Stars Die

I bought the game because the protagonist is a girl names Dybowski, which I found hilarious. It's little and cheap, and I wasn't expecting much. But the world and mood [i]Stars Die[/i] create were well worth it. It's feels like The End of Evangelion has already happened. "The Hole" — whatever it is — threatens humanity, spreading a lethal disease, consuming matter and seemingly taking in brainwashed "volunteeers." Then suddenly a meat structure appears in the endless sea. A tiny bunch of scientist tries to study it, while you are compelled to come for an unknown reason. So are gavials and pangolins. How did they even get here? What follows is an almost-VN-like chain of small events and dialogues that you can follow and then choose an ending. Secret endings require exploring the meat island itself. It's odd how a game can be so vague about what exactly is happening while making the characters make sense. Their motivations are understandable even if we don't have a full picture of the events. Even Dybowski (snicker) herself — a girl who knows her past but never shares it with the player — can express reasonable skepticism and argue with others. Making a character act somewhat "in medias res", leaning on a motive and context that the player doesn't know, while not feeling random or fully unrelatable, is an admirable display of storytelling. And, well, who doesn't like meat-punk? I know I do. The music is also great, and while I'm not a fan of PS1-like games, I appreciate the overall style. What's undortunate is that none of your actions before choosing the ending matter and you don't really unlock that much new information by choosing different dialogue options, so replaying the game a bunch of times to see all endings was tedious. Thankfully, it's short. For a cheap short game it's definitely unique and does its own thing well.

I loved it, it's a very heavily narrative and multiple-endings focused game, one that needs multiple playthroughs to fully grasp the story, world and characters (or at least try, it has some ambiguity). It has a lot of dialogue and walking, but the characters are interesting and the map is bizarrely unique. Very recommended, a very memorable experience Esp: Me encantó, es un juego muy centrado en la narrativa y en los múltiples finales, que requiere varias partidas para comprender la historia, el mundo y los personajes (hasta donde se pueda, puede ser algo confuso). Tiene muchos diálogos y bastante caminar, pero los personajes son interesantes y el mapa es bizarramente único. Muy recomendable, una experiencia muy memorable.

[i] Related games: Outer Wilds, The Forgotten City [/i] Stars Die has a very strange but interesting world, great aesthetic, decent writing, and huge amount of disrespect for the player. The strange and cryptic world really hooks you in. The characters lack subtlety, but each has its unique attitude towards the mystery of the game - which is largely unexplained, but intrigues you throughout. The low-fi aesthetic, combined with the fleshy colors and textures transport you to another world. The music is mostly absent, but when it does kick in, you feel it. And then there's the actual game. I've read the game's biggest inspiration is Pathologic, which I have not played (yet). But it is similar to things like Outer Wilds and The Forgotten City, if much much simpler. The game has its own "timeline", during which you can interact with the various characters and decide on your course of action. Most of this is an illusion, and there is very little choice involved. The game doesn't really have multiple paths; rather, you can pick different dialogue choices that mostly lead to the same place. The game takes maybe 30-45 minutes to complete, and you're supposed to do it multiple times, to see it from all perspectives. I'm totally okay with this, in theory. In practice, this game does a terrible job. 90% of the game is the same every time. No real choice there. You don't get anything different from talking to a different character first. Every step leads to a group conversation. Same thing every time. At the very end, you have choices - which character do you want to follow? Whose actions do you agree with, as a solution (or dismissal) of the central problem/mystery of the game? Well, you talk to the characters, they elaborate on their reasons, you take your pick. Then you get the ending. A mostly static cutscene with a terse line of text every 30 seconds. Maybe 4 lines per ending. They don't explain anything, they don't lead anywhere. There is no cool new idea, no enlightenment, nothing. Just padding. Then there's a secret ending, for your own character. You must look around for some alien looking things hidden in the world. Well, good luck, because the game doesn't really give you opportunities to glimpse them. So you're left "free" to jump try to platform your way into every nook and cranny. This could have been good, if there was more structure to the exploration, hints of reachable places, etc.; and if the platforming was any good. But no. It's janky, if not buggy. If you miss a jump, you'll probably fall all the way down the cliff and have to make your way up again, to try the buggy jump again. If you go through all that, what do you get? Nothing, really. It's another empty ending. This was very frustrating, for me. The game has all the ingredients to be quite special. I really loved the beginning. But it was a bait and switch. There was no pay off whatsoever. Only padding and poorly programmed gameplay. I would have loved to recommend this. It's weird in all the best ways. But it feels like it was abandoned, given a handful of "pretend endings" and put up for sale. OH WELL.

kinda jank indie cosmic horror with great atmosphere and a pretty messy story execution. definitely worth experiencing if it still sounds up your alley and i'm really excited for what else this dev will create. [spoiler] +10 points for having a secret bunny ending, rip denis [/spoiler]

多周目机制太反人类，一模一样的流程要重复四遍才能解锁所有角色的结局，到第三遍的时候失去耐心弃了 但也有优点：末世/异星的氛围塑造不错，地图虽小但因为是立体的所以结构还算复杂，找需要用来开启隐藏结局的道具的过程还挺有趣，不介意无意义重复劳动的话可以随便玩玩

weord

Visualmente es increíblemente único. No sé si logré cazar toda la historia pero fue bastante interesante y me hizo sentir al menos un poco de esa crisis existencial que busca el terror cósmico. Hay varios finales pero no sé si tengo ganas de jugarlo otra vez pronto, ya que la mayoría es solo caminar y leer, pero creo que vale la pena.

10

Played this one a couple of years ago and it's still living in a corner of my head rent free. Cool trippy retro-style visuals, and an actual cosmic horror plot written by someone who clearly understands what cosmic horror is really about. It's worth replaying for all endings (even the super secret one, although I did have to check a walkthrough for that...)

Do it for Denis