Above the Stars

About

Battle wave after wave of heinous enemy ships. Tackle ruthless foes and fight to defend your planet and species from sure fire destruction. There to keep you company, your ever-upbeat (often inappropriately so) AI assistant, Mac. Deploy a sprawling system of structures across the world to smite your foes Level them up and then upgrade them even further with individual bonuses Empower your ship…

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

87%

Audience ScoreBased on 15 reviews

humor5 positive mentions

grinding3 negative mentions

The game features excellent voice acting and humor, making for an engaging and enjoyable experience.
Despite its short length, the story is compelling and emotionally impactful, surpassing many longer games.
The gameplay is a fun blend of active and idle mechanics, with frequent and meaningful upgrades that keep players engaged.

The game suffers from shallow content and repetitive gameplay, leading to a lack of long-term engagement.
Some mechanics and upgrades are poorly balanced or confusing, which can detract from the overall experience.
There are several bugs and graphical issues that can hinder gameplay, such as skill-tree paths not unlocking.

story
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
60%
The game's story is a standout feature, engaging players deeply despite its short length of under five hours, often surpassing the emotional impact of longer RPGs. While some players found the narrative promising, they felt it lacked depth and resolution, with calls for more character interactions and extended plotlines. Overall, the story is praised for its ability to evoke emotions, though it leaves some wanting more development.
- “Now to the main draw of the game, which has to be the story. For an indie game that is less than 5 hours long, this had me more engaged and invested than most modern-day 30-hour RPGs.”
- “It might not be the most in-depth, but for a story that is so short, it is truly impressive that it was able to make me care about the characters and make me a little emotional.”
- “[*] The Elris storyline would have been good to drag out longer with more interactions, or further, more dangerous races come into play as you progress further.”
- “Even the story and voiceover that start out promising simply end without going anywhere.”
- “The story feels disjointed and lacks the depth needed to keep players engaged.”
- “While the game has potential, the narrative fails to deliver a satisfying conclusion.”
humor
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highly praised, featuring excellent voice acting that enhances both the comedic moments and the compelling narrative. Reviewers highlight the clever, portal-esque humor and overall enjoyable voiceover, making it a standout aspect of the experience.
- “The voice acting is great with some incredibly funny moments throughout while also telling a compelling narrative.”
- “It's an absolute gem, with what surprised me as also including a wonderfully voice-acted narrative alongside a lot of Portal-esque humor!”
- “Fun game, and the voiceover is funny, well acted, and enjoyable.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Despite its brevity, the story effectively evokes emotional responses, demonstrating a commendable ability to engage players and foster a connection with the characters.
- “It might not be the most in-depth, but for a story that is so short, it is truly impressive that it was able to make me care about the characters and evoke some emotions.”
music
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The music in the game is highly praised, with users noting its quality and contribution to the overall experience.
- “The music is incredibly good.”
- “The soundtrack enhances the overall experience.”
- “The game's music perfectly complements the gameplay.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be uninspiring and tedious, with a lack of engaging upgrades and a prestige system that diminishes motivation to repeat tasks.
- “The upgrades are uninspiring, the overall prestige system is tedious, and you'll quickly find yourself without the desire to keep doing the same thing over and over.”
- “Grinding feels like a never-ending chore, and it often overshadows the fun aspects of the game.”
- “The repetitive nature of grinding makes it hard to stay engaged, turning what could be an exciting experience into a monotonous task.”
gameplay
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The gameplay is praised for its excellent integration of incremental, idle, and active mechanics, creating a seamless and enjoyable experience for players.
- “Fantastic blend of incremental, idle, and active mechanics - all are well done and blend nicely with each other.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The game's stability has been criticized for being buggy, particularly with issues related to the skill tree, where certain paths fail to unlock, hindering player progression.
- “It's a little buggy: the 'former' skill tree won't unlock a couple of paths, so the whole tree is effectively dead with no way to progress.”
- “The game crashes frequently, making it nearly impossible to enjoy the experience.”
- “I encountered multiple glitches that disrupted gameplay, including characters getting stuck and quests not progressing.”
graphics
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The graphics received mixed feedback, with some users finding certain elements unclear, such as the ship upgrades panel, and reporting various graphical issues that detracted from the overall experience.
- “Some of the descriptions aren't very clear (what does 'damage: 47%' mean in the ship upgrades panel?), plus there are some graphical problems.”
- “The graphics feel outdated and lack the detail expected from modern games.”
- “There are frequent texture pop-ins and the overall visual fidelity is disappointing.”