Guardians of Orion

About

"Guardians of Orion" is a Sci-Fi Action RPG Looter Shooter that takes place in The New Solar System of Rigel, where Ion Crystals provide renewable energy. Players can explore the open world and battle against robots and dinosaurs in cooperative gameplay, utilizing an array of weapons, gear, and abilities. The game features unique skill trees, multiple perspectives, and an emphasis on survival and harvesting resources.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Local Multi-Player Play with friends in the same physical space using split-screen or multiple screens
2-Players Play with one other player, either online or locally, in a cooperative or competitive game mode
Multi-Player Compete or cooperate with other players online
Co-Op Team up with friends to complete levels or missions together
Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo
Split Screen Play with multiple players on the same screen, often with divided or shared screen real estate

+49

51%

Audience ScoreBased on 2,433 reviews

gameplay90 positive mentions

story16 negative mentions

The game offers a unique blend of gameplay with the ability to switch between first-person, third-person, and top-down perspectives.
For a low price, the game provides hours of fun, especially when played with friends.
The graphics are surprisingly good for a game priced at $1, showcasing impressive visuals and effects.

The game suffers from poor optimization, leading to lag and crashes, making it difficult to play.
Many players have reported losing their progress and items due to resets and bugs, causing frustration.
The developer has a controversial history, including accusations of stealing assets and poor communication with the community.

