Game Review: Starward Rogue

By Manuel

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, XBox, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Steam

Roguelites seem to be releasing at a near-constant rate these days, and it takes a lot to really make one stand out in a crowded genre. Enter Starward Rogue, a roguelite game that adds in twinstick shooter elements, and bullet hell gameplay that is more than a little reminiscent of the Touhou series. It previously was a smash hit on Steam, and it recently got a console release from publisher Klabater. We're going to be taking a look at the Nintendo Switch version today, but it's available on all the major consoles. We're probably going to end up going on a lot of runs to get through this review, so let's just dive right into it.

Are you qualified to die?

Seriously, what is this intro stage?

I'm very confused as to what the story behind Starward Rogue is. There's apparently a Space Hydra, and you're a "head in a mech", which is why I guess there's nine mechs to choose from. You're trying to save someone imprisoned in the bottom later of the Megalith, a series of ever-changing catacombs that make up the game's levels. You learn most of this via a tutorial mission that plays so chaotically that I actually assumed that the entire game was going to be an unplayable mess. I don't know if you're meant to stand around, not move, and listen to all the in-game dialogue, but I found myself skipping just about all the tutorials in this section. Instead I found myself learning about the game's mechanics within my first few runs. Honestly that's the way I suggest anyone new to the game do things too, but if you figure out what that opening tutorial level is supposed to be saying, be sure to tell me. I guess there's not a lot of story here, but you don't really need that in a roguelite anyway right? Perhaps one does, but this game is also a shmup at heart, and you definitely don't need a lot of story to along in that genre. I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that so much of the game's press materials, online presence, and even other player's reviews, mention the game The Binding of Isaac. Starward Rogue's eshop page even refers to itself as an "Isaac-like" at various points. I've never played that game, nor do I have any plans to do so any time soon, so don't expect me to bring up any comparisons to it. I only mention it as it seems that everyone else has to mention the similarities, but I have no frame of reference to do so beyond what I've already stated.

So colorful!

Quite an interesting bullet pattern.

Gameplay in Starward Rogue is your standard roguelite affair, but there's also the twin shooter aspect to keep in mind. Each run into the Megalith consists of at least five floors, with the final one seeing you face off against the game's big boss: The Warden. The run automatically ends when you defeat him, but on any other floor you can keep on exploring after you defeat its boss. The bosses on the other floors vary far greater, and are actually randomized each run. That's not all that's randomized, as room layouts, enemies, items, and more shift between each session too. Not everything will be present in every run, and you'll have to keep playing to unlock more things that then enter into the Megalith's rotation. Survival is key though, so expect to take out a lot of enemies in order to get far in the game. Every enemy has a life bar that reflects the damage it is taking from your shot, and you typically have to kill every enemy in a room in order to move onto the next. This means that entering each room usually becomes a life or death struggle, and your run can end very quickly if you're not careful. More than enemies block your path, as various blocks have to be destroyed in order to progress, and stage hazards like lasers and non-destructible cannons can kill you as easily as any enemy can. Most hazards disappear once you defeat all the enemies in a room, so it's best to limit your exploring until the area has become safe. There's more to this gameplay loops of course, but that's most of what you can expect.

Each of the game's nine mechs offer up different ways to play the game, and their own sets of challenges and achievements. Each has stats that set it apart, with some having more life, others having a more powerful weapon, some move faster than the rest, and others have a better missile payout. You can adjust a lot of these stats and abilities with items and weapon upgrades, but they all retain their basic pros and cons throughout their growth. Even the bonuses locked behind each of their level ups are fairly unique to each mech, and it's best to carefully note each of their stats before picking them so you find one that suits your play style. I'm not sure if the game requires you to beat it with each of the mechs in order to unlock everything, but that's something I've been working my way towards for the sole purpose of getting all those pesky achievements. More than likely you'll find a favorite mech early on and stick to them, but part of the fun of Starward Rogue is its variety, so I suggest you change it up every so often.

Be wary of descriptions like this!

This is just a normal enemy!

