Star Renegades

 PC
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 39 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 39
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 39
  3. Negative: 0 out of 39
  1. PC Gamer
    Sep 17, 2020
    72
    A multiversal master of none, with a messy but intriguing combat system at its core.
  2. GameMAG
    Nov 3, 2020
    70
    It feels like Star Renegades just can't decide what it wants to be. If the game was more like a traditional turn-based JRPG, it would be fine, but as of now way too many gameplay mechanics feels out of place. Roguelike elements are here too, some of them are pretty questionable, but can still win you over. But despite all of that, Star Renegades is a game with a great visual style and an engaging combat system, which is more than enough to hold your attetion, at least for a couple of runs.
  3. Metro GameCentral
    Sep 9, 2020
    70
    Gorgeous pixel art graphics and one of the best turn-based combat systems of recent years can’t quite make up for an obnoxious script and frustrating role-playing elements.
  5. RPG Site
    Sep 8, 2020
    70
    Star Renegades offers a great artstyle and robust combat system for fans of turn-based RPGs and roguelikes. It doesn't have much to tell in terms of an outward storyline, and some of the roguelike elements feel a little thin, but it's a solid experience if you know what you are getting into.
  6. God is a Geek
    Sep 7, 2020
    70
    Star Renegades has some great ideas; the characters are solid, likeable and believable, and the world is intriguing, but it may be too punishing for some.
  7. CD-Action
    Dec 18, 2020
    65
    Star Renegades’ best feature is its combat system which rewards good tactics based on thorough analysis. Battles also look great, thanks to the polished pixel art, but the complicated, unfriendly interface makes enjoying them harder. I was also disappointed with the game’s rudimentary story, but what really disheartened me was the tiresome repetitiveness of gameplay. [12/2020, p.41]
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  8. Cubed3
    Jan 19, 2021
    60
    Much like Halcyon 6 before it, this has tremendous potential, but is simply lost in its own slog. As such, it remains tough to recommend on a higher level, as battles just take too long, with too much punishment for straying from an ideal strategy. If there was an expansion of story, streamlining of combat, upgrading character pixels, and overall improving some of the aspects touched on, would go a very long way. In a game that felt like it could have been a awesome Edge of Tomorrow kind of deal, it feels more like being an accountant with a glitchy spreadsheet piece of software.
  9. We Got This Covered
    Sep 21, 2020
    60
    The scattershot influences of Star Renegades make for a complex and engaging experience that often seems to be barely holding it all together.
  10. ComicBook
    Sep 7, 2020
    60
    A game that starts strong, but that can quickly become a frustrating and repetitious experience.
  11. Screen Rant
    Sep 7, 2020
    60
    Most everything around that excellent combat is where Star Renegades falters. The lightweight, overly jokey narrative, the unforgivable UI, the occasional bugs, the superficial permanent upgrades, and the nonsensically obtuse camp sections frame a singular battle system that solidifies the game’s appeal.
  12. Edge Magazine
    Oct 8, 2020
    50
    If Massive Damage's kitchen-sink approach to combat systems threatens to become overwhelming, it is at least built upon solid foundations. [Issue#351, p.107]
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In Progress & Unscored

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  1. Rock, Paper, Shotgun
    Sep 11, 2020
    So yeah, it has more than a bit of roughness to it. But hoo boy, do I admire its spirit, its extra-ness, its enthusiasm for small-scale RPG design. It feels like somebody put a lasso around the neck of a snorting Disgaea game and corralled it into a pen with Slay The Spire, the resulting gamefoal erupting onto Steam in slime and wires, a cybernetic child of chaos, pixel art, and giant JRPG word flashes. BREAK. BLEEDING. ANTIMATTER. ENRAGED.

User Reviews

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User Score
6.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 30 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 30
  3. Negative: 10 out of 30
  1. Zer0TheHer0
    Oct 8, 2020
    0
    can't change keyboard binds. unacceptable.
    pixel art is fantastic but animations in combat feel lacking... like there would have improved a    can't change keyboard binds. unacceptable.
    pixel art is fantastic but animations in combat feel lacking... like there would have improved a lot with just a few more animation frames
    map traversal is horrible, the characters only go in a straight line, no pathfinding, and they often get stuck in the background. also you often have to click little "doorways" on the map to proceed and those have no reason to exist and feel they're there just to annoy and slow you down
    all in all THE LACK OF KEY BINDING IS NOT TOLERABLE    … Full Review »
  2. GrizzledGamer
    Sep 9, 2020
    4
    This game is what happens when designers don't know the difference between game design that is satisfyingly difficult, and designers thatThis game is what happens when designers don't know the difference between game design that is satisfyingly difficult, and designers that think that simply because the game is hard, it will be enjoyable.

