Project Starship
- April 5, 2016
- Panda Indie Studio
- 5h median play time
Get on Steam"Project Starship" is an arcade-style bullet-hell game with randomized mechanics, ensuring a unique experience in every match. As Garret or Gwen, players embark on a mission to save the world from the mighty Cthulhu, navigating through relentless showers of bullets and facing off against divine and demonic adversaries. The journey leads players deeper into the unknown, where obscure and arcane secrets await.
Nintendo Switch
PC
Playstation 4
Playstation 5
Windows
Xbox One
Xbox Series X|S
PlayStation
Xbox
Reviews
- The game features an amazing soundtrack that enhances the overall experience.
- It offers a fun and challenging bullet-hell gameplay with a variety of enemies and power-ups.
- The retro graphics and arcade-style aesthetic provide a nostalgic feel that many players enjoy.
- The game suffers from poor sound design, lacking sound effects for many actions, including enemy hits.
- Controls are unresponsive at times, and the hitboxes can be inconsistent, leading to frustrating gameplay.
- The game is plagued by technical issues, such as slow performance and a lack of fullscreen support.
- music72 mentions
- 61 % positive mentions
- 35 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised as one of its standout features, with many reviewers describing it as "amazing," "catchy," and "memorable." The soundtrack complements the gameplay well, enhancing the overall experience without being distracting. However, some players noted a lack of sound effects for various actions, which detracted from the audio experience, despite the music's high quality.
“The soundtrack is genuinely amazing and I wish it was available on YouTube or Spotify... and well, as you can imagine, expect to dodge a hell of a lot of bullets...”
“The music's great, the character reactions are funny, and the gameplay is really solid and cleverly designed, with the enemies pulling out all sorts of different attacks and patterns throughout the fight.”
“But where it really shines is in the music department.”
“The most off-putting aspect for me was the lack of sound effects for... most things, including enemies getting hit, the majority of enemy attacks, and the player getting hit or killed (although that does have musical distortion to indicate it).”
“The game is also a bit inconsistent with its visual and audio style, with some sprites being pretty clean while others appear intentionally limited (the character art in particular), and the fact that the game has many 8-bit style sound effects and compressed voice clips despite playing modern electronic music.”
“[*] A mute music-only button is needed.”
- graphics32 mentions
- 44 % positive mentions
- 47 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are characterized by a retro, pixelated aesthetic reminiscent of old-school arcade titles, enhanced by a CRT filter that adds to its nostalgic charm. While some users note the simplicity of the visuals, they appreciate how well they fit the bullet hell genre, complemented by a dynamic soundtrack that reacts to gameplay events. Overall, the graphics are praised for their unique style and smooth integration with the game's mechanics, despite some limitations in customization options.
“Insane retro CRT graphics and awesome soundtrack.”
“Graphically, it's very cool, combining pixel graphics with a CRT kind of filter that gives it a great arcade-y feel.”
“Amazing visuals, soundtrack, and gameplay.”
“♦ No in-game options (can’t alter resolution, sound, graphics, or change controls).”
“May not have the best graphics.”
“Most remarkable for the game is the tiny base picture (480x360) which you can upscale to fullscreen; then everything seems pixelated but still has very unique graphics.”
- gameplay32 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 53 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The gameplay is praised for its smooth mechanics, generous hitboxes, and a variety of enemies and power-ups, creating an enjoyable casual bullet-hell experience. Players appreciate the clever design and random level generation, though some note that the reliance on luck can be a downside. Overall, the combination of engaging gameplay, great visuals, and a nostalgic soundtrack contributes to a fun and accessible gaming experience.
“As a non-genre follower, I would like to praise the game for offering quite generous hitboxes in combination with a variety of enemies and power-up mechanics that actually work, thus creating a pleasant casual shmup experience where you aren't on the brink of a nervous breakdown but nevertheless still have some degree of challenge and associated fun.”
“Really fun game that I did not expect to enjoy so much. The graphics are cool, gameplay is smooth, I found no bugs so far, and overall it's a great game that could be played anywhere as long as you can install the Steam client (laptop, toaster, potato, etc.).”
“The music's great, the character reactions are funny, and the gameplay is really solid and cleverly designed, with the enemies pulling out all sorts of different attacks and patterns throughout the fight.”
“The only downside is that each gameplay is pure luck.”
“Project Starship is an arcade bullet-hell with random mechanics.”
“But I was disappointed that there was no difference between two characters during gameplay.”
- humor4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its humor, particularly through character reactions and the amusing design of certain bosses, such as a dragon in space. The clever gameplay and varied enemy attacks further enhance the comedic experience, contributing to an overall positive reception.
“The music's great, the character reactions are funny, and the gameplay is really solid and cleverly designed, with the enemies pulling out all sorts of different attacks and patterns throughout the fight.”
“All in all, I have to give this game a 9/10; some of the bosses look a bit humorous too, like [spoiler] a dragon in space.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the game to be enjoyable and affordable, highlighting its strong replayability as a key feature that encourages multiple playthroughs.
“It's pretty cheap, pretty fun, quite replayable... what are you waiting for?”
- character development2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is noted to be visually appealing, with nice effects and satisfactory character designs, though it lacks depth in narrative progression.
- optimization2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is characterized by a low base resolution of 480x360, which can be upscaled to fullscreen, resulting in a pixelated appearance. While this may be a performance choice, it contributes to the game's unique visual style.
“The most remarkable aspect of the game is the tiny base resolution (480x360), which you can upscale to fullscreen. While this may be for performance reasons, everything appears pixelated yet retains a very unique graphic style.”
“The optimization allows for a seamless transition from a low resolution to fullscreen, creating a distinctive visual experience that is both charming and performance-friendly.”
“I appreciate how the game manages to maintain its unique graphics even when upscaled from a low resolution, showcasing impressive optimization techniques.”
“The most remarkable aspect of the game is the tiny base resolution (480x360), which you can upscale to fullscreen. While this may be for performance reasons, everything appears pixelated, though the graphics remain unique.”
“The game's optimization leaves much to be desired, as the low base resolution results in a pixelated experience when upscaled to fullscreen.”
“Despite the unique graphics, the optimization is hindered by the small resolution, making the game feel less polished when viewed in fullscreen.”
