DreadStar: The Quest for Revenge

[quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]Follow our curator page: [b]IndieGems[/b] if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.[/url][/quote] Classic arcade-style shoot-em-up games are rather challenging and rely on pattern-learning and proper execution. [i]DreadStar: The Quest for Revenge[/i] follows in suit with a few short levels and varied bosses to keep the game feeling rather fresh at every point. Three different difficulty options are available for each stage, progressively unlocked. The game does give a bit more leniency from the traditional shoot-em-up game with its leveling-up system and purchasable ship-modifications that are sometimes needed to get the player over the hump. [h1]The Short Game[/h1] The game only has 6 stages, with one unlocking after another during your first time running through. There are unique bosses in every stage, one mid and one final boss, except for the final stage, which just has one boss. The final stage is the shortest, while the others are comparable in length. Nothing is particularly long. The only time you would have a drawn-out level is if you take a long time getting through the bosses, otherwise things you don't kill just move out of the way at a steady pace. There is not much of a story, just like the classic arcade game, where you get a few lines and off you are killing bunches of enemies. This is the same and the game even offers a happy ending if you are careful in looking for clues on how to get it. For me, it was playing and replaying until I found out how to do it. [h1]The Crutch[/h1] Unlike other shoot-em-ups, you will have 0 in-level upgrades/power ups. Instead you will gain experience to level up, giving you points to allow you some permanent stat boosts. Your experience will accumulate whether you live or die through the mission, so you can just keep dying in the beginning and be able to accumulate enough for a few simple upgrades to get you through if you are stuck. The leveling up does get harder requiring more experience later on, so the process slows down. In addition, you can visit RedBeard's to purchase a bunch of different build-altering weapons, shields, engines, hulls, and special items. All of these are permanent purchases and do not ever need replacement. Your hull does get damaged so you will need to repair between battles, unless you buy a self-repairing model. I relied on the level-up stat boosts and the shop purchases heavily to make it through the game, especially the Betelgeuse level on Brutal difficulty. I won't try to count how many times I died testing different builds and trying to find the best one for this level/difficulty combination. One thing to really keep in mind if you are short on money [spoiler]is that if you have an auto-repairing hull, you can farm in-game currency by playing and just warping out of a level if you cannot make it to the end. If you take damage, your hull will repair itself instead of needing to be repaired. This may come in handy for those who have trouble getting past certain sections and just need some extra money to buy the upgrades needed.[/spoiler] Another trick I learned (along the same lines) [spoiler]is that the shop will readily buy back anything you are not using at full-price, so you can recycle items/money at 0 losses, especially with a self-repairing hull.[/spoiler] [h1]The Achievements Grind[/h1] Most of the achievements will unlock as you play, but the level 30 and level 40 achievements I had to grind for after completing the whole game on all difficulty levels and then just playing on for experience points and level-ups. I only found out towards the end that you can tune the experience-gain up to 150% in the options menu, so that could have helped me get through the final grind a bit easier. As for the Mega Happy End achievement, you just need to pay a little bit of attention and eventually you will see how. [h1]Controls[/h1] You can remap controls on your keyboard or controller. I used a controller to play the game, and I used my mouse in-between levels. The controller moves the mouse cursor instead of preset selections, making the between-level upgrading/shopping a bit awkward. [h1]Graphics[/h1] Nice pixel art and quite unique levels to give a fresh feel in each part of the game. You can play with the retro-style scanlines in place as well to get even more of that arcade feel. [h1]Music & Sounds[/h1] Music got a bit repetitive, especially playing some levels on repeat many times trying to get through. The sound effects are too loud and jarring at times, especially those from the secondary weapons. [strike]There is not a separate sound effects volume adjustment, only one for overall volume and a toggle to turn the music off. Hopefully this will be fixed soon.[/strike] [h1]Audience[/h1] Traditional shoot-em-up fans will definitely have a good time with this game. Though everyone's experience will vary based on experience with this type of game. It started off for me seemingly rather difficult even on the normal difficulty, until I realized that I could take advantage of the two tips I provided above, and the game flowed better. I would say that in terms of difficulty, it's moderately difficult if you want to get through all of the sectors on the most difficult settings. [h1]Pricing[/h1] $9.99 US seems a bit much for a game that has only 6 levels, each one taking a handful of minutes. It took me about 4 hours of intermittent playing to get through the normal difficulty, with many deaths and warping out, trying to use different builds to advance. Overall it took me a little under 14 hours total to grind through the last of the achievements. (I didn't know about the experience gain slider in the options until I had already finished.) [h1]Conclusion[/h1] [i]DreadStar: The Quest for Revenge[/i] is a pretty fun shoot-em-up with challenging levels that requires you to learn the patterns and use your best judgement to get through. Or you can stumble through it like me through a lot of trial-and-error and repeatedly failing, resulting in enough experience gain that I could upgrade my stats and move on. The game could use some improvements and I did find a couple of bugs that were sporadically appearing, but since the levels are so short, I didn't mind resetting and redoing things as needed. [strike]The biggest thing for me that I wanted to see was a simple sound effect volume adjustment that's separate from the music volume.[/strike] (fixed) A lot of times when I was chatting with friends while playing and Shift+Tab to the Steam overlay, I saw a lot of lag and unresponsiveness, sometimes it was difficult to return to the game from there. So just be aware of that, you might want to avoid the Steam overlay while playing this game. It was fun for me overall, but your experience will definitely vary. It's not for everyone, that's for sure. But check it out if you are looking for some old-school shoot-em-up action and feel. Score: 7/10 [quote]I received the product for free. I did not receive any compensation to write this review. The opinions represented here are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way.[/quote]

[quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/6142328/][b]Like this Review? Follow The Cpt Froggy Club Curator Page for plenty more![/b][/url][/quote] DreadStar: The Quest for Revenge ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dreadstar is a classic arcade-style, top-down shooter, bringing in a great classic taste of arcade gaming with a modern touch. With having played very few arcade shoot‘em ups, I was very excited to get into this game. Most arcade games that I have interacted with while growing up had a general idea of a plot/story arc associated with them, but nothing to elaborate on. Therefore, Dreadstar turned out to be a good refresher for me with its unique and classic style of a plot, revolving around a son’s revenge for his father. Gameplay: As soon as you finish with the intro, you will be thrown right into combat. Seeking revenge, you’re only goal is to shoot everything that moves. The base gameplay is simple but intense; I would urge you to change all of the keys assigned to your preference as per your comfort. The gameplay is intense and you will need to be comfortable with the controls to rack up a good score. As a spacecraft pilot, you will be controlling both the ship and its weapon systems. In this game, you will be operating three different weapon systems at a time with all of them assigned to different keys. Right off the bat, you will be given three Vulcan cannons to operate. At the early stage of the game, these Vulcan canons can rain down devastating firepower upon the enemy. A well-balanced rate of fire with a good DPS, the only downside being that the side-mounted canons get heated up and need to be given a second to cool down. Even a second in this game can be devastating, so better to get out of the way of enemy fire while your canons are being cooled. As you progress, you earn experience and in-game currency, which you can utilize in the in-game store called – RedBreads Burrow. Here you can upgrade your craft for much-needed armor, shield, firepower, and upgrades. The game is divided into sectors; there are currently six playable sectors in-game with not much room to expand. You will be able to get into newer sectors and return to older sectors as you clear each one. Each sector will bring in a few new sets of challenges. As I mentioned earlier, you will need to be comfortable with your controls to be able to handle these challenges. The volume of attacks increases at a good pace, so be prepared for that. Early on, you won’t have much defensive capability and little to no armor. The best form of defense would be to get out of the way! As the volume of attack and enemy ships intensifies, you need to get your finger to keypresses response right. You will die, and you will die a lot in this game, but do not feel discouraged; as you die, you can go back to Redbeard for upgrades or a totally new ship. You will also be able to equip your ship with special items and shields for added benefit in the battles. World design: Classic arcade-style world design, with few yet well-implemented colors. As you go through sector to sector, you will get to experience unique retro space environments. Quite a few minor effects, items, and elements make this game look unique and immersive. But to enjoy these you will need to slow down and take a breath; look past the crowded space around you. Sound effects: Decent selection of sound effects. While they did not really resonate with me, my elder brother, a retro game aficionado, seemed to appreciate it. Not the background music, however; it didn’t go well with the game and became repetitive really quickly. Considering all aspects of the game, I must say Dreadstar turned out to be a unique experience for someone who hasn’t had much arcade experience. Couldn’t really compare with something classic or original but I do appreciate what I just played through. The gameplay is certainly not for everyone; it's intense and it's grindy which not everyone will appreciate. It’s definitely for hardcore arcade lovers out there. Also, something that should be considered is that the game is pretty short, although constantly dying and retrying took a good amount of time. Positives: + Decent plot + Fun intense top-down shoot’em up + Decent amount of upgrades + Good volume of enemies + Decent sound effects + Cool pixelated environment + The game is divided into six sectors Negatives: - Repetitive music - Needs mouse sensitivity settings - Difficult for beginners - Short game A great tip of the hat to old school arcade games, with the added features of modern PC gaming. 7/10 Key provided by the developer/publisher for review purposes. Any opinions expressed are entirely my own! [quote][url=https://www.zeepond.com/reviews][b]READ EPIC REVIEWS FROM “THE CPT FROGGY” AND MATES, UP NOW ON ZEEPOND, THE HOME OF THE ALMIGHTY FROG![/b][/url] [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/thecptfroggyclub#curation][b]FOLLOW THE CPT FROGGY CURATOR PAGE HERE[/b][/url][/quote]

