Asterigos: Curse of the Stars

Asterigos: Curse of the Stars does everything discreetly, but nothing really well. It is a full-bodied production in practice, because it combines an extended narrative with a playful system full of interesting features. However, his very appreciable desire to be easily usable is not able to combine a good underlying complexity. The simplicity and immediacy of the individual game elements often represent more of a limit than an added value, with the adventure that just can't shake off that feeling of enjoyable but inconsistent lightness.

Asterigos: Curse of the Stars offers a lengthy adventure with a well-thought and diverse combat system that sits somewhere between the high challenge of soulsborne and the ease of a hack ‘n slash. It’s only marred down by some bad design decisions (like the absence of fast travel until halfway through), which could be avoided if -maybe- some more testing was done.

Asterigos: Curse of the Stars is a better experience than I expected it to be. Despite its shortcomings, such as excessive dialogue, translation oddities, quest issues, and some awkward area design, for those looking for a comfortable action RPG with a satisfying story & competent combat, Asterigos deserves a chance.

Asterigos: Curse of the Stars had the potential of being one of the most exciting ARPGs influenced by the Souls series, with its ancient Greek and Roman influences, cartoonish art style, unique approach to story choices, and a more gamey approach to combat and character customization. Sadly, it falls flat mostly due to the mediocre level design. If you can look past this significant issue, however, you'll find a decent enough game with an acceptable story and serviceable combat with some interesting twists.

Asterigos has a great world design and a combat system that is similar to the Souls series, while being faster and more action-oriented. It's just the exploration elements that let the game down, as the city of Aphes can sometimes feel a little too empty for its own good, and its residents a little too verbose. Those who don't mind backtracking and skipping dialogue should be able to see through the muddy parts and enjoy Asterigos' finer points.

Overall, Asterigos: Curse of the Stars is a passable quality experience that excels when it leans into its Monster Hunter/Dauntless-esque multiphase boss fights, interspersed with more solitary bouts of exploration and subsequent discovery. Had the developers leaned further into this hypothetically simplified formula, while offsetting it with the existing rich and dense progression system, Asterigos could have proved its mettle as a more-than-worthy contender in the market. However, its poor control responsiveness, its often-needlessly ham-fisted approach to forcing linearity where it's not needed, and its debatable narrative quality, also collectively hold it back from reaching its full potential.