No matter what mech you choose, you have two main methods of attacking, you main gun and your missiles. Both weapons are different depending on which mech you choose, with some firing in a wide arc, and others being slow but powerful. Your gun is fired by using the right analog stick, and the missiles are fired by using the right trigger button. Both weapons can get upgrades individually, and you can see the currently equipped items on-screen, albeit via very small icons. Missiles are probably more important than your main gun as they do a lot more than simply damaging enemies. Missiles are used to clear certain blocks, and are the only thing that can go through the bullets of enemies. While they're not anything close to screen-clearing, they can very quickly save your life in a boss battle if you're finding it hard to dodge certain bullet patterns. They are limited though, and they have to be replenished via item pickups from either chests or from enemies. There are other mechanics to worry about, like energy and shields, but these are less important than health and weapons in my opinion. A run ends when you die, or when you beat The Warden, but you can also end it prematurely yourself if you just want to start over again quickly.

Upgrade items can be picked up in many ways. They're dropped by bosses and minibosses, stored in secret rooms, and sometimes come out of locked chests. There is also usually one at the start of each of the deeper levels, but these usually have a challenge attached to them in order to use them. All those methods aside, the main place you'll be getting power-ups and upgrades will be in shops scattered throughout each of the floors. I actually messed up both of the shops my first few runs, so pay attention and learn from my mistakes. First up are the main shops where you can finally spend the credits you've been picking up everywhere. These have a shopkeeper that you can very easily kill if you're not careful, and if you do kill him you will be missing a lot of shops later on down the line. The other kind of shops come in the form of dark rooms that sell you upgrades and power-ups at the cost of HP. I actually didn't notice this special cost until several runs in, and I was constantly confused as to why my HP max seemed to be going down as I got deeper into the catacombs. All the upgrades are useful in some way, but it's best to pick and choose them depending on how you plan to play the game. Also, be wary of any items that hint or directly mention losing hit points, energy, or other stats for picking them up. These decreases are in fact permanent, and whatever you gave up won't be restored even if you eventually unequip the item that cause the change in the first place. Basically, don't be like me and pick up the power-up that brings you down to 1 HP. That run ended really quickly...

Be wary of these dark shops.

These bullets are soooo symmetrical...

I'm actually not sure how Starward Rogue ends as I've done over a dozen runs, about half of them successful, and I have yet to reach whatever is at the "bottom". I assume there is some way to eventually get to an end point, but honestly the core gameplay loop is so much fun that I don't care if I never get there. There's so much to see and unlock, that you'll be playing for hours and hours before you get anywhere near 100% completion. I'll admit that I dropped the difficulty to Easy after my first failed runs, but I quickly put it back to the Normal setting, and honestly that's where the game shines the brightest. There's definitely some challenges to be had, but everything feels rather fair all things considered. Even runs that give you the absolute worst RNG have some great moments, where you'll grab that particular weapon or item that turns everything onto its head, Phoenix Wright-style. The only big thing I'd fault the game for is that there doesn't seem to be much that carries over from one run to the next. Usually roguelikes carry over some stats, items, or other incremental changes that make subsequent runs just a small bit easier. Not having that here means that failed runs are a literal waste of time. You may have unlocked a new enemy or item, or learned that a particular power-up is not one you'll ever want to touch again, but you have nothing to show for it beyond that newfound knowledge. I guess having too much carry over in this particular game would've thrown off the balance a bit, but I wish there was something to show for the other half of my runs that ended in defeat.

Spend credits for new upgrades.

Be careful with the shopkeeper though!

Visuals in Starward Rogue are pretty amazing all things considered, but not for the reasons you might be thinking. The mech and enemy models are colorful and unique to one another, even if they can feel a little repetitive after a while, but I think things get far more interesting when you look at bullets. Starward Rogue definitely falls into the bullet hell genre, and gives off a lot of Touhou vibes on the higher difficulty levels. Most enemies have very unique attacks too, and their bullets are colorful, oddly shaped, and often come at you in patterns and/or waves. It's hard to describe it if you not experiencing it firsthand, but the bullet patterns the enemies shoot are usually far more impressive than the enemies themselves. Some enemies will fire a colorful shield in front of them before unleashing a more standard barrage, others will fire bullets in a pattern that looks harmless until it converges back on you, some enemies leave fire or spidery tendrils in their wake, and that's only outlining a few of the things you'll see in any single room. What's just as impressive is that the game never seems to slow down during any of this. I played on the Nintendo Switch and expected there to be some sort of slowdown on the higher difficulty levels, but I never noted anything worth mentioning. There may have been the slightest of slowdowns at the most intense moments, but honestly I couldn't help but wonder if I was mistaken each time I was beginning to notice. More than likely I was just trying too hard to actually see it, that I was expecting something that simply wasn't there. My only actual gripe with the visuals is that the text is way too small on just about everything and the main menu occupies like 1/5 of the available screen real estate. I guess this might come from its PC roots, but it feels rather tiny even keeping this in mind. None of that is by any means a real negative though, so let's just move on.