This game is designed to be tedious and grindy. It looks like Tyrian, but it's nothing like it. Where Tyrian has dozens of fast paced exciting levels, which always allow for plenty of customization inbetween, this game has 5 zones. And you're encouraged to warp out if you can't finish a zone without dying, to keep the crystal you just grinded. (which doesn't unlock the next zone) So get ready for grinding through the same zone over and over and over. Also you can only repair your ship (which you need to do all the time) at a special hub that's in another zone. And it's also the merchant, and you can't access your inventory at the merchant. So get ready for warping there and back again, over and over and over. This is all by design, btw. The dev insists that this is the desired balance of the economy and ship progression. The visuals are lovely, the music is fine, but the game itself is awful. (also arcade sticks don't work out of the box, you need JoyToKey)

Tyrian with better graphics, but with less weapons and stages. I'm just a causal gamer and i beat it in a few hours. I would recommend it if there were some replay value like some things to unlock or hidden ship upgrades, but for $15 I was expecting a little more.

[h1]Ver1.05[/h1] 死亡時にGemを残せるようになり、稼ぎやすくなりました。 [h1]ある程度育ててみて[/h1] [b]神ゲーでした[/b] FOCUS MODE:OFF GEM DROP:150% これを推奨 3-Way取りましょう ここまで育ててみた https://youtu.be/2KDeFIweihM 想像がつくと思いますが、このステージはこの装備を使おう！というロックマン的な楽しみがあります ほとんどのSTGで最強の状態が決まっているんですよね このゲームは装備をすべて揃えてから本当の旅が始まる感じです STGなのにビルドを考える必要があるんですよね [h1]ジャンル[/h1] STG-RPG [h1]システム[/h1] 敵を倒してGEMを獲得 GEMを使ってショップで装備を購入 もしくはリペア レベルアップするとポイントを得られるので、下記の要素をアップグレードすることができる [olist] [*]メインショット 基本はこれで ここをレベルアップしてもレーザーは強化されていない模様？ [*]レフトショット オーバーヒートします 減速します [*]ライトショット オーバーヒートします 減速します [*]ワープ ワープに時間がかかる [/olist] デフォルトではレフトとライトが共に[b]Button 2[/b]に割り当てられている コスト的によろしくない 同時推しで全弾発射できるのでその場合は都合が良いが 減速が嫌な場合はFOCUS MODEをOFFかなあ 死にゲーになっている原因だからなあ [h1]基本的な攻略[/h1] リペアにコストが掛かる以上、攻撃を受ける前に撤退がカギになる 敵を倒してある程度稼いだら被弾する前に逃げる 序盤は機動性がないので厳しい 避けられないです 被弾したらロードする位でいい この初期の作業に耐えられずに投げる人が多いと思われる 序盤に爽快感はまったくなく、地道な作業が必要となる https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2294975990 ただ、Gemがマイナスでもリペアは出来るんですよね 明確なゲームオーバーは無いのかもしれません がんばればいずれは進めるだろう、という感じです STG界のLunatic Dawnだと思えば ほら、序盤は宅配、護衛で地道に稼ぐでしょ？ あんな感じです https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2292922667 RPG要素を前提としており、デフォルトのバランスは非常に悪いのでオプションでパラメータを弄るのもいいと思う 序盤と終盤でまったく評価が変わるであろうゲーム 序盤だけでサムズダウンするのは早計ですね 自分で難易度を下げられますし おもしろい試みであるのでお勧めはしておきます 仙水のようなレベリングをしていますがみんなは普通に進めようね Steam Curator:[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/42097614/]知らないゲ[/url]