    The primary wrinkle in this game's combat system is that your attacks won't miss and whether or not your crit is based on whether or not you strike first. If you stagger them enough, you can prevent them from attacking for the round. Enemies also have an attack counter on them, and if you exhaust that counter, the enemy cannot be staggered any further. Hitting enemies in their weaknesses inflicts slightly greater amounts of stagger on them, but it's not exceptionally meaningful.

    Where this all falls apart is once the game starts trying to add complexity on top of complexity. Once they start introducing formations and auto-counterattacks and auto-guards, the game just gets stupidly dumb. Nobody wants to play an RPG where "victory through attrition" is the most effective strategy. In theory, the game's choices are there to offer you a wealth of tactical options, but in practice, it's either, "Does my entire team defend this round, or do we attack this round?" It all shakes out this way because, for the most part, you can't heal in battle. You don't have items that you can use to heal mid-fight.

    Guarding and counters are another annoyance. You'll have guys standing BEHIND a front line unit, guarding literally every attack that you hit them with. (Because THAT makes strategic sense, somehow.) You can't stagger a unit that's guarding, because guard happens at Init 0. So, for 2 different enemy units, the game's core systems are functionally ignored. The target has no choice but to defend (because all buffs I've seen so far, simply expire after one turn, and once again, you can't heal characters mid-fight) and in situations where the attacking character being guarded is throwing out an AoE attack, you just have to sit back and defend with the entire team. Same thing happens when one character takes up overwatch. Either EVERY character making an attack gets lit up that turn, in addition to taking the damage that the enemy is gonna dish out, or just defend with the entire team. You will choose full defense FAR, FAR more often in this game than any other RPG out there. I just went through Persona 5 Royal on Hard, and I have already defended more in my first 2 runs on this game than I did in the entirety of the 110+ hours of P5R. That is not a metric you should be striving for, especially when your game's version of defense is basically just "sit there and eat less damage."

    Formations in this game seem to be broken. I've had several instances where the only thing in front of a unit I want to attack is a corpse, but my character won't attack them. Other characters doing the same type of attack will be able to attack that unit, but not the one I actually want to attack that unit.

    And if something in here seems to be entirely different to your experience with the game, you can chalk that up to the game's worst flaw, one of the worst UIs I've ever seen in a video game. You travel along on a map by clicking your mouse on where to go. But because you can only get into a certain number of fights a day (also a gripe I have) I guess they want you to make really, really sure that you want to go from point A to point B before you use up a breach point you didn't intend to. Well, then let me move freely to all points that DON'T need a breach point! Also, why do you require me to walk my characters into the middle of a section to pick up a reward? It's just becomes a stupid exercise in trigger spot hunting to move from section to section at night. The UI in combat is even worse, though. It's partially because of the graphic-style of "barfing good art through a pseudo-16-bit rasterizer" but it's primarily that all pertinent information in combat is displayed in the least helpful manner. Attacks targeting your units will be displayed as a series of arrow lines leading from the attacker to the target. Your arrows and the enemy arrows are all the same color. If one of your units and one of the enemy units are attacking multiple targets, good luck figuring what the hell the other 6 units on the board are targeting.

    I cannot recommend purchasing this. One of the most regretted purchases of 2020 for me. 3.5/10.    … Full Review »
  3. ossimantylahti
    Sep 14, 2020
    3
    I am a big fan of Halcyon 6 and was really looking forward for playing Star Renegades. The promise was quite good: beautiful pixel graphics,I am a big fan of Halcyon 6 and was really looking forward for playing Star Renegades. The promise was quite good: beautiful pixel graphics, creative story, turn-based combat with exploiting enemy weaknesses and creating combos.

    Unfortunately, Star Renegades falls short. Ok, let’s get the good out first: the game looks and feels incredibly pretty. Graphics style is amazing and combat looks very promising.

    Apparently, someone got the idea of creating a “Roguelike” game. This was not a good decision and has led to a number of design decisions that simply make the game not fun.

    Essentially, the game is a bloody grind-fest which forces me to play one level over and over again to gather red resources to unlock even the basic items. One tiny wrong move in the battlefield and my heroes are as good as dead. There is no healing. Nor is there save game functionality. So at the time of death I am thrown back to the beginning of the very same level and have to be playing same encounters over and over again until I can gather enough unlockable loot to finally beat the level.

    I absolutely hate the fact that the grind-fest makes me to lose my experience and level progression. More because there is a stupid maximum limit of encounters I can try before taking on the Behemoth of each level. Who came up with this idea??

    To make matters worse, the difficulty is INSANE. It took me some six hours and 6-7 tries to get past the very first level. I got my ass handed to me by lieutenants and commanders before even getting to Behemoth. Losing to these mini bosses resets the progress and throws me to the beginning of the level with all my exp lost. This is not fun.

    I do not mind having a good challenge (I like FTL) but playing Star Renegades makes Dark Souls feel like an easy game.

    Playing Star Renegades is a frustrating experience and lacks the fun of any progression or achievement.    … Full Review »
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