Star Renegades

 PC
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

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  1. simplex01
    Dec 20, 2020
    2
    Unfortunately, the game is an endless grind and a successful run is based on luck mostly. With the exact same strategy you can either progress to the final planet (ship) or die on the first one, and start all over again (there is no saving or healing in fights and if you die, you start at the beginning of the game, and lose everything). finishing the game is mostly based on the rng god'sUnfortunately, the game is an endless grind and a successful run is based on luck mostly. With the exact same strategy you can either progress to the final planet (ship) or die on the first one, and start all over again (there is no saving or healing in fights and if you die, you start at the beginning of the game, and lose everything). finishing the game is mostly based on the rng god's mood (what items you get, how the levels are generated etc.). The game looks not bad, but not great, and after a few runs, it gets boring. I played this game for 15 hours total, and I wish I could get them back. There is a fine line between darksoul hard (hard but fair) or simply hard in an unfair way because it's rng and can not be controlled by the player. And the devs totally blew it here. The only way you will beat this game is by grinding dozens, robably hundreds of hours, until you get good rng. don't do it, it's not woth it.

    i can not recommend this game, due to the fact that it is an endless grind and too much based on luck. the idea is interesting, the realization is a flop.    … Expand
  2. 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, 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    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.    … Expand
  3. 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 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,    This 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.    … Expand
  4. kamealex
    Sep 10, 2020
    7
    A good update could push this game up to a better state, with a more balanced difficulty and a less frustrating combat. It's a good game, but it really needs some feedback from the players. Listen and fix.
  5. 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 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    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    … Expand
  6. cmfrip
    Oct 17, 2020
    6
    I did not enjoy Star Renegades . It is an J-RPG -Rogue-light that reeks of FF(Final Fantasy) games. If there is one thing that is good about it, is the art style.

    The concept is good, the story is interesting enough and the game works quite well, However, I really don't like much that has been done : sounds like someone thought about doing a rogue-light FF game with a female    I did not enjoy Star Renegades . It is an J-RPG -Rogue-light that reeks of FF(Final Fantasy) games. If there is one thing that is good about it, is the art style.

    The concept is good, the story is interesting enough and the game works quite well,

    However, I really don't like much that has been done : sounds like someone thought about doing a rogue-light FF game with a female protagonist ; Oh of course! art style is important!

    Map traversing and combat is boring though and requires dozens and dozens of play through on an already repetitive and clumsy combat.

    UI does not respond sometimes as you would like, the combined arms system of different attacks do bonus damage just obstructs and seems poor dispensed - sometimes it gives bonuses for stuff your just not gonna use, meaning you equip it and am stuck with it - if you have it that is!

    The story concept is interesting , however the script(story chatter) and the music is the pits - really could not tolerate the music. Don't get me started about the card system Ugh...
    - No thanks!    … Expand
  7. Era_del_imperio
    Dec 7, 2020
    10
    Tan solo el pixel art ya le merece una buena nota. Es detallado y hermoso, de los mejores que he visto en cualquier juego pixel art. Del mismo modo, la dirección artística trabaja de tal modo que la armonía del mundo y la paleta de colores hacen de este un placer visual. Sumado a la increíble banda sonora que hace muy buen juego con el pacing de los turnos y el world exploring.

    Los    Tan solo el pixel art ya le merece una buena nota. Es detallado y hermoso, de los mejores que he visto en cualquier juego pixel art. Del mismo modo, la dirección artística trabaja de tal modo que la armonía del mundo y la paleta de colores hacen de este un placer visual. Sumado a la increíble banda sonora que hace muy buen juego con el pacing de los turnos y el world exploring.

    Los personajes son carismáticos y tienen profundidad, escapando muchas veces de los tropos en los que parecieran haber sido distribuidos. Sus conversaciones realmente interesan y entregan mas profundidad al mundo.

    El sistema de combate es muy divertido y complejo. Tiene similitudes con Into The Breach, donde los movimientos enemigos están telegrafiados y cada turno se siente como un mini puzle, donde al igual que into the breach, a veces la mejor opción no es atacar a lo loco y es necesario calcular el mejor output posible con los datos entregados, los cuales son todos visibles. Facilitándote incluso la información de los daños y estados que hipotéticamente resultarían de tus movimientos.

    Es un increíble Jrpg de estrategia donde el aspecto de estrategia pesa mas que el de RPG, por lo que no existe el grindeo infinito y los combates se solucionan pensando y no con button smashing a pjs OP. Hasta el punto que en la primera Run me fue posible llegar al segundo Boss aun sin ningún tipo de mejora permanente.

