Steredenn

 Xbox One
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. Windows Central
    May 27, 2016
    90
    It's a wickedly fun arcade shooter that is very reminiscent of retro arcade games, which should be up the alley of plenty of people.
  2. ICXM
    Apr 11, 2016
    90
    A tidy little indie blessing, with the currently popular pixel style, a variety of attack styles and a sound track that will have you wind-milling in no time.
  3. XboxAddict
    Jul 13, 2016
    85
    A must play for fans of the genre.
  5. Vandal
    Apr 17, 2016
    80
    Steredenn is a great shoot 'em up with a classic feeling and a modern twist.
  6. IGN Spain
    Apr 11, 2016
    80
    A game capable of bringing back the shine of the shoot'em up genre, but still far from being perfect.

Awards & Rankings

51
#51 Best Xbox One Game of 2016

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 11 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 11
  3. Negative: 2 out of 11
  1. Broyax
    Apr 10, 2018
    0
    L'indé à deux balles du jour coûte 13 balles TTC, ce qui constitue une arnaque qualifiée pour un tel étron en 4 couleurs. Non seulement en 4L'indé à deux balles du jour coûte 13 balles TTC, ce qui constitue une arnaque qualifiée pour un tel étron en 4 couleurs. Non seulement en 4 couleurs mais en plus de mauvais goût à tous les étages, à croire que le jeu a été conçu entièrement dans une poubelle.

    C'est la foire aux pixels gros comme le poing, que l'on peut compter un à un à la main : 13 balles pour un jeu en VGA, que même gratuit on en voudrait pas. Même pas sûr que si on me filait 13 balles, je consentirais à "jouer" à cette débilité de jeu imbécile qui consiste à tirer sur des **** tas informes de pixels. M'étonne pas que cette daube ait fini sur le Game Pass. Si tu tartines pas le boss, tu recommences tout au début, comme un con.

    Putain, même l'antédiluvien Galaga lui met une mandale en termes de "direction artistique" et créativité, c'est dire l'étendue des dégâts. A noter que cette "chose" est française et un exemple frappant du Merde in France à oublier fissa.    … Full Review »
  2. Troublewalking
    Jun 24, 2016
    7
    Great game, for a great price. Great for an hour of mindless fun, once in a while.

    I love the music, the space shoot up thing is nice. The    Great game, for a great price. Great for an hour of mindless fun, once in a while.

    I love the music, the space shoot up thing is nice. The 16 bit graphics are nicely done. The fact it has only one difficulty level and apparently no co-op (that I have found) let it down. It has a save feature though I have yet to see why, as if I die, I automatically start from the beginning. I guess it saves your top scores? That's fine, if your into leaderboards. Which I am not.

    If the game only had difficulty levels and local co-op, it would be a top draw. As it stands it is great if you want an old school frantic shooter for an old school price.    … Full Review »
  3. GBHBL
    Apr 20, 2016
    5
    Steredenn, in the words of the developer, is a frenetic and chaotic space shooter, carved in big beautiful pixels with insane boss battles.Steredenn, in the words of the developer, is a frenetic and chaotic space shooter, carved in big beautiful pixels with insane boss battles. Embark in your ship and engage the fight against dreadful space pirates in a never-ending combat for your survival. The game is fast, addictive, hard and action-packed.
    Some of that rang true for me. It is quite beautiful and pretty fast but mostly, it is just hard. Frustratingly so.

    Steredenn seemed like a strange name but a little research shows that it is actually a translation from the language Breton which is spoken in Brittany in France and loosely means Stars (though Steredenn is the singulative). The game is brought to us by Pixelnest Studio who are a French company based in Rennes. They have a little history on PC and Steam in the shoot-em up (shmup) arena though this is their first venture to current gen consoles.

    Like many of the “indie” games that have arrived in recent times, the game is quite beautiful to look at. It seems the lack of funds available to these smaller guys forces them to look for alternative ways to make their game look good such as hand drawn, painted or, as in the case of Steredenn, an arty pixel style. It looks good though and is just pixelated enough to make it look retro without ever feeling retro while the backgrounds a big, bright and full of colour. The game loads quite quickly and you definitely get the feeling that they have gone for a very basic, uncluttered, less is more game here. There is a small menu with just a few options and the smallest of tutorials with very little back story. That back story is what you would expect – you are the pilot of a spaceship and are in training (the tutorial) when you come under attack and start the game. That is your lot but to be fair, there is little point in a story in a game like this especially as there are no really obvious breaks in levels to further that story. Training teaches you to move up, down left and right and how to fire your main weapon as well as switch to and fire your secondary weapon. That is it for the controls so it really is a simple game to pick up and play.

    Steredenn works sort of like an endless runner game. There is no real end and no real levels and instead you work across this infinite loop which is broken up by boss battles. The levels are mostly randomly generated though after enough time playing, you will start to notice slight patterns in the generation. To try and add a bit more excitement to the game within each section and before you hit a boss there are certain types of enemy drop ships that, when destroyed, drop a new weapon. These drops are random and you can choose whether or not to pick it up as they are not always of benefit. The weapons are pretty cool. You start off with a standard blaster that shoots a stream of bullets directly out in front of you and can upgrade through many weird and wacky alternatives from the standard shotgun, rocket launcher, 3 way and 5 way blaster through to weapons that turn your ship into a giant saw, clamp or give you a huge laser. Generally the best weapon to have depends on the section of the game you are in and that makes it really difficult as the drops are random. You could be really struggling with your blaster, get a weapon drop, pray for a long range laser but get a saw.

    As well as weapon power ups, you do also get the chance to upgrade your ship once you beat a boss. The fragments he leaves behind turn in to a set of power ups of which you get to choose just one. There are a fair few of them such as a couple extra health points, an increase in power, and an increase in laser energy or even in increase in the power of a weapon though make sure you actually have that weapon first. I remember choosing to have powerful rockets a couple of times before realising it doesn’t give you rockets, you have to already have them to make it powerful.

    Sounds like a great game right? Well, maybe not. Here is the problem I have. The game is hard but not hard to the point of being challenging. It is hard to the point of being extremely difficult for the casual market (maybe even for the non-casual market). As far as I can see there are around 10 bosses to face to complete a single loop of the game and start back at section 1 and so far, with hundreds of attempts, I have never beaten the 3rd boss. I have never even come close to beating him. I would say, if I have played this game 100 times then I have made it to the 3rd boss three times before being obliterated, beaten the second box maybe 10 times and beaten the first boss maybe 20 times. In fact, in the majority of games I have played of Steredenn I have died long before reaching the second boss. The game demands luck and demands perfection. There are no health pickups and no healing. To heal, you need to make it to a boss, survive him and then you start the next section with full health and repeat.    … Full Review »
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