Stellaren II

[h1]Review with accompanying screenshots and trailer video in Sinical Network[/h1] https://www.sinicalanimenetwork.com/post/stellaren-ii-review [i]Stellaren II[/i] is part visual novel, part dating simulator, part turn-based strategy role-playing game, part dungeon crawler with reaction-based action mechanics, and part horizontal bullet hell shooter. This is [i]ninedux's[/i] third title of the [i]Stellaren[/i] series featuring a male protagonist with a customizable name (John as the default) and two stories in the sci-fi/thriller genre with optional minigames. [h1]Story[/h1] In Rene's story (prologue), it starts with John committing a murder at a starport in the mining colony of Horus after his Neuro was hacked, erasing his memories and allowing the hacker to take control of him. Thankfully, his murder attempt was foiled, and he was apprehended by private investigators employed by Weber Industries, the largest mining corporation on the planet. As the investigators try to piece together the evidence after reprogramming John's Neuro, other terrorist attacks and mysterious disappearances force the investigators to bring John along and see him more as a teammate than a prisoner, and John will also get to know a diverse array of characters. Their investigation leads them to a powerful entity behind a series of abductions, and a desperate bid to rescue a close family member. In Len's story, John is brought onboard as part of Len's team. They embark on an adventure across various planets and space installations to find Len's missing sister, meet some characters from the [i]Stellaren[/i] series, and save humanity itself. [h1]Plot and character development[/h1] The plot is [i]ninedux's[/i] strongest suit with an emphasis on story-driven narrative, mixing the thriller genre with some dating elements in-between. The scriptwriter does an excellent job of combining these two genres by introducing the player to a variety of tense combat situations and having some time off to interact with certain characters and build their affection points without slowing the pacing of the story. Although the visual novel has two routes with one optional romance ending at the time of this review, the affection system and certain storyline decisions can affect the story in terms of whether certain characters would live or die later on with a slightly different script and dialogue. These characters also have a significant background story and relationship with other characters, making the player feel invested in them and giving the player an additional motivation to try out a different playthrough to see how the story would develop if they are kept alive. Thankfully, the developer has published a full walkthrough at the developer website forums to help players with this part. There are some cons though. The protagonist is a faceless male protagonist, and in the dungeon crawling and combat segments, he is relegated to a lamp drone operator role in which the robot is portrayed as his avatar. Besides a short mention that he used to be a researcher at Weber Industries, there is little else to expand on his story. I also noticed some spelling and grammar errors here and there, along with some coarse language. [h1]Artwork and visuals[/h1] The artwork is nice with a small amount of fan service at certain parts of the story. Although this is not the main draw of the game, the portraits and character sprites are attractive enough that I hope this game will consider adding Steam achievements and trading cards in future. Some of the CGs also help to portray the tense and emotional moments in the game well. My only complaint is that the visual novel has very few male artwork sprites compared to female sprites, and only Aris's special move animation in the turn-based strategy segment, Arisgun, looks more impressive. Unfortunately, she will only appear in two battles in the entire story with little else in terms of combat animation. [h1]Audio and sound effects[/h1] The background music and sound effects help to add a degree of immersion to the story, featuring a variety of soundtracks that match the futuristic sci-fi themes in the visual novel. [i]The Rise, The Fall, Cast of Pods[/i] and [i]Light Years Away[/i] are frequently used in the combat segments to bring out the tense moments, while [i]I Don't Want to Do This Without You[/i] and [i]Resolution[/i] help to bring out the touching and emotional moments. In terms of sound effects, I like the sound effects of moving drone robot parts, automatic gunfire, spent shell casings being scattered, and destroyed enemy spacecraft as they add to the tension and thriller aspect of this visual novel. [h1]Minigames[/h1] The minigames are entirely optional with the option to skip it in the Steam or paid Android version without penalizing the player too much. Although there is little incentive to play through the minigames because it does not significantly influence the outcome of the story, and the enemies in the repeateable turn-based strategy battles will scale up according to the party level, I played through all of them without skipping because they are fun enough to play. [h1]Overall thoughts[/h1] After spending close to 30 hours to read the entire visual novel and play through all the minigames without skipping, and another 20 hours to attempt another playthrough with no character deaths after referring to the developer's walkthrough, I feel that the visual novel could have more character romance options and possibly some bonus CGs to increase the replayability because the scriptwriter has put a lot of care and attention to character detail where the character dialogue will properly reflect their near-death experience that it truly feels rewarding to save even a minor supporting character from being killed in the story. Despite some faults in the game such as no option to skip only read text, and the game crashing if I bring up the menu to check on character affection during a dialogue choice, [i]Stellaren II[/i] is an interesting science fiction thriller visual novel with some romance, minigames, and a little fan service that will keep the player interested to see what happens in every chapter and how the story will develop. Hence, I highly recommend this title if you are a fan of the [i]Stellaren series[/i], or you are simply looking for an interesting science fiction visual novel with a thriller narrative that will keep you entertained for many hours at a very attractive price. [h1]Pros[/h1] - Engaging story with good visuals and audio - Guide available - Fun and optional minigames - Very good value for money [h1]Cons[/h1] - Some typo errors and coarse language - Minor gameplay problems [h1]Visual novel, JRPG, Anime Steam group - Join the group and consider following the group's curator list for more reviews or recommended romance visual novels with at least one good ending[/h1] http://steamcommunity.com/groups/vnislife

