Starlair

I feel a little bad saying this about what's a smaller indie game. But it feels like it's still Early Access and needs a ton more work and polish before it's worth buying. A few issues I had: 1. No controller support. Doing the sidescrolling Metroid action on planets is really bad with keyboard, and they should've known that anyone checking this game out on Steam is going to want to use a controller for that part. 2. Pretty bad physics/gameplay in the sidescrolling part of the game. Most games of this type give you better control over your movement in air. Particularly if you're jumping and moving backwards, the slow movement feels bad. Even if that's intentional, all it really does is give bad comparisons to other stuff in the genre. 3. Amateurish graphics. This is something that also really needs to be addressed. Everything looks like it was part of some free pixel art collection from an old Flash game with no sense of style. I'd expect the sprites in this game as placeholders, but again, it's not Early Access. 4. The UI needs a ton of work. There's no minimap to help you avoid constantly pausing to check your exploration, the big map itself gets loaded with icons that are hard to read, there's no feedback on how to open a few kinds of doors... I'd say this is at best 50% of the way to what a good, functional UI should be. The bones are there to make something good, but right now it's way too flawed to recommend playing it. The build mode is great, though, so once they make it so it's actually fun to explore planets, this could be a fantastic game.

Dreaming of creating Worlds? Want others to visit it? Want others to PLAY it? 2D old Schoolplattformer? Metroidvania Style? Then welcome to STARLAIR! A whole Universe with many Planets is waiting for you. Planets made by other Players. Where do you like to go? It´s up to you. Will you you find an easy Jump and Run Planet or will you enter a Bullett Hell. Who knows? https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3481553787 STARLAIR is a 2D Action Plattformer a classical Sidescroller. Part Metroidvania, Part Turrican Style. As a Bounty Hunter you visit Planets and take on them. Jumping, Shooting, getting Loot for Upgrading your Character and Ship. Yes, your Ship. In the other Part of the Game you are flying through Space, finding other Planets or something interesting. Also there are different Kind of Weapons you sometimes not only Need for Harder Enemies but also for destroying harder Walls. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3481554028 As written before, the Heart of the Game are the Planets created by Players. The World Creator is nice done and easy to learn. All you Need to create your very own Dreamworld. Create or Play, or do both! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3481554312 The Graphics are very nice done, giving good old Retro Vibes and that goes also for the Sound. I played the Game with Mouse and Keyboard. The Main Configuration, woah, please no. Thanks God you can redefine Keys and Mousefunctions and after that it worked very good for me. The Physics can be a Little bit better, that goes for me for the Jumping but it worked and it is fun. Thanks for the Dev for the Invite, it is a really cool Game and Idea. Thanks. :-) And thank YOU for Reading. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/26335619-Adult-World-Gamers/] This review is presented to you by the Claws of the Wyvern for the AWG Curator! We would be happy if you visit and follow us. You`re always welcome. [/url]

I really wanted to like this. Unfortunately, the moment I started, I experienced the depressing controls and had to peace out. Now, dear reader, you may think think that when I say "the controls are depressing" that I may mean "these controls are too hard waah waah." I'm with you, I think a lot of people say "controls bad" as a placeholder for "I have a skill issue and am insecure about it." But trust me when I say that I wouldn't even want to play a newgrounds game in 2002 with controls this bad. The jumping feels terrible. The gunplay is awful. Nothing about this grabs me. A game like this should have tight controls and combat to start with. You don't design this whole user-created ecosystem and THEN say that you'll make the movement enjoyable later, like StarLair does. If the controls were improved and tightened with more engaging combat, I would recommend this game. But I think it might be too late for the dev to change the controls. There's already a ton of user-generated content that is out there with the assumption that players have certain limitations. I just don't know how this game could ever be fixed. But hey, maybe I'll be surprised.

I just wanted add a few things after playing the game extensively for 50+ hours. The game depends on player created levels. So if you are interested in the level creation part of the game (which is very extensive), you should defiantly buy this game now (Feb 2025), However if you are more interested in playing the levels and experiencing the story, wait a month or two. It's August 2025 and content is still sparse. Seems like the developer abandoned it.

A Metroid fans dream! make your own levels and music even your own character! it plays great! 9/10

This game is fantastic! Even if you aren't into the World Making bit, it's fun to play. This have potential for a lot of fun worlds made by the community. And the space travel between them is mind blowing. I just hope they don't decide to add in a Black Hole to avoid while flying, cause that would freak me out! These graphics are awesome. It's still in early access, so I'm hopeful for more in the future. One thing though, and it could be on my end, but I'm not sure as to my knowledge I've scoured the options list. I find myself having to use the left stick to move, and in a side scroll platfomer that tends to get annoying, at least to me. I prefer D-Pad in this type of game. Left stick works nice for the flying through space part, but not while trying to run, duck and jump. Aside from that I love the game. You basically make your own worlds out in a seemingly endless galaxy that looks just beautiful. As for the Level Editor part, that's a blast as well. You have a lot of options to choose from, and just wait to you see the grid. Yikes! I dare someone to make a world using all of it! Well worth the money to me. Twenty bucks used to be a night at the arcade a long long time ago.

This is an awesome game. It is easy to get lost building your own world, but take time to play and explore worlds created by others. Cool space exploration between planets and definite potential for the game to grow. It is still early going, but there is so much more to come. You can tell the devs have been very passionate about making this work and more improvements and stuff coming to make it an even better experience.

I liked being able to make your own thing and I LOVED the updates and I still do!

I really wanted to recommend this one day but Shooty doesn't seem to care about people's lairs. He keeps making "little" changes that completely alter how things play and look, destroying old challenges and designs and just keeps going without warning. -- For example, you used to be able to duck under two tile spaces and instead of building on that, Shooty has made some old lairs unbeatable instead. A lot of bosses were designed around the lingering damage of certain projectiles but he removed that too so now they're extremely easy. It doesn't even make sense because now all the bosses projectile options do the same thing, some just being slower. There also used to be a difference between jumping while standing still and while moving, the standing one going a little higher. Many platforming sections were designed around this unique mechanic and now it's just gone. -- To me it just seems like he doesn't care for the legacy works at all, and I doubt any new lairs will be safe from this either. So if you do decide to build in Starlair, just be aware those rooms you spent hours on might not look like they used to or even function properly one day. And I don't get it either. Most people requested more items, monsters and bosses and got anything but. -- I also hate how he's changed some of the lighting. Shooty had to go through a lot of old dungeons to make them playable again (after a very long time) but he hasn't made most changes accurate to what they once were. And the way the light bends around corners from the save stations and does not capture the ambience it used to. In fact, it looks terrible. I told him this and just got completely ignored. And for some reason the decorations in some old dungeons got messed up too but who cares, right? -- Won't lie though. I still like the pixel art style, the music and all the options. It had so much potential and maybe it still does, but I'm not holding my breath. -- Also, I have like 500 hours on more play time on the Switch but that one hasn't got the new updates yet, which is actually not Shooty's fault. Nintendo deserve the blame for that one entirely. They wouldn't let him update his game until the Switch 2 came out. Says a lot about that company, doesn't it -_- -- edit: Also also, this game used to be about exploring galaxies, collecting minerals and flying to planets, All of it gone! Those thousands of minerals I collected and the relics page? That progress has been wiped out. Replaced with a flat star map and mini shoot 'em up levels that can easily be ignored if you know the dungeon ID's or keep flicking through new galaxy maps. --- Since the replacement is a niche repetitive grindy simple shmup challenges, don't expect your progress to last forever in that either. Shooty seems to flip on a dime and just get rid of things entirely instead of improving them.