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 soothing music, creating a relaxing atmosphere for players.
- Gameplay is simple and addictive, making it easy to pick up and enjoy, especially for casual gamers.
- There is potential for growth and improvement, with engaging combat missions and a procedurally generated galaxy that encourages exploration.
- The gameplay is repetitive and lacks depth, with limited mission variety and minimal consequences for player actions.
- Technical issues such as resolution problems, inconsistent lag, and janky controls detract from the overall experience.
- The game feels incomplete, with a lack of content, customization options, and meaningful progression, making it feel more like a tech demo than a fully realized game.
- story17 mentions
- 18 % positive mentions
- 65 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
The game's story is largely absent, with players primarily engaging in repetitive mining and simplistic missions that lack depth and variety. Missions revolve around basic tasks such as transporting goods, assassinating targets, or destroying enemy ships, with little to no narrative or world-building elements to enhance the experience. While the gameplay is described as relaxing and visually appealing, the lack of a compelling story or meaningful consequences for actions leaves players wanting more in terms of narrative engagement.
“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 silhouetted ships and stations against a vibrant space backdrop. Players appreciate the combination of great visuals, relaxing gameplay, and effective music and sound effects, contributing to an overall enjoyable experience. The pixel art style, while initially making smaller ships hard to see, improves as players progress to larger classes, enhancing the visual appeal.
“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 larger classes of ships.”
“The art style is fantastic.”
- gameplay7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a repetitive cycle of combat against stationary rocks, ships, and larger enemies, with procedurally generated environments that offer minimal impact on the core experience. While the mechanics are straightforward and can feel shallow, the addictive nature and variety in exploration keep players engaged despite the lack of depth. Overall, the game combines a relaxing atmosphere with simple yet enjoyable gameplay, though it may not meet the expectations set by its procedural elements.
“The world is procedurally generated, and while weapons, ships, and missions are pretty straightforward, the gameplay loop is fun and there's enough variety and behind-the-scenes changes (asteroid fields changing, resource price fluctuating, etc.) to encourage you to explore and try different things.”
“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 enjoyable 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.”
- 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, often opting to keep the music on rather than mute it, which is a testament to its quality. Overall, the combination of great visuals and unobtrusive music contributes to a serene gaming experience.
“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.”
- 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 note that the initial grind can enhance enjoyment and provide a learning curve, it ultimately may deter those seeking quicker rewards.
“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 7 hours and serves 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
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is derived from the absurdity of its mechanics, particularly the comically blurry sprites that become exaggerated when zoomed in. Players find amusement in the frequent resets of the zoom feature during warps, adding to the overall quirky charm.
“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.”