    Una vez le encuentras el gusto al combate y aprendes a derrotar oleadas de enemigos sin recibir un apice de daño, no podrás esperar para desbloquear nuevos heroes e intentar nuevas combinaciones. E incluso ahí, seguirás volviendo por más.

    Es un increíble juego completamente recomendado para quienes quieran disfrutar de una experiencia envolvente en la que tu involucramiento en cada combate realmente cuenta. Mas si buscas una experiencia para apretar el botón aceptar mientras ves televisión, no lo recomiendo para nada, pues te será increíblemente frustrante.    … Expand
  8. Metacriticizer
    Nov 2, 2020
    10
    Star Renegades is one of my favorite games this year. The premise is simple, classic turn based RPG combat with some roguelike elements. I am sucker for turn based strategy and turn based tactics games, so this was right up my alley.

    The audio and visuals in this game are stellar. Nice music and sound effects, though one or two more background music pieces would be nice. The graphics    Star Renegades is one of my favorite games this year. The premise is simple, classic turn based RPG combat with some roguelike elements. I am sucker for turn based strategy and turn based tactics games, so this was right up my alley.

    The audio and visuals in this game are stellar. Nice music and sound effects, though one or two more background music pieces would be nice. The graphics are a dream; old school 16 bit style with beautiful animations. Each character and enemy has wonderful color and detail, and their movements are unique and satisfying.

    The gameplay is fantastic. Like I said before, old school turn based RPG combat. It does have some new spins to it; you can interrupt enemy attacks if you plan your attacks appropriately, and you can unlock combo attacks for your characters if you improve their "relationship meter" with each other. There is a sort of minigame that breaks up the combat, where you play cards that give your characters combat boosts. Playing a character's card on another character boosts their relationship, and upon leveling up their relationship enough, you can confer stat bonuses, unlock a combo attack, and in some cases unlock new characters permanently. Speaking of permanently, the roguelike elements of the game involve unlocking new items that then become available in subsequent playthroughs, as well as alternate setups for the characters, providing them with slightly different stats and maybe one or two different abilities. It's lighter than what would be considered a full roguelike in that you can actually beat the game your first playthrough; these upgrades are not necessary for completion. They do make it much easier though. All together, these elements work somehow.

    Another point I want to address is how good the game stability is. There are virtually no bugs. This game released in an excellent state; I played maybe a good 50 hours before encountering one or two audio/visual issues, but nothing that affected gameplay or caused crashing/freezing. The couple of minor bugs that did arise have been patched promptly. This is such a welcome departure from what has unfortunately become the norm in the gaming industry. Too many game developers release games in haphazard states and then halfheartedly fix their crappy games over the course of weeks or maybe even months. I'm looking at you Wasteland 3. The fact that these guys did not do this is so refreshing.

    There are a couple of negatives to Star Renegades. To start, the story is non-existent. The premise is interesting, but beyond setting the stage there is nothing else. This is disappointing for me, because a strong story will keep me invested in a game that is otherwise subpar. Thankfully the gameplay more than compensates for me.

    Another negative is the simplicity of the achievements. They are woefully simple, as in kill this type of enemy a million times, complete the game X times. They are extremely grindy and feel tacked on. I honestly don't give a **** about getting all of a game's achievements, but I do like to go for the ones that seem interesting or challenging. There are none of those here.

    The biggest drawback for me is the game's map. In between fights you navigate around an area map, picking up items and choosing your next battles. At best, the map is fiddly. At worst, it is convoluted and frustrating. It is difficult to actually click to other sections of the map, and for no reason really. Also, as you play through an area, sections of the map become locked. So you have to plan your route as you fight. However, sometimes there are sections of the map that lock without you having any way to access them in the first place, so what's the point of that? Also, you're constantly having to scroll around the map because you can't see the whole thing at once; there isn't even a temporary zoom out feature to get your bearings. I almost reduced my rating by a point just because of the map functionality, or lack thereof.

