Escape Velocity-esque game, with varied and complex economics and tons of details, get this game!

"Stardust origins" reminds me of the space stage in the game Spore, but more challenging. I think this game has a lot of depth when it comes to building your spaceship. I chose to focus on building a tanky merchant spaceship, that could travel long distances instead of focusing on builing a speedy bounty hunter starship. I think there are so many interesting things to do, beside the main quest. So if you're an inquisitive human being, and are looking for a casuel but still intense game, stardust origins is a good choice for you.