gameplay
316 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
28%
60%
11%
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players noting its simplicity and repetitiveness, often comparing it unfavorably to its predecessor, Orion: Prelude. While some appreciate the easy-to-learn mechanics and cooperative multiplayer aspects, others criticize the janky controls, lack of depth, and numerous bugs that detract from the overall experience. Despite its low price point, many feel that the gameplay lacks the engaging content and polish expected from a modern title.
- “Fun, challenging gameplay that is worth the price.”
- “Good gameplay, good music, good graphics, good sandbox, good class system, good upgrading and progressing system, good emphasis on teamwork when playing co-op, good almost everything.”
- “The gameplay is fun and offers 3 different view modes to play which are top down, third person over the shoulder and first person.”
- “The gameplay overall is pretty broken and grindy.”
- “The gameplay is repetitive, the sound effects are generic and you'll probably have heard them in various other media, and the graphics are a really bad joke, even on the 'super high' preset the game looks worse than a lot of 10+ year old games.”
- “The game runs like crap, the gameplay is boring and generic, and it's just not fun.”
graphics
282 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
50%
7%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players praising the stunning visuals and improvements over its predecessor, while others criticize the optimization issues and overall quality, likening it to older titles. Many users appreciate the vibrant aesthetics and detail, especially for a low-priced game, but express frustration with performance problems and graphical glitches. Overall, while the graphics are often described as beautiful and impressive, they are marred by technical issues that detract from the experience.
- “This game has gorgeous graphics, animations, and transitions.”
- “The graphics are fantastic, much better than Prelude, because of Unreal Engine 4.”
- “Overall, Guardians of Orion is one of the most visually impressive games I have ever played, and I have nothing but praise for its impeccable graphical fidelity.”
- “This game is boring and pointless and no one could possibly stay interested in it more than a few minutes because there is nothing to it and the gameplay is awkward and repetitious and despite the fancy new Unreal 4 engine, the graphics are lame.”
- “Extremely disappointed in this game, it looked like a really good FPS, but it turns out it's just a poorly made shooter. The price may be cheap, but it is not worth anyone's time. The animations are terrible and all the graphics are clunky, don't assume I have a toaster; I do not. I have a rig that's more than enough for this game, but it doesn't run smoothly. I also feel the graphics seem to be lacking, it also freezes frequently for me making the game unplayable.”
- “The gameplay is repetitive, the sound effects are generic, and you'll probably have heard them in various other media such as games and movies. The graphics are a really bad joke; even on the 'super high' preset, the game looks worse than a lot of 10+ year old games.”
story
147 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
80%
11%
The game's story is widely criticized for being either nonexistent or poorly executed, with many players noting a lack of meaningful narrative progression and repetitive mission structures. While some users express hope for future updates to introduce a more compelling storyline, the current state is described as a series of bland fetch quests and uninspired objectives that fail to engage players. Overall, the consensus is that the game needs significant improvements in its storytelling to enhance the overall experience.
- “The backstory is too complicated for its own good, even though it is summarized in a 15-minute intro cutscene at the beginning of the game.”
- “I'm excited for story-driven content happening later; I'm excited for mecha, and I'm excited for the expanding of the overall universe with space travel and star systems.”
- “What I want to see is the developers focusing more on lore, story, and unique features.”
- “At first glance, there are quests, spaceships, and much more... but all that's actually there is the same mission over and over.”
- “The story is over-complicated and feels like nothing is connected at all and it just happened.”
- “There are no vast regions, no unique wildlife, no variety in objectives or missions or quests (three words which mean the same thing but you know it looks good to add more words).”
optimization
123 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
48%
36%
The optimization of the game has received overwhelmingly negative feedback, with many players reporting poor performance, inconsistent framerates, and high resource utilization despite having capable hardware. While some updates have aimed to improve optimization, numerous users still find the game unplayable or requiring significant adjustments to settings for acceptable performance. Overall, the consensus is that the game is poorly optimized, leading to a frustrating experience for many players.
- “The optimization is fantastic.”
- “The most recent update improved both the visual quality and the performance.”
- “It not only has been optimized (reducing the graphic strain that it had at first) but it's now faster and better organized, with new classes, more variety, and it's become a really fun online co-op game now.”
- “The optimization is really bad; I landed in the forest with no enemies in sight and I was getting just above 60 fps on 1440p with an RTX 2080 and R7 3700X. My GPU was fully utilized at 97-99%, however, the game was only using 2.4GB of VRAM. Really weird stuff.”
- “I could stand the bad graphics for the era and pretend the game was from 2008 or something, but the horrible optimization put me off. I don't know how people could handle this game when it released.”
- “This game is very poorly optimized; its animations are lacking, and until proven otherwise, there is no tutorial.”
music
75 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
52%
44%
4%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players praising its quality and ability to enhance the gaming experience, likening it to the soundtracks of popular titles like Linkin Park and Phantasy Star Online. However, others criticize it for being too loud, generic, or not fitting the game's theme, leading to a somewhat polarized reception. Overall, while many appreciate the soundtrack's epic and immersive qualities, there are notable concerns regarding its volume and thematic relevance.
- “The music makes the game more relaxing at times, and it really fits the mood of the event at hand.”
- “Overall, Guardians of Orion has awesome music and sound effects.”
- “The soundtrack is great and really gets the blood pumping as you destroy waves of dinosaurs and robots.”
- “This game is dead as hell, and on top of that even worse than the previous game. Might get some entertainment for maybe 5 seconds in the main lobby which blasts you with absolute dogshit music.”
- “The music isn't great. It feels generic and loops endlessly, which detracts from the overall experience.”
- “The choice of music just doesn't feel very 'badass' for a game where you kill dinosaurs; it really takes away from the excitement.”
stability
75 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
91%