Dodging bullets are fun.

I didn't even talk about drones.

I can go on and on about the entire soundscape of Starward Rogue endlessly, but I'll try to keep it brief. First up is the fact that there is a bit of voice acting, but as far as I've seen it only happens in that opening scene which I found extremely confusing, so we won't talk about that anymore. Sound effects are far better than the voice acting thankfully, and I'm amazed by how many different weapon sounds the game has. That may sound like a weird thing to praise, but hearing each gun's unique firing sound kept things lively. It also helped broadcast which attacks were coming your way if you were able to pick out one from several. I could actually talk a bit more about how the weapon sounds often felt a little ASMR-y at times, but I want to talk about the music more than anything else. I rave about soundtracks a lot, and I honestly think that they can make or break a game, so me saying that this is one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard in a game may sound like me repeating myself. I don't know how else to put it though, Starward Rogue has some amazing music, and it deserves the prominent place it has in the overall sound mix. I also tend to not like when the music tends to be louder than other things (like the aforementioned voice acting as an example), but I don't mind it at all when the music is this good. It's synthwave, it's lively and upbeat, and it gets you in the mood to face anything the Megalith has to throw at you. Anything else I say won't do it any justice, just trust me when I say that it earns the perfect score that I'm about to give it.

Roguelites by nature have a lot of replayability, and that's especially true in Starward Rogue. You can try clearing runs with each mech, you can go for unlocking all the achievements, and you can even try to get the best overall stats possible. There's a lot to do, and the game is infinitely replayable. There's even a DLC pack to go with this game that's pretty affordable, though I have yet to actually play it. Speaking of affordable, the game currently has an insanely low price tag of $14.99. I was actually surprised when I looked it up and saw that it was not even twenty dollars. You get an incredible amount of content for that price, and it's rare that I feel the publisher could've gotten away charging more. It honestly is a great deal, and it made me forget about the few issues I had with it. Also, though this is only a review of the console release, it should be mentioned that there is a big mod community for this game over on Steam. If you choose to go that route you can probably just lock yourself in a room for a week trying to get through all the content available on PC.

Be prepared to fail at least a few times.

This isn't even my most recent unlock list.

I actually have a love/hate relationship with roguelites, as I feel the genre has become extremely over-saturated lately. Starward Rogue gets around this pitfall by creating a very unique take on the genre that helps it stand above the others. Maybe I wouldn't think that if I played Binding of Isaac, but I bet that I'd still think really highly of this game. It probably goes without saying that I give this game a full recommendation, and that goes for people who might not even care too much for the genre. There's something here for just about everyone, and I'm sure that players of all skill levels will have a blast. Grab it on whatever console you can, and maybe think about getting that DLC. Maybe I'll be covering that later on down the road, but I got several more runs with the main game to go before I consider that. See you in the Megalith!

Check Out Starward Rogue on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/starward-rogue-switch/

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Story: B (Does this matter though?)
Gameplay: A-
Graphics: A
Music/Sound: A+
Value: A+

Overall: A

Pros:
+ A great mix of roguelite, twin-stick shooter, and shmup gameplay.
+ Even with hundreds of bullets on-screen at once, the game never seems to slow down, even on the Switch.
+ Extremely tight controls make it so that each hit you take is no fault of the game.
+ Very customizable with 9 characters that all play very differently, and five difficulty settings to choose from.
+ There are lots of items, enemies, bosses, and Megalith variants to see, with all of them tracked in-game.
+ The soundtrack is amazing, and one of the best Synthwave soundtracks I've heard in recent memory.

Cons:
- The tutorial stage is very wonky and confusing, and gives off a really weird first impression.
- It takes a bit of trial and error to properly get into the gameplay loop.
- While you can lower the difficulty below it, the game is pretty difficult on the standard Normal setting.
- There may be hundreds of enemies to fight, but all start to look the same after a while.
- Very little seems to carry over from one run to the next beyond making the catacombs longer and more complex.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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