Starseed Pilgrim

Video games are just amazing, and [i]Starseed Pilgrim[/i], even in 2024, remains a unique experience among them. It consists of eight types of colored starseed blocks, each with different properties, and a pilgrim building a world out of these. Yet it can evoke emotions of curiosity, puzzlement, loneliness, clarity, hope, determination, fear, anger, stress, relief, isolation, despair, self-doubt, euphoria, and pride. That’s more emotions than there are basic building blocks!

Confusing waste of time. Not recommended.

I feel like this is only really appreciated by those who consider videogames to be more art than actual games. If you're the kind of person who is drawn in by the lofty bar of expectations that reviewers and critics have set for this game, looking for them to be subverted in mind blowing ways by just how deep everyone says it is, I would reconsider. It is not a bad game by any stretch. It has rules, you make visible progression, you unlock new things, you discover mechanics. The game largely leaves you to figure it out by yourself, so if you're someone who gets frustrated by having zero direction, I'd immediately say this isn't for you. I personally love games that show instead of tell and respect my ability to discover things by myself. I also like puzzle games, platforming games, games where your progression is meaningfully demonstrated and has meaningful impact on how you play. I also love games that make you think and subvert your expectations. So why don't I like this game? Simply put, it's incredibly bare, asks for a lot of your time and gives little in return. The mechanics you discover are simple and you'll spend a decent amount of time figuring them out in, what I consider to be, a pretty joyless trial-and-error process. You spend a good amount of time not understanding anything, then when you do start to understand it and actually applying your knowledge, the perceived randomness of some blocks grates on you when trying to reach specific places and set up specific things. And when you do succeed and manage to 'explore' more, you learn that you have to repeat that exact process to continue. And then when you do reach somewhere new, it's the same thing but very slightly different and more difficult. The unlocks aren't groundbreaking, the secrets are dissatisfying. There's no moment-to-moment fun in the platforming mechanics and I don't feel smart for completing the puzzles, I just feel relief. If I'm coming across incredibly vague, it's so I don't spoil the things that high and mighty game critics consider to be spoiler worthy. I will say that, as someone who enjoys the things that many people praise this game for, I was thoroughly underwhelmed when I gave up and looked up what all the secrets were because I was so done. I really don't think it is worth pushing through to see, if I am completely honest. But that is just one man's opinion. All in all, this is definitely one of the videogames of all time. I can't really say a lot about it other than what disappointed me about it because of all the rave reviews and recommendations. I would say if you really want to play it, ground your expectations and you'll probably get a kick out of it. It's a very lean puzzle game with some simple mechanics that, given enough time, are easy to understand and provide you with a somewhat meaningful sense of player progression alongside its smaller unlockables. There's not really a whole lot more to say about it without [i]"spoiling"[/i] things.

This feels like a game jam game, as such probably around 500% overpriced. Like, I had to change the volume of the game in windows mixer settings o.0. I personal expect more polish from a game that is being sold.

Do the game. The game does you. Pretension is cool. Actually, this is quite a neat little puzzle game which figuring out the mechanics for is a lot of fun. Very colourful, and good sound too. Can get quite addictive as you begin to figure out what you're doing.

Too much randomness, not enough variety in the seeds. The sound (though simple) is cool, and the lack of explanation does make for an interesting first few minutes. But ultimately it doesn't ever really lead anywhere.

Brilliantly done game. I think the learning curve on this game is a little too steep for most. But it's brilliantly simple (for a game that I admit I haven't beaten, yet). All the :thumbs up:

Don't understand

I love this game, it is truly a great game.

I don't know why I didn't do this many years ago, so apologies for not reviewing it when I should. In any case, Starseed Pilgrim is one of my favorite games ever. The joy of figuring out its rules and exploring its systems in a playful, joyful way (sympohonic garden!) was unparalelled at the time and it's still one of those rare games that follows this ethos. We need more games like this one. And, by the way, I loved the ending too. To keep it short: play Starseed Pilgrim. This is a special game.