Interstellaria
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Genres: Simulation, Platformer, RPG, Sandbox, Shoot 'em Up
Platform: PC
Developer: Cold Rice Games
Released: 2015-07-17
Links: Website - Steam - Gameplay
Interstellaria is a 2D Space Sim/RPG/Sandbox game created in the same vein as the engaging space exploration games of the past. Inspired heavily by games like Starflight, Interstellaria is all about allowing the player to find their own adventure. Every star has something interesting to see, and every planet has it’s own unique feel. There are a number of unique encounters and hostile enemies to find. As captain, you are tasked with building your empire through diplomacy, trade, or force.
So I picked up this game on Steam a couple of days ago. My full review is below.
Review
Space, the final frontier, endlessly vast and impossible to conquer; or in Interstellaria's case, fairly small and easily overcome. Interstellaria is a platform, RPG, shoot em' up, space simulation mash-up that—while combining all of these into a satisfactory package—doesn't do any of them exceptionally well. But that's not to say it doesn't have its upsides.
Gameplay
Interface, Options & Controls
The interface is easy to understand, sometimes a bit quirky and in dire need of more hotkeys, but at the end of the day is simple, elegant and well executed. As far as the options go, there aren't many. As to be expected from a game with this style you won't find anti-aliasing or post-processing sliders laying around, just SFX, music, resolution and mouse tidbits. There is unfortunately a complete lack of key rebinding, and I can't give anything in the way of controller support as I do not own one.
Exploration
The galaxy didn't at all give off the feel of exploring the vastness of space for me. Interstellaria trades off the commonly found procedural generation in space sims for hand crafted systems and worlds. Each system contains a single world along with one to three places you can land on and explore. There are, however, many random events one can come across, as well as the occasional baddie or three that will intercept you as you move through space. So while the random events and planets I could land on kept me interested, it was fairly short lived, as the galaxy just isn't all that vast or filled with a ton of content. Then again, it's a cheap game, I'm not expecting X series level of system detail and lore.
Management
Very similar to FTL. You have power units you can put into three categories; engines, stations and weapons. Crew need to eat, sleep and be entertained in order to be kept happy, but there are no major negative effects from not managing them well. The bonuses that you do get from keeping them happy are negligible, enough so that I essentially stopped caring about them sans armour, weapons and health 2 hours into the game and threw the extra power I used for those stations into my engines. From my view, more depth to crew management was a good idea but one very poorly executed, no mechanic should have so little presence that a player completely ignores it.
Economy
Pretty rigid and simple. Some items are worth more in one place, less in another, and that's as complex as it gets. You can't fill a demand with supply, nor can you cheat the market. I was able to make a few hundred thousand DY after finding a single profitable trade run less than an hour in, which ended up making the game fairly easy from an economical standpoint. I had no reason to collect or harvest minerals from planets or events, though I did need to kill some planetary creatures for armour.
Combat
This is where the game truly faults. On planets, it can be buggy, aggravating and mundane. Pathing issues with the crew AI can lead to undesired results and they do not immediately respond when being attacked, if at all. In space, combat is reminiscent of shoot 'em up games but combined with FTL levels of space ship damage, repair and station management. Unfortunately, the projectiles travel so slowly that I was able to evade over 90% of any shots taken at me. Because of the profitable trade run I had, I was able to get a cruiser early on and completely stomp any encounter I ran across; because of ignoring crew management and boosting my engines, I was able to avoid almost every encounter. You’re technically allowed to have five ships in your fleet, but I only ever needed one.
This really took a toll on my enjoyment, and perhaps it's not quite the same for everyone else, I'm not exactly your average gamer, so I'm in the minority when it comes to finding gameplay challenging. But ignoring an audience simply because it's a minority isn't an excuse, especially because scalable difficulty isn’t some brand new concept, in fact, it's even more dated than the graphic style the game uses. A simple slider related to the speed of enemy projectiles in space combat would be all you need to make it more challenging.
Story & Missions
The game includes a fairly enjoyable main plot that kept me interested enough to find out what was going on. It was unique and at times funny. As far as missions go, there are a few lying around here and there, but once you complete them that's it, there are no generated missions that you'd normally find in other space sims, just the main plot and a few side activities. Again though, Interstellaria is a hand-crafted experience for a cheap price, and the bits of text throughout the game make funny references to nerdy subcultures which is always a bonus in my book.
Graphics
My favourite part of the game and very well done, fitting together seamlessly in the style the author chose to go for. Planets have their own unique biomes and looks, each race comes with an animated communications portrait and it's all very pixelated. If you enjoy retro, if you want to revel in a bit of nostalgia of an age past, this is definitely for you.
Audio
Another enjoyable part of the game, catchy if a bit repetitive after long sessions. While not exactly the most beautiful tracks out there, each one fits well in every place it's used, so it gets a solid nod from me as a hobbyist composer.
Conclusion
Interstellaria is an interesting and enjoyable experience that might not keep you entertained for years to come or blow your mind, but will definitely be fondly remembered in a day and age plagued by excessively rehashed formulas—a breath of fresh air worth every DY.