The game's stability is widely criticized, with numerous reports of bugs, glitches, and performance issues that hinder gameplay. Many users experience problems such as freezing, lag, and unresponsive controls, particularly during tutorials and multiplayer sessions. While some players acknowledge the potential for improvement in future updates, the current state is deemed frustrating and unpolished, making it difficult for many to enjoy the game fully.
- “The game runs great on an old i7 3.2 with a GTX 560m and 16 GB of RAM.”
- “It runs great on my GTX 970, so no framerate issues.”
- “Pros: runs awesome - no glitches for me so far and running max everything.”
- “After playing Orion: Prelude on and off for years, I was surprised to find that the latest Orion game has terrible graphics, tons of movement glitches, and generally lackluster gameplay.”
- “It's buggy, sounds are missing or out of sync, the UI leaves much to be desired as does the whole game.”
- “Extremely disappointed in this game, it looked like a really good FPS, but it turns out it's just a poorly made shooter. The price may be cheap, but it is not worth anyone's time; the animations are terrible and all the graphics are clunky. It also freezes frequently for me, making the game unplayable.”
grinding
54 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The reviews indicate that the game is heavily grind-focused, often leading to a tedious and repetitive experience for players. Many users express frustration with the lack of variety in game modes and the necessity to grind for better equipment and levels, which can make solo play particularly challenging. While some players appreciate the grind as part of the gameplay, others find it overwhelming and indicative of poor game design, suggesting that the game may not be worth the investment of time or money.
- “The gameplay overall is pretty broken and grindy.”
- “The game was fun for a while but then when you realize it's just repetitive grinding after the first few hours, it's really boring.”
- “It's still the same grindy game where most of the content is 'coming out in the near future' like anything else that sounds like a good feature but doesn't exist yet.”
monetization
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
7%
48%
46%
The monetization aspect of the game has been heavily criticized, with many users labeling it as a "cash grab" due to the excessive reliance on microtransactions and in-game purchases. Players express frustration over the game's unfinished state and the feeling that essential content is locked behind paywalls, undermining the overall experience. Overall, the monetization strategy is seen as exploitative, detracting from the game's enjoyment and value.
- “It has microtransactions so you can unlock things faster, but it's not necessary.”
- “Better graphics, easy to earn cosmetic microtransactions for free, friendly community.”
- “This game appears to be purely for microtransactions not to win that I can tell at this point but probably just fashion and that cool.”
- “This game is somehow worse than the first, with way clunkier feeling movement, 3 game modes that are labeled different but are all just 'protect this harvester that dies in about 5 seconds', all with so many added microtransactions that I'm not entirely convinced literally anyone has bought.”
- “What started off as a fun 99 cent 4 person arcade game that was fun to play with friends for the lolz has turned into a severely broken and half-baked Frankenstein of a game riddled with inflated price tags, microtransactions, and broken promises.”
- “Currently it feels like everyone jumped ship and turned this game into a cash grab.”
replayability
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
37%
47%
16%
The game's replayability is a mixed bag; while some players appreciate the variety of gameplay elements and co-op features that enhance replay value, others criticize the lack of progression systems and limited content, deeming it insufficient for long-term engagement. Overall, titles like "Guardians of Orion" are noted for their high replayability due to diverse character options and frequent updates, while other games in the genre are recommended for better support and replay potential.
- “There's a lot of gameplay elements in this game that add up to make a thoroughly enjoyable and replayable experience.”
- “Guardians of Orion is simple and easy to jump into, but has an endless amount of replayability.”
- “Outstanding game, great replayability!”
- “Sure, if you want something mindless and know that it's abandonware; but there are complete games on Steam that have far more replayability and far more active support that you can get for $2-5; so why not get one of those games and support those developers instead of these creeps?”
- “As far as I can tell, any and all sense of progression in this game is now unavailable because of this, seeing as you can now only do offline/couch co-op singular games with no leveling system (though I might be wrong on that, this game runs like actual trash so it's hard to tell) to give the game any sense of replay value.”
- “That being said, small team or not, replayability isn't 'likely' at all; the amount of content given is little to none at best.”
humor
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is largely derived from its quirky animations, amusing bugs, and absurd scenarios, such as the nonsensical conflict between dinosaurs and robots. Players find the experience particularly entertaining when playing with friends, despite some frustrations with gameplay mechanics. The dialogue retains a comedic tone from the previous installment, contributing to the overall lightheartedness, though reactions to the humor can vary among players.
- “I find it even more funny it got split into 2 different games: 'Orion: Prelude' and 'Guardians of Orion (Phase 2)'.”
- “The game is a little buggy, but the bugs are funny!”
- “No story or basis for why, for some reason, dinosaurs and robots want to kill you (personally find it hilarious).”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users express disappointment with the current emotional engagement of the game, describing it as repetitive and lacking depth. They desire a more immersive experience that includes thrilling combat, heartfelt visuals, and well-developed mechanics to create unforgettable moments.
- “I want an unforgettable experience, thrilling combat, heartfelt visuals, and interesting, thought-out game mechanics.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development in the game is noted for its blend of simple yet engaging design reminiscent of World of Warcraft, despite some inconsistencies in character visuals and gameplay elements. While technical issues like lag and UI problems are present, players still find the character progression and loot system appealing, making it a worthwhile experience.
- “Despite the cheap UI, laggy servers, inconsistent character designs, and hard-to-spot enemies, I still recommend it as a game worth trying.”
- “This game is the perfect mix of a simple World of Warcraft-like loot and character design, with the gameplay of Nazi Zombies.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The atmosphere of the game is significantly undermined by a confusing hub map that detracts from immersion, making navigation frustrating and detracting from player engagement with the story and characters.
- “Any atmosphere it tries to create is ruined when you spend 10 minutes trying to navigate the mess that is the hub map to get to some person you can't possibly care about.”
- “The game fails to immerse you in its world, as the constant backtracking and confusing layout detract from any sense of atmosphere.”
- “Despite its attempts at creating a unique setting, the lack of coherent design and engaging elements leaves the atmosphere feeling flat and uninspired.”