LONESTAR
- January 18, 2024
- Math Tide
- 325h median play time
Get on Steam"LONESTAR is a single-player Science Fiction Role Playing game with delightful gameplay and beautiful music. As a bounty hunter, join the Bounty Hunter Association for abundant rewards, a free spaceship, and the chance to compete fairly in spaceship battles using unique units. With guaranteed piloting skills, the Association ensures a thrilling and highly replayable experience."
Mac OS
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Engaging turn-based strategy with a unique energy and unit system that encourages creative combos.
- High replayability with a variety of pilots, units, and treasures, making each run feel distinct.
- Polished early access experience with frequent updates and a solid foundation for future content.
- Some mechanics and unit descriptions can be confusing, requiring trial and error to fully understand.
- Limited ship variety currently, which may affect long-term engagement as players exhaust available strategies.
- Difficulty spikes can feel punishing, especially against certain bosses that may invalidate specific builds.
- gameplay102 mentions
- 47 % positive mentions
- 49 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by its engaging and addictive mechanics, offering a blend of roguelike and deck-building elements that encourage strategic thinking and creative combos. Players appreciate the variety of units, treasures, and factions, which contribute to a satisfying and replayable experience, though some mechanics are criticized for being poorly explained or overly reliant on luck. Overall, the game provides a fun and unique gameplay loop, reminiscent of titles like FTL and Slay the Spire, but may require patience to fully grasp its complexities.
“This game's mechanics are beautifully simple and masterfully play into one another; while still allowing plenty of room for fun and hilarious combos.”
“The gameplay, reminiscent of a fusion between FTL and Slay the Spire, offers a plethora of decisions during each run.”
“The game does a good job of teaching its mechanics and has an incredible amount of variety between enemy encounters and gear and possible synergies.”
“The boss that limits how many cards you can play in a turn completely invalidates any deck that wants to use card advantage, combinations, and scaling mechanics and instead forces you to use a setup with a ton more firepower but less synergy.”
“The mechanics are interesting but overwhelmingly poorly implemented.”
“However, it being so reliant on luck-based gameplay pushes me over the edge and I cannot recommend this game (unless you specifically like the luck aspect of these types of games, failing dozens of times and just having random builds to see how far you get every single time).”
- replayability31 mentions
- 45 % positive mentions
- 45 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
Overall, the game is praised for its high replayability, with many players enjoying the variety of strategies, pilots, and synergies available. While some note that the game can become repetitive and lacks enemy variety, the depth of customization and frequent updates contribute to its lasting appeal. Despite some criticisms regarding content and grind, the consensus is that the game offers significant replay value, making it a worthwhile experience for fans of the genre.
“It's exactly what I want from a strategy roguelike: reasonably quick (~40 minute) runs, plenty of broken synergies to discover, and tons of replayability.”
“The selection of pilot/talents at the start gives you a great deal of variety in strategy, and tons of replayability.”
“The combination of high replayability, customization, and satisfying combos, along with a great soundtrack, promises that I'll be playing this game for a long time!”
“Seems like a huge missed opportunity for replayability to combine different pilots on different ships.”
“The game sells itself on replayability but this is a grind and isn't fun.”
“There is also very little content and replayability for this price.”
- story20 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 65 % neutral mentions
- 15 % negative mentions
The game's story is largely considered minimal and lacking depth, serving primarily as a backdrop for gameplay rather than a central focus. While some players appreciate the lighthearted and goofy tone, with amusing narration and character descriptions, many express a desire for more substantial narrative elements and player choices to enhance engagement. Overall, the consensus is that the game prioritizes mechanics over storytelling, making it accessible for those who prefer gameplay over a rich narrative experience.
“The flavor/storyline is pretty light but fun, with a good soundtrack and brief but amusing narration of various events and enemies you encounter as a space bounty hunter.”
“I think the game would be much more fun if the combats are part of some missions/exploration you do, so it feels a bit more like there's a story behind and the player can make choices.”
“Story is forgettable, but that's not what you're here for...”