    Ultimately, I kept my score at a 10 because, despite the obtuse map and lack of story, I have put a good 120 hours into this game, and I will most likely put more hours in. The combat is incredibly satisfying for me; it scratches that turn based combat itch in an undeniably satisfying way for me. If you are a fan of turn based games, if you like SNES style graphics, this game deserves your time.    … Expand
  9. MrLarryBurns
    Nov 4, 2020
    10
    This game is extremely great with some solid pixel art, enjoyable combat, fun gameplay twists and excellent music. Imagine if Slay the spire could have more playable characters and equipment. That's what this is essentially, with another mechanic of being able to stall your opponent's turn to get in more damage while robbing them of theirs. Fun to play, great to master. That, and theThis game is extremely great with some solid pixel art, enjoyable combat, fun gameplay twists and excellent music. Imagine if Slay the spire could have more playable characters and equipment. That's what this is essentially, with another mechanic of being able to stall your opponent's turn to get in more damage while robbing them of theirs. Fun to play, great to master. That, and the writing is pretty funny. I'm kind of sick of games like dead cells trying to have this overly dreary atmosphere, it's droll. This game however, has the kind of whimsy I enjoy. Must buy for rpg enjoyers.… Expand
  10. BerserkWolf
    Jul 10, 2021
    2
    Tiene un buen arte respecto a los gráficos, pero creo que a pesar de su objetivo no inspira esa nostalgia por los juegos RPG antiguos, el sistema de batallas simplemente lo considero diferente pero no crea la fantasía de seguir investigando la historia, es un juego de originalidad admirable pero muy lejos se su cometido RPG
  11. macbodziak
    Nov 3, 2021
    9
    Star Renegades is a great game. A little bit like Darkest Dungeon... in space! The strongest aspect is the combat mechanics. This game features a deterministic turn based combat where you have to plan your moves precisely. The delay and brake mechanics stand out, as you have prioritize whether you want to deal damage or delay your enemy. With runs that take between 6-10 hrs each, this gameStar Renegades is a great game. A little bit like Darkest Dungeon... in space! The strongest aspect is the combat mechanics. This game features a deterministic turn based combat where you have to plan your moves precisely. The delay and brake mechanics stand out, as you have prioritize whether you want to deal damage or delay your enemy. With runs that take between 6-10 hrs each, this game is great if you want to occupy yourself every once in while, as consecutives runs can get a little bit repetitive.

    good:
    interesting, deep and innovative combat mechanics
    beautiful art
    replayability
    customizability of characters via items and traits keeps the game and each run interesting
    -challenging (and sometimes frustrating) difficulty

    bad:
    -first part of the game is not challenging and repetitive (it is a good reminder of the game mechanics if you haven't played in a while though)
    -not all actions are adequately described, so you can be surprised sometimes , which is frustrating in a roguelike where you can not reload    … Expand
  12. Frank-
    Dec 1, 2021
    3
    When buying Star Renegades i first assumed it was going to become a modern classic in my book, i say this as i liked what ive seen in videos and i also had a very positive run with the Rogue lite&like genre, i enjoy the genre as it can often be used as an opportunity to push some deep game play mechanics and to let you master them along the road, seeing as the genre often tends toWhen buying Star Renegades i first assumed it was going to become a modern classic in my book, i say this as i liked what ive seen in videos and i also had a very positive run with the Rogue lite&like genre, i enjoy the genre as it can often be used as an opportunity to push some deep game play mechanics and to let you master them along the road, seeing as the genre often tends to artificially prolong progress.

    Sadly Star Renegades puts far too much emphasis on randomized elements and "the right way" of playing as some team combinations and weapons are close to worthless, this will lead you to sometimes completely lose hope in your run very early on and just zombie your way through. It also doesn't help that you will be looking at the exact same places and music which do become extremely monotonous after a while. The character designs themselves aren't very inspiring and i didn't find a single character that grew attached to. The humor also falls flat as the moment when jokes are made will not necessarily coincide with the time when you're in a jokey manner. Often after dying. The main issue is that you have to grind to unlock better characters and better weapons knowing that there is not a single chance that you will be able to progress more then what the game wants you to. Meaning it breaks the illusion that the genre is so famous for. In games like Dead Cells and Hades raw skill and fast reactions can actually save you from a bad run, not in Star Renegades, if you do not have the "luck" to unlock enough caves or ships to boost your experience you will simply not have the amount of hit points needed to save from being completely decimated by the larger bosses.
    No amounts of understanding how the stagger or break system works will save you from this fact. I really did not enjoy my time with Star Renegades and i almost never say this but i wish i could get my time back to put those into a better title. If you're drawn to this game because of art style or the fact that it is turn based title be aware that this is a game where repetition is not necessarily fun as in other Rogue titles.    … Expand
  13. DJerj
    Jul 1, 2022
    7
    it's a bit too grindy but overall it's still playable and you need some patience as well
  14. hrejt
    Nov 17, 2022
    6
    too bad everything is just kind of flat and nothing really stands out of the game

Critic Reviews

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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. 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.
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  2. 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]
  3. GameCritics
    Dec 8, 2020
    85
    With a fantastic combat system and quality content in all other aspects, Star Renegades is stylish, accessible, and innovative, making it one of the best turn-based roguelikes around.
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