When I saw DreadStar, I got a warm nostalgic feeling of DOS gaming (maybe because of the Tyrian?). I downloaded the demo, tried it for a few minutes and bought it instantly. The game doesn't just look fine but it also plays great! The game is hard but fair and every upgrade really makes you feel stronger which is the best thing of DreadStar. Even if you will get beaten often and replay some levels for extra gems, you'll be progressing all along. [b]Beautiful pixel art, nice music, SHMUP full of action and progression, low price...what are you waiting for?[/b]

DreadStar is a French indie shoot-'em-up clearly inspired by Tyrian, with a pretty decent soundtrack. Unfortunately, the dev's idea of Tyrian's RPG-like progression was to only have six stages and a painful difficulty hump near the start, such that you end up having to grind the first level a lot in order to get anywhere, and once you get past the difficulty hump, completing the remaining stages and higher difficulties are all easy. This is not helped by the fact the hardest level is the 4th out of 6, with the last two being very easy in comparison. Meh, not recommended, especially for the price, since most of the game length is made up of grinding rather than content or gitting gud. Play Tyrian or Raptor or Jets'n'Guns or something instead.

Далеко не лучший представитель своего жанра. Я не так много играл в подобные игры, но даже средненькие были лучше этой игры. Разработчик забыл добавить основную фишку таких игр - веселье и скорость. Обычный аркадный шутер с видом сверху. Не предлагает каких-то новых механик, необычной истории и не впечатляет графикой. Единственное, за что можно похвалить проект, так это за чиптюн музыку (очень жаль, что саундтрек не купить). Она потрясная и драйвовая, чего не скажешь о геймплее самих космических разборок. Начнём с того, что в распоряжении у вашего героя корабль с низким уроном и слабой выживаемостью. Чтобы повысить мощность нужны кредиты. Кредиты выпадают из некоторых монстров и за выполнение зачистки уровня. В начале вам трудно будет осилить уровни и вы будете довольствоваться скудными ресурсами. Если ваш корабль уничтожат, то вы не получите ничего, кроме разбитого корабля (да, его нужно ремонтировать). Но есть безопасный вариант - сбежать из уровня с честно нафармленным добром, если жизней осталось совсем немного. Проще говоря, здесь обилие гринда и чтобы пройти игру он не обязателен, если у вас прямые руки и отличная реакция. На что потратить деньги? Оружие (которого не так много на выбор), броня, специальные девайсы (типа дрона, пассивок или бомб), движки или щиты. Вооружение скучное и не впечатляет. В похожих играх на Сеге и то варианты были повеселее. Да ещё и механику нагрева добавили, чтобы уж совсем отбить у игроков желание играть. Каждый из шести уровней можно пройти на трёх уровнях сложности. Никаких новых врагов или различного поведения боссов не предусмотрено, у них просто увеличивается здоровье. Разработчик предлагает людям, которые столкнулись с гриндом и не особо хотят заморачиваться, в настройках включить увеличенный шанс выпадения денег, но это особо погоды не делает. Скучные уровни. Скучное оружие. Не рекомендую покупать, даже для ознакомления.

Excellent game. Great take on one of the oldest genres. The upgrade system definitely lessens any sense of grind and repetition that goes hand in hand with shoot-em-ups. Also, the music is spot on. Overall, a tight game that feels just right difficulty wise.

Great pixel art, loving the soundtrack. Really nice job on a challenging shoot 'em up. If you grew up playing games like Raptor: Call of the Shadows, you'll enjoy this.