Masteroid
- November 14, 2019
- Narfox LLC
Get on SteamMasteroid is a 2D indie space game with procedurally-generated galaxies and relaxed gameplay. Begin with a small ship and gather resources by mining asteroids, completing faction missions, and attacking other ships. Use your earnings to purchase and upgrade ships and weapons, while beware of hostility towards factions. Death results in a small penalty, allowing for a casual, low-stress experience.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game features a charming art style and relaxing music, creating a soothing atmosphere for players.
- Gameplay is simple and addictive, making it easy to pick up and play, especially for those with motor-control issues.
- There is potential for growth and improvement, with an engaging community and developer actively working on updates.
- The gameplay is repetitive and lacks variety, with limited missions and minimal consequences for actions.
- Technical issues such as resolution problems, inconsistent lag, and janky controls detract from the overall experience.
- The game feels more like a tech demo or prototype, lacking depth and content to justify its price.
- story17 mentions
- 18 % positive mentions
- 65 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
The game's story aspect is criticized for its lack of depth and variety, primarily revolving around repetitive mining and simplistic missions with minimal narrative engagement. Players express a desire for more meaningful consequences in missions, a richer world to interact with, and the ability to track missions more conveniently. Overall, the narrative feels one-dimensional, lacking the complexity and engagement that could enhance the gameplay experience.
“I wonder if the developer could add a kind of endgame: content that favors high rankings in the factions and having possession of destroyers and cruisers to fight or engage certain areas on the map, which could have military installations as beautifully crafted as the space stations, but with more risk, danger, and reward involved in interacting with them. It would be very interesting for there to be various world states that the player can interact with and change. For instance, a station could look damaged in the game, but through enough ore supply missions, could slowly be repaired. Moreover, if you do enough bounty hunting of enemy ships in a particular sector, that station begins to fall into disrepair.”
“The game would benefit greatly from being able to check your mission or your relationship with factions without having to go to a port.”
“Great art style, relaxing gameplay, procedurally generated galaxy and missions.”
“No storytelling, no variety of people, no world to save, no base to build, no third-party mayhem (pirates, aliens, etc.)... nothing.”
“The missions are very simplistic... transport (go to a sector and dock, low profit courier), supply (deliver ore, which essentially just improves the profit of mining), assassinate (go to sector and follow mission arrow to kill target ship), and rampage (not really called that, but it's just kill x ships of opposing faction).”
“The missions have about the same level of variety, very one-dimensional.”
- graphics8 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are highly praised for their unique art style, featuring a calm and atmospheric setting with a dark pixel aesthetic for ships and stations. Players appreciate the visually appealing silhouettes against a colorful space backdrop, complemented by great music and sound effects, contributing to an overall relaxing gameplay experience.
“All of that in a calm, atmospheric setting with great visuals and great music.”
“I really like the art style, silhouetted ships and stations against colorful but not overpowering space, and while your original ship feels too small to see at first, this gets better as you get bigger classes of ship.”
“The art style is fantastic.”
- music7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The music in the game is consistently praised for its calming and relaxing qualities, enhancing the overall atmospheric experience. Players appreciate the soothing soundtrack and ambient sounds, which complement the visuals without being intrusive, making it enjoyable enough to keep on rather than mute.
“All of that in a calm, atmospheric setting with great visuals and great music.”
“In games like this, I normally mute the game's soundtrack because it usually isn't worth keeping on over what I could be listening to; I had no compulsion to do so here.”
“The game's music, combined with its controls, offers a very relaxed gaming experience.”
“The music is soothing and chill.”
- gameplay6 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by repetitive combat mechanics, primarily involving battles with stationary rocks or ships, leading to a shallow experience despite the promise of upgrades and procedural generation. While the game features a visually appealing art style and can be addictive in its simplicity, the procedural elements do not significantly enhance the gameplay, and some mechanics appear to be missing or underdeveloped. Overall, players find the gameplay enjoyable yet lacking depth.
“Even though the gameplay is fairly simple, it gets very addictive and fun.”
“Great art style, relaxing gameplay, procedurally generated galaxy and missions.”
“The actual gameplay consists of either picking fights with rocks that sit there, engaging in small and somewhat nice chase battles with ships that are pretty much the same each time, or battling against ships that are too large and blow you up.”
“The loading screen tips refer to game mechanics that don't appear to be implemented yet.”
“This game is quite simple and there isn't much gameplay.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of farming asteroids to be less rewarding compared to other activities like sector hopping and transport quests, making it feel inefficient. While some users initially perceive it as grindy, they also note that it contributes to a more enjoyable gameplay experience as they adapt and learn the mechanics.
“The money return on farming asteroids makes it not worth the time compared to just sector hopping and handing in transport quests.”
“It's a little grindy at first, but that makes it more enjoyable to play. I experienced a bit of a learning curve at the beginning, but I caught on pretty quickly.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game offers limited replayability, with players noting that it runs out of content after about seven hours, serving mainly as a casual distraction. However, some users feel that it provides more replay value compared to many other games at its price point.
“It's just that as it is, the game runs out of content in 7 hours, and it really doesn't have much replay value besides being a mind-numbing game to play while you're doing something else.”
“Overall, for the price, Masteroid provides far more replayability than you get with most games.”
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is praised for its calm and immersive setting, enhanced by stunning visuals and an excellent musical score.
“All of that in a calm, atmospheric setting with great visuals and great music.”
- humor1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is derived from the absurdity of zooming in, which results in comically blurry sprites that add a lighthearted touch to the gameplay. This quirky feature is emphasized by the frequent resets of the zoom when warping, leading to amusing visual moments.
“Zooming in literally just makes everything bigger, showing some hilariously blurry sprites... and you'll see that a lot because it resets the zoom every time you warp for some reason.”
“The dialogue is packed with witty one-liners that had me laughing out loud.”
“The absurd situations and quirky characters create a comedic atmosphere that keeps the game light-hearted and fun.”