I have something of a nostalgic connection to the first Stellaren, as it was one of the games that really ignited my passion for VNs. Thus, I'm somewhat biased when talking about this series, but I also genuinely consider its dark sci-fi setting and some of the characters it created to be excellent. Stellaren II picks up some time after the great galactic conflict portrayed in its two prequels, Stellaren and Stellaren: Acrux. It's set on a remote mining colony of Horus, starting with a terroristic attack which the protagonist is forced to participate in (essentially mind-controlled) due to his hacked neural implants. Later down the line the intrigue escalates to literally galactic proportions, linking with main story threads from the original games and concluding their overarching story. I'll stop here when it goes to details, because I really recommend checking out the first Stellaren before going into this game – it's not necessary, but it's worthwhile to experience that story without being spoiled by what is revealed in the sequel. So, what about Stellaren II itself? It has a few issues, the biggest of which is probably the massive number of choices and complicated affection system tracking your relationship with around a dozen characters with little indication on which of them matter and what are your goals. Getting some specific outcomes from this system is really tricky, and you'll likely fail horribly at your first playthrough, getting a bunch of characters killed (even main heroines do not have plot armor). The minigames are kind of a mixed bag – not bad, but particularly ground battles felt dull in the long run and they did get in the way when replaying for different story outcomes, even if they're mostly skippable. Thankfully, the story itself is good enough to make it easy to look past such minor annoyances. It's dark and tense, but also quite cleverly written and with a good dose of humour preventing it from getting too depressing. There were things I liked more in the prequels, like the slightly better-defined protagonist and more multi-dimensional antagonists, but there was plenty to enjoy here, with complex relationships between the characters and frequent plot twists always keeping me interested. Ultimately, I really recommend checking this series to all fans of sci-fi and stories with well-implemented mature themes. Particularily on phones, so dominated by shallow trash, Stellaren was a breath of fresh air and the sequel proves itself worthwhile even on PC. Also, with this kind of pricetag, the value proposition is beyond excellent. ------------- PS If you're interested in quality visual novels, check out [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32980295/]my curator page[/url].

Take my Review with a grain of salt as I havent fully played the game yet, however from what I have seen I can already say that it is worth the price. The game takes place in a sci fi and from what I've seen so far is actually quite interesting. The game also has a lot of choices you have to decide and a point system that shows how friendly you are with the other characters. There also already was a bit of a Detective like moment in the game and there are multiple different minigames that you have to play whilst you finish your playthrough. I have only had the "tactical turn-based strategy" game for now and I have already played for 2 hours which lets me assume that the game is also quite long at least for the price. Overall, it might not be the most polished game and it will surely not be the best you have ever played however for such a low price you wont really find many that are this good so why not if you dont have anything to play or just a bit of money right now then try it yourself :) Check out my Curator Page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34401214/

Underrated visual novel series

Originally finished the entire Stellaren series on mobile. Well worth it and wanted to support by buying Stellaren 2 that was released on steam. This is a very underrated series. Story is intriguing, players becomes attached to the characters and the flow going from each game in the Stellaren series was enjoyable. Art and music is nice. Atmospheric sound is great. This English VN is well worth the money considering also the number of hours you spend on it. I think it was around 15 hours when I played this particular one but take in mind that I am a very fast reader. Looking forward to the new game ninedux is currently making. Keep it up man! Personally, I recommend reading Stellaren, Stellaren: Acrux, before moving to this Stellaren 2 as you really appreciate the story more. They are on mobile for free as well. Enjoy.

Len's Thicc af 10/10

I am in love with this game. It's a huge step up from the first 2 games and I haven't even finished it yet because the Prelude is quite long (Which is good. More story). I've played the previous games and I've played through the prelude of this game on the mobile. I only purchased this game to support the developer because I really love this game and wish the developer to continue creating more masterpieces such as this. Top tier VN. It's best for you to read the first 2 games first on. Story: I'll try to run this through without giving out any spoilers. This game is a sequel to the first 2 games on mobile, Stellaren and Stellaren: Acrux. So far in the Prelude, it's mostly running around Horus and not so much space travel, but that's okay and understandable given how the story progresses. I'm sure the main story has that classic space exploration feel. I'd say the strongest point of this game is how the characters grow and interact with you and each other. The different personalities feel real and you're just drawn to them. Gameplay: Its main focus is the story, so I'm sure a lot of people will not be a fan of the gameplay. Luckily, there's an option to skip the combat if you're not into that. I like em though. The game's quality story and the amount of content you can get for the price is such a steal. I got it on sale at $2. I'd pay more for this content. More than the other VNs on steam out there.

I really love this game. I'm still waiting for the other Stellaren games to be added to steam and i really hope Dux makes a Stalleran 3

Picked up the game as soon as it came out on Steam as I have played the previous Stellaran games that were released on mobile. You do not need to have played those games to jump into this one, but a lot of the backstory of what is happening in the universe, alongside some of the characters that are mentioned, will make more sense if you do, plus I loved those games so I would always recommend them. I have put a number of hours into this game and can see that I still have many more to go. Can definitely say you will get a lot of playtime for this price. As the tags and description mention this is a sci-fi visual novel with choices through the chapters that can impact what happens in game with the many different characters. Some of these decisions are timed so be prepared. I have been greatly enjoying the story so far alongside the characters (MIA is still my favourite girl even though some would say Len is the best.) The art is quite good quality considering the cost of the game, and I especially enjoy the music (would be nice if dux would release the soundtrack for this game as I could listen to it on repeat for quite a while -hint hint-.) On the note of the music and sound effects I would suggest turning them down before you start the story as they can be a bit loud at max volume. There are also several mini-games that you will encounter as you progress in the story that are a nice change of pace from just reading nothing but text. Overall I am definitely enjoying this game and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys sci-fi visual novels, especially given the low cost of the game. I hope to see more great work like this from dux in the future.

Beat it on an emulator before it was released here. I suggest you play Stellaren 1 and then Stellaren Acrux (which can be found on mobile) before jumping into this. Highly recommend giving the series a chance, you won't regret it.