Interstellar Rift

About

Interstellar Rift is a single player and multiplayer simulation game. It was developed by Split Polygon and was released on September 24, 2020. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Interstellar Rift is a sandbox-style RPG set in the vastness of space. Players can explore, trade, and build their own spaceships as they navigate an open world filled with procedurally generated galaxies and alien races. Collaborative gameplay is encouraged, with the option for players to form factions, engage in piracy, or work together on massive capital ships. The ship-building aspect is highly detailed, allowing for customization of every aspect from engine to weaponry.

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+21

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68%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,070 reviews

gameplay44 positive mentions

story18 negative mentions

The ship building system is highly customizable and allows for creative designs.
The game offers a unique blend of mining, trading, and combat mechanics.
The developers are responsive to community feedback and regularly update the game.

The game suffers from numerous bugs and performance issues, especially in multiplayer.
The tutorial is lacking and does not adequately prepare players for the game.
The player base is small, making multiplayer experiences less engaging.

gameplay
184 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
69%
7%
The gameplay of the game is characterized by its unique ship-building mechanics, allowing players to design and customize their vessels extensively, which many find enjoyable and rewarding. However, the overall experience is marred by bugs, a lack of engaging content, and repetitive tasks, leading to a sense of grindiness, especially in solo play. While multiplayer aspects enhance the experience, the game suffers from a low player base and limited updates, leaving some players feeling disappointed with its potential.
- “The mechanics of the game make it fun and interesting to play as you can build your own ship, even the components and upgrades.”
- “Great space sandbox with interesting ship building mechanics.”
- “The gameplay is smooth and enjoyable, and mining especially makes for good podcast fodder.”
- “The shipbuilding is broken and the gameplay is entirely lackluster.”
- “Game crashes 4 times in 7 minutes of gameplay.”
- “The core gameplay is too dull and needs a lot of work before I could recommend this title.”
story
175 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
81%
10%
The game's story aspect is largely criticized for its lack of depth and engaging narrative, with many players noting that it primarily revolves around generic missions such as mining, trading, and combat without a cohesive storyline or character development. While there are some missions available, they often feel repetitive and uninspired, leading to a sense of aimlessness in gameplay. Players express a desire for more varied and meaningful quests, as well as the inclusion of NPC interactions and a structured narrative to enhance the overall experience.
- “Overall, I had a lot of fun playing the game. It's a very fun experience hauling through space at warp, exploring the galaxy, making profitable trades, and taking missions.”
- “The quest and faction system is pretty nice, so there's always something to do while you fly around exploring.”
- “I hope in the future they create some more diverse missions and maybe include some general lore of this universe in them.”
- “The missions are lacking as well; play for a few hours and, not unlike my experience in pulsar, they become repetitive, boring and a waste of time.”
- “In addition, there's no campaign mode, no story, no sophisticated quests or even NPCs - this is a purely sandbox game, where you 'make your own fun with what you have'.”
- “There are missions, sure, where you can either engage in fights with pirates/aliens or do menial jobs like mining and freighting, and they both give you something to work with, be it money or raw materials, but, ultimately, this is a rather dull game in that regard.”
graphics
95 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
57%
3%
The graphics of Interstellar Rift receive mixed reviews, with many players noting that while the visuals are aesthetically pleasing and immersive, they are often considered outdated, reminiscent of older consoles like the Xbox 360. Some users appreciate the unique art style and detailed ship interiors, but criticize the exterior graphics and performance issues, particularly on lower-end systems. Overall, the game is seen as having potential, but it requires further optimization and graphical improvements to fully realize its immersive experience.
- “The art style is fantastic, very unique, and fitting.”
- “Beautiful graphics and art design.”
- “The graphics are awesome and the game runs smoothly on my GTX 970.”
- “Interstellar Rift can be best described as Space Engineers meets Star Citizen with Xbox 360 graphics.”
- “After 4 years of development, this game introduces synthetic limitations, outdated visuals, lags in the middle of empty space, and a couple of pieces of playable content.”
- “The graphics are clearly low-end, and I should be able to run it smoothly.”
grinding
61 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
2%
98%
The grinding aspect of the game is widely criticized for being tedious and repetitive, particularly in mining and resource gathering, which can detract from the overall enjoyment. Many players find the process of upgrading ships and acquiring materials to be frustratingly slow, with some noting that the game lacks sufficient automation to alleviate the grind. While some players appreciate the addictive nature of grinding in multiplayer settings, the overwhelming sentiment is that the game often feels like a chore rather than a rewarding experience.
- “I hope flying your ship feels like Guardians of the Galaxy, not just grinding away at asteroids. I love how the ship's rooms are functional, and you can 'do stuff' on your ship.”
- “Horrible after so much grinding to get your tier up and buy a new ship to get to another system just for it to not work.”
- “The game continues to be unstable, filled with devastating bugs and tedious, unrewarding gameplay.”
- “Without the ability in solo to turn off life support, I find this feature tedious.”
optimization
48 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
62%
25%
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting significant performance issues, particularly in populated areas and during multiplayer sessions. While some users note that the game runs smoothly after initial setup, others highlight persistent bugs, crashes, and poor server performance that hinder the overall experience. Despite its potential, the game is still in early access and requires substantial optimization improvements to enhance stability and performance.
- “The game is well optimized and until you want to fly a behemoth it should be running smooth.”
- “Isr has managed to avoid one of the main pitfalls of space building games: decorations don't create a huge performance compromise.”
- “If the game can be optimized and cleaned up a little bit it will definitely be worthy of your time and money.”
- “The optimization is horrible; framerate issues are more present than ever, even with a high-end rig.”
- “To make it short, the game is and has been a pile of junk littered with bugs and bad optimization for the past three years.”
- “Poorly optimized servers allow only a handful of people to play at the same time without creating desyncs and lag; thanks to a few 'content updates', this has gotten worse since I started playing.”
stability
43 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
7%
93%
The game's stability is widely criticized, with numerous users reporting severe bugs, crashes, and freezing issues that hinder gameplay, especially during tutorials and combat. While some players acknowledge the game's potential and enjoy it despite the bugs, many express frustration over the frequent glitches and instability, particularly in multiplayer modes. Overall, the game is considered too buggy for a smooth experience, especially in its current early access state.
- “It runs great in 4K.”
- “Looks beautiful and runs great even on lower-grade computers.”
- “Not very buggy at all; I would rate it 9/10 for stability.”
- “Buggy garbage, cannot even get through the entire tutorial.”
- “As soon as I enter combat, the game freezes periodically and it's such a frustrating mess that I end up just quitting in the middle of it.”
- “I can load up the game just fine, but when I try to join a server or do the tutorial, the game just freezes and crashes.”
music
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
42%
33%
25%
The music in the game is widely praised for its superb quality and immersive experience, enhancing the overall gameplay with an excellent soundtrack and sound effects. Players appreciate the diverse music selection and the ability to customize their listening experience while exploring the game world. However, some users express a desire for more music variety, particularly classic tracks, to further enrich the atmosphere.
- “The music is just superb! The soundtrack is quite excellent!”
- “It is extremely immersive, and the non-pausing menu systems make me feel like I'm actually flying through the void of space, mining asteroids while my jukebox plays classical music in the cockpit upstairs.”
- “Cool and diverse music selection to play.”
- “Only negative is there isn't enough music, especially classic.”
- “Christmas is nice and all that, but I feel like committing unspeakable acts whenever I hear Christmas music outside of December.”
- “I wish all games would just sell the music for 3 bucks or make it free and call it advertising!”
humor
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is a standout feature, with players enjoying the absurdity of glitches, quirky mechanics, and amusing interactions, such as the unexpected antics of small drones and the comical miscommunication about weapon usage. The developers' lighthearted approach and responsiveness to the community further enhance the experience, making it a source of laughter and camaraderie among players. Overall, the game successfully blends humor with gameplay, creating a fun and engaging atmosphere.
- “Space was an afterthought, hilariously enough.”
- “Just bought this game with a few friends and we are having a hilariously great time.”
- “Great multicrew experience, nice looking graphics, funny official server, high interactivity with ship screens.”
monetization
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization aspect of the game has drawn mixed reviews, with some players feeling it resembles a cash grab due to insufficient advertising and a lack of content. Many believe that a more straightforward pricing model, such as selling music for a low price or offering it for free, would be preferable. Overall, there is a consensus that better marketing and a more engaged player base are crucial for the game's success.
- “Cash grab”
- “I would really wait for a year to see if this game is not just another EA cash grab; that is what it feels like right now.”
- “But this game is severely underrated, and the lack of advertisement has let it down in regards to active players.”
replayability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
20%
40%
Overall, the game's replayability is viewed as limited, primarily due to a lack of mission variety despite encouraging teamwork among players. While some users find it more stable and enjoyable than similar titles, the consensus suggests waiting for further development before diving in, as the current state offers little incentive for repeated play.
- “Awesome game, different and much more playable in combat than that other space building game.”
- “Literally more playable and stable than Star Citizen, so that's a plus.”
- “Although they incentivize teamwork between crew and fleet members, they don't really vary the amount of missions to run, which lowers the overall replay value of faction mission running.”
- “A game that has little to no replayability, regardless of 'early access'?”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The game's atmosphere is visually impressive and engaging, drawing in new players; however, the discord channels can create a discouraging environment. Additionally, the ship construction mode suffers from poor window management, detracting from the overall experience and enjoyment.
- “The game looks really good and has a great atmosphere.”
- “I have personally seen several new players come for help and get chased off by the general atmosphere in the Discord channels.”
- “'Atmosphere-alike' space with very limited maximum combat speed.”
- “Ship construction mode isn't even windowed properly, and you end up fighting with your Windows taskbar to desperately click the menu items, which strips all the fun away quicker than a black hole strips an atmosphere from a planet.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find "Interstellar Rift" emotionally engaging due to its exhilarating sense of exploration and camaraderie, as they build their own ships and participate in cooperative battles, fostering a strong connection with both the game and fellow players.