“The plot is completely non-existent if you care about that.”
“All worldbuilding is from the short descriptions for characters and the event text, and it's a world that doesn't take itself very seriously; it's charming and goofy, and breaks the 4th wall quite a bit, but there's no story or characters to get attached to like in Cobalt Core.”
“Lack of story and greater purpose.”
- music19 mentions
- 68 % positive mentions
- 16 % neutral mentions
- 16 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received generally positive feedback, with many players praising its fantastic soundtrack and atmospheric qualities, often describing it as a fitting "space western" vibe. However, some users noted that the soundtrack is limited and could benefit from additional songs. Overall, the music enhances the gameplay experience, contributing to the game's charm and replayability.
“The flavor/storyline is pretty light but fun, with a good soundtrack and brief but amusing narration of various events and enemies you encounter as a space bounty hunter.”
“The combination of high replayability, customization, and satisfying combos, along with a great soundtrack, promises that I'll be playing this game for a long time!”
“The atmosphere, sounds, and music are great, creating chilly vibes.”
“The music is a bit lackluster, giving off a mellow 'space western' vibe.”
“Very small soundtrack.”
“The only thing I don't like about this game is that I can't find the soundtrack anywhere to listen to outside of the game.”
- graphics14 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 29 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The game's graphics receive mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the fun art style and particle effects that enhance gameplay, while others find the overall visuals to be mediocre or reminiscent of older systems. Despite the varied opinions on the graphics, many agree that the aesthetic complements the engaging mechanics and gameplay, making it enjoyable overall. The captivating world-building and intuitive user interface are also highlighted as positive aspects that enhance the gaming experience.
“The aesthetics and world-building are captivating, setting the tone from the beginning.”
“The stunning graphics and intuitive user interface make exploration a real treat.”
“So far I am having a blast with the witty interactions and the stunning visuals.”
“The graphics are overall pretty meh, so if you're buying the game, buy it for the gameplay, which is overall pretty fun.”
“I played this game and Cobalt Core at the same time, and this one is worse in every way—story, graphics, and gameplay.”
“I feel it would also fit the space aesthetic a little better if the galaxies (star systems, in my humble opinion) were procedurally generated with the locations of your bounties on a map with the other things.”
- humor6 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is consistently praised for its cleverness and ability to engage players, featuring witty writing and amusing fourth-wall breaks that enhance the overall experience. Players appreciate the combination of fun mechanics and hilarious combos, contributing to high replayability and a desire to connect with the developers. Overall, the humor is a standout aspect that adds depth and enjoyment to the gameplay.
“This game's mechanics are beautifully simple and masterfully play into one another; while still allowing plenty of room for fun and hilarious combos.”
“The writing is cool, makes me want to be friends with the devs. A lot of funny wreckage of the fourth wall, and that is perfect for me :)”
“The writing is humorous and made me genuinely laugh.”
- grinding4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Reviews on grinding in the game are mixed; some players appreciate that it doesn't require excessive grinding, while others find the gameplay overly grindy and reliant on trial and error. A few users express frustration with the amount of time needed to enjoy the game fully, suggesting that it feels more like an RNG simulator than a well-rounded experience. Overall, the grinding aspect can be fun for some, but it may deter others due to its repetitive nature.
“While the game requires a lot of grinding and trial and error, it's rather fun and doesn't actually require that much brain power.”
“Pac-Man was made excessively grindy (play 1000 hours to have any fun) because it was a coin game.”
“I don't mind if it gets grindy somewhere around 100 hours, but there is very little game in this RNG simulator at the moment.”
- atmosphere3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its immersive art, sound design, and music, creating a chill and enjoyable experience without overwhelming players. Reviewers recommend it for its captivating ambiance that enhances gameplay.
“Art and atmosphere all make for an enjoyable experience.”
“The atmosphere, sounds, and music are great, creating chilly vibes.”
“Highly recommended! I love the atmosphere of this game, and it doesn't blast you with music the second you start it.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game features no advertisements and does not solicit additional payments from players, providing a seamless and uninterrupted experience.
