Recent reviews by Sythric

I played about 70 hours on Game Pass before purchasing the game on Steam and transferring my save.

Save Transfer Guide: Here (Link is broken due to steam censoring, replace the hearts with the numbers one, four, eight, eight)

Easily one of my top games of all time - The story is phenomenal and kept me glued to my PC from beginning to end, and is backed up by some of the best world design, gameplay, and OSTs that I've ever seen.

The passion that the developers have obviously poured into the game make this, and hopefully all subsequent Clair Obscur games, must-plays.

Single-player Plate Up, but it takes far too long for the difficulty to start ramping up. If you're used to the chaotic fast pace of a game like Plate Up, this game will feel extremely slow. That being said, it's still a fun game!

Fun little game that's good for passing the time. I'm excited to play more but wanted to drop a quick review to counteract the negative review from that guy who doesn't know what multiplayer means. <3

I want to start by saying that I clearly put some time into this game, and I do believe that it is on the VERY EDGE of recieving a recommendation. The bugs and obvious mission features need to be worked out.

• Tactical Combat - Although it still isn't perfect, the combat sections of the game are actually very entertaining. Ships can be outfitted with various modules and upgraded to your liking. Whether your ships are damage sponges with devastating firepower, carriers that can launch numerous fighters at the enemy, or insanely fast scout ships with cloaking abilities to get behind enemy lines, you're going to need to use some strategy and use your surroundings to your advantage. If caught in the open, you can withstand critical hits, which need a turn to be repaired and leave you vunerable to attack.
  
• Wonders - On each planet that you capture for your federation, you will recieve the option to create a wonder, such as stealth torpedos, 360 degree shielding, and systems that can withstand critical hits. These can open new strategies and may influence how you build your ships.
  
• Mission Variety - Missions aren't always simply "Kill the baddies before they pimp slap you to death". While travelling to different planets to increase your federation's influence, you will often encounter missions that require you to escort civilian ships, maintain control of bases, and destroy stealth fighters that conceal themselves in the shadows. While the missions to gain influence may often seem boring and pointless, it is often made up for by the epic battles between two warring federations. These final battles as you attempt to capture homeworlds (or defend yours from an assault) often made me feel like I was actually doing something halfway important. Instead of a 30 second mission where I blow up a fighter squadron, I was spending 30-40 minutes thinking about where to put my ships, which enemy ships to take out first, and how to evade my own destruction as masses of enemy battleships closed in on my carriers.

• The UI/Graphics - The UI... isn't great. At all. On top of the UI size being suited for an iPad and not a monitor, the graphics are just.. ugly. This game looks like something I would've had on my phone two or three years ago.
  
• Victory Conditions - I don't know what 2K was thinking by letting this slide. At the start of the game you are given five settings for victory conditions. You can enable Domination, Population, Wonder, Science, or all of these. Now you would think that enabling one of these would make it so that it is the only possible winning condition. The sad part is that the condition you set only applies to yourself. You can set the condition to domination, and after 3 or 4 hours of playing (the normal time for an epic sized map with a lot of opponents) a random opponent will win with a wonder victory out of nowhere. This leads in to my next point...
  
• Endgame - Nothing. Unlike most other Sid Meier games I've played, and hell, any strategy game I've played (which is a lot, don't be fooled by my Steam library), you are not allowed to proceed with the game after there is a victor. Instead you are presented a population chart (no other options) that lacks any type of accurate scale. I could have 100mil population, and an opponent with 9mil is above me for some odd reason. If you happen to win, you'll have the pleasure of watching a generic video about how you're some fabulous leader and now there's a thousand years of peace. Clearly lacks any effort.

Going into Starships, I was expecting almost a complete reskin of Sid Meier's Pirates!, which, in my honest opinion is a FANTASTIC game. I expected being able to customize my ships with my own names, specialized guns, and maybe even some visuals. I also expected to be able to play the game after a victory. I wanted to feel like I was actually the captain of a fleet, but sadly I didn't get that feeling. Although I didn't get what I expected out of Starships, I do believe that it was worth the $15 that I purchased it for. With a few updates and various tweaks, I honestly think that this could be a fantastic game. Now I'm clearly not expecting an overhaul of the entire combat system or the graphics, but at least add "one more turn", a more varied diplomacy system, and work out some of the minor bugs.

The Final Verdict: