Istrolid

About

Istrolid is a single player and multiplayer strategy game. It was developed by treeform and was released on May 6, 2016. It received positive reviews from players.

"Istrolid" is a strategy game where players design their own unique spaceships and build a fleet to fit their strategy and playstyle, with no set units or factions. The game features multiplayer and single-player modes, including a campaign to collect parts and build bigger ships, as well as customizable AI opponents for combat. Players can engage in tense battles for territorial control, utilizing each ship's energy, ranges, firing arcs, turn rates, and firepower.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Skip User Reviews

87%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,948 reviews

gameplay70 positive mentions

story7 negative mentions

The game offers a high degree of customization for ship design, allowing players to create unique fleets.
It's a fun and engaging RTS with a mix of strategy and creativity, making it enjoyable for both casual and hardcore gamers.
The game is free to play with no pay-to-win elements, making it accessible to a wide audience.

The game requires an account to play, even for single-player, which can be frustrating for some players.
There is a $1000 limit on ship costs, which can restrict creativity and lead to repetitive gameplay.
The AI can be unpredictable and sometimes overpowered, making certain campaign levels frustratingly difficult.

gameplay
157 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
52%
3%
The gameplay of Istrolid is characterized by its engaging ship-building mechanics and strategic battles, offering a blend of simplicity and depth that appeals to both casual and dedicated players. While the single-player campaign can feel repetitive and lacks variety, the multiplayer experience is enriched by diverse ship designs and tactics, though it may be hindered by a toxic community and some clunky UI elements. Overall, the game is praised for its creativity and balance, making it a solid choice for fans of RTS and sandbox gameplay, despite some areas needing improvement.
- “The gameplay primarily consists of building ships and then using them to capture all of the points on a map.”
- “The gameplay is riveting, that is for those who enjoy strategy games.”
- “Fun gameplay, multiplayer is fun and exciting.”
- “Even the 'offline' campaign is just plain tedious mission after tedious mission where you have to out-micro the AI with slight tweaks in your ship designs to counter whatever mechanic they abuse.”
- “There's very little content variety to guarantee more interesting builds, and the only two DLCs for this game only provide cosmetic content (which would be fine if the base game contained more actual gameplay elements).”
- “The campaign gameplay is not representative of multiplayer gameplay, except that you learn that ring bombers are very important, as you can beat every campaign level with just ring bombers and bricks.”
graphics
56 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
52%
41%
7%
The graphics of the game are characterized by a minimalist and simplistic art style that many players find charming and appealing, despite not being highly detailed or elaborate. While some reviews express a desire for improved visuals, the overall consensus is that the graphics are well-suited for the game's strategic gameplay, running smoothly on various systems and providing a pleasant aesthetic experience. Players appreciate the cute design and the fact that the graphics do not detract from the fun and engaging gameplay.
- “A well executed and fun strategy game with a wonderful minimalist art style - for free!”
- “The graphics are great for the 2D strategy, and the AI is on point.”
- “You get to customize your own ships, command them and it has pretty good graphics.”
- “The graphics are not very elaborate, but this game is all about strategy.”
- “I only wish the graphics would look better, like Strikefleet Omega on Android.”
- “One of the most fun games I played this year... the graphics are not amazing and they shouldn't be for this type of game.”
story
55 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
7%
80%
13%
The story aspect of Istrolid is generally viewed as weak, with many players noting the lack of a cohesive narrative and repetitive mission structures that focus primarily on gameplay mechanics rather than storytelling. While the campaign offers a series of challenging missions that encourage strategic ship design, players express a desire for a more developed storyline and varied mission types to enhance engagement. Overall, the game is appreciated for its strategic depth and customization, but it falls short in delivering a compelling narrative experience.
- “Istrolid is a very good strategy game; I would recommend it to those who like engineering and a challenge, as a lot of thought is required in designing ships for when you take on other players or AI in the story mode.”
- “The campaign starts a bit slow, teaching you each block individually in each battle, but the promise of unlocking new blocks in every mission is an awesome incentive and a really satisfying reward, as each mission gets a bit harder, and not every mission can be beaten with the same ships; you are forced to refine your ships and your tactics.”
- “There is a whole campaign mode with dozens of different AI armies to fight against, where you unlock more and more blocks the more missions you win.”
- “Even the 'offline' campaign is just plain tedious mission after tedious mission where you have to out-micro the AI with slight tweaks in your ship designs to counter whatever mechanic they abuse.”
- “For this reason, it is the weakest part of the game and I would advise against taking it seriously past the first few missions that do show the basic controls.”
- “The campaign is very short and lacks any element of story (but what do you expect from a completely free game).”
monetization
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
66%
15%
The game is praised for its monetization model, being completely free-to-play with no microtransactions or pay-to-win elements, which many players appreciate as a sign of the developers' commitment to quality. Additionally, the two available DLCs are reasonably priced and purely aesthetic, further enhancing the positive perception of its monetization strategy. Overall, players feel they receive significant value without the pressure of in-game purchases.
- “The fact that it's free and does not currently have in-game purchases makes me think the developer(s) really just care about the quality of the game and not how much money they will make off of it.”
- “Did I mention it's currently 100% free, with no microtransactions or pay-to-win content?”
- “I highly recommend this game as it's free, well balanced, and best of all there are no microtransactions.”
- “I have to say this because there are certain games on Steam which have false/misleading advertising to con consumers into buying them.”
- “Is it another bad cash grab of a game that profits on the popularity of the game?”
- “There is currently no monetization that I can find.”
music
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
68%
16%
The music in the game has received mixed feedback, with some players finding it fitting and unobtrusive, enhancing the gameplay experience, while others criticize its repetitiveness and lack of variety. Many users express a desire for a more extensive soundtrack, noting that the current ambient music can sometimes feel creepy or annoying. Overall, while the music serves its purpose, there is a consensus that improvements and additional tracks would greatly enhance the game's atmosphere.
- “The ambient techno music plays softly in the background as I strategize.”
- “The music is unobtrusive but fitting, and the sounds, though royalty-free, work out.”
- “This game is an amazing little game, I love the soundtrack (I wish there were more songs) I love the gameplay, it has hours of fun, what are you waiting for?”
- “Sometimes creepy in my opinion because of the emptiness and the music.”
- “Only cons that there are little to no music in the game as it is now in beta.”
- “The only question is, why the hell is there such an unnecessarily creepy background music in the design menu?!”
replayability
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
11%
33%
The game offers significant replayability, particularly due to its customization options and diverse playstyles, making it enjoyable for multiple playthroughs. However, some users note that the campaign has limited replay value and can feel repetitive after a few attempts. Overall, it is considered a fun and engaging experience, especially given its free-to-play model.
- “It's the Minecraft of RTS games as far as replayability, customization, and overall fun factor.”
- “An enjoyable, engaging, and replayable game which is also free.”
- “Deep, challenging, incredibly replayable, and completely free!”
- “The campaign is worth playing once or twice, but it's cheaty and has very little replay value.”
- “Limited replay value in single-player.”
- “No real replayability.”
optimization
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
34%
33%
The game's optimization receives mixed feedback; while some players appreciate its performance and enjoy the ability to fine-tune their strategies, others report significant issues, particularly with frame rates and control responsiveness, especially on higher resolution displays. Overall, it seems that while the game can be fun and runs well for some, there are notable performance concerns that affect the experience for others.
- “You'll probably like this if you're into fussy min-maxing and optimization.”
- “This game is for people that like to micro-tweak everything to get the best optimization.”
- “I really loved the optimization of this game.”
- “Could be more optimized (GUI and controls-wise), but otherwise a fun game.”
- “It is an HTML5 game; I guess that's why the performance is so terrible. It is hardly playable on my 4K display on a gaming laptop, and even in Full HD, it sometimes drops a few frames or the controls work with a delay.”
- “Could use some optimization but still enjoyable.”
stability
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is frequently criticized, with users reporting various bugs and glitches that can disrupt gameplay, particularly during intense moments like large ship battles. While some players find the issues manageable and note the game's potential, others describe the experience as rough and occasionally frustrating due to these technical problems. Overall, the game is playable but suffers from notable stability concerns.
- “The building system is meh, hard to use, and a bit buggy.”
- “Once you have many ships firing, the game just freezes, and a minute later it catches up and does all your actions in super speed.”
- “Usually they are buggy and pretty rough around the edges.”
humor
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is often described as quirky and situational, providing laughs through both gameplay mechanics and player interactions, especially when playing with friends. While some find it consistently funny, others note that it can become repetitive over time. Overall, the humor adds a lighthearted touch to the experience, making it enjoyable for those who appreciate a comedic twist in gaming.
- “After 1,000 hours sunk into this game, I can confidently say that this was a funny and exciting trip.”
- “Funny game where you create your own fleet of spaceships which can go from tiny superfast fighters to giant slow battlecruisers.”
- “It's funny to play this game after a few hours; interesting gameplay and a challenging campaign!”
grinding
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
16%
67%
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game tedious and frustrating, with missions often feeling repetitive and requiring minor adjustments to ship designs to counter AI advantages. While some appreciate the lack of extensive grinding in certain modes, others feel that the need for grinding detracts from the overall enjoyment, making battles either annoying or too easy.
- “Even the 'offline' campaign is just plain tedious mission after tedious mission where you have to out-micro the AI with slight tweaks in your ship designs to counter whatever mechanic they abuse.”
- “This makes some battles annoying and tedious, or easy.”
- “The AI, on the other hand, often gets multiple large expensive ships... of course the missions can still be done, it just feels tedious instead of like a challenge because the AI gets an advantage.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users express a strong emotional response to the game, highlighting feelings of heartbreak and frustration, particularly regarding a $1000 limit that evokes a sense of loss. The emotional weight of the experience resonates deeply, leading to moments of silent reflection and tears.
- “I cried in silence...”
- “There's a bunch of things that don't make sense, and what's really heartbreaking is the $1000 limit.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The atmosphere is characterized by a repetitive sound design and music that can create a monotonous experience for players, potentially detracting from immersion. While some may find comfort in the consistency, others feel it lacks variety and depth.
- “The music and sound design create a repetitive atmosphere that quickly becomes tiresome.”
- “The overall atmosphere feels flat and uninspired, lacking any real depth or engagement.”
- “The ambient sounds are so monotonous that they detract from the immersive experience.”