Star Swarm Stress Test

About

Welcome to the newest frontier in gaming: battles and scenes at the scale of armies and fleets, all active at once with no trickery around loading screens or off-screen abstractions. Star Swarm is a real-time demo of Oxide Games’ Nitrous engine, which pits two AI-controlled fleets against each other in a furious space battle. Originally conceived as an internal stress test, Oxide decided to rele…

Genres & Tags

Free to Play

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

90%

Audience ScoreBased on 190 reviews

Star Swarm Stress Test is a visually entertaining and impressive benchmark tool that showcases the capabilities of modern GPUs, especially with high unit counts on screen.
It is a free tool that provides detailed output files, making it easy for users to analyze their system's performance.
The benchmark effectively demonstrates the advantages of Mantle over DirectX, with many users reporting significant FPS improvements when using Mantle.

The software lacks control over the simulation, as it automatically moves the ships without user input, which can be frustrating for those expecting interactive gameplay.
Some users have reported issues with compatibility, particularly with certain GPUs not being recognized or crashing during the test.
The benchmark does not provide detailed information about system specifications, such as CPU and GPU clock speeds, which limits its usefulness for in-depth performance analysis.

optimization
93 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
3%
94%
3%
The optimization aspect of the game is heavily influenced by the implementation of Mantle, which significantly enhances performance by allowing deeper control over the graphics hardware. Users report that enabling small batch optimization leads to improved performance metrics, particularly in comparison to DirectX, with some noting a remarkable increase in performance by nearly 140%. Overall, the optimization appears to effectively reduce CPU bottlenecks and enhance graphical performance.
- “Mantle is supposed to boost the performance of a game/3D engine by giving it deeper control over the graphics board.”
- “Mantle had an increase in performance of 139.99% over DirectX.”
- “DirectX decreased performance by 58.34% versus Mantle.”
- “Careful implying that 'entity count' has a direct relation to performance.”
- “Obviously optimized to emphasize how the CPU keeps the GPU waiting in D3D mode.”
- “The only thing I don't understand is the performance of temporal AA.”
graphics
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their quality, with users noting impressive visuals when paired with capable hardware like the Radeon RX 480 and Nvidia cards. However, some players have experienced significant issues, including crashes and driver failures, which detract from the overall experience. Additionally, while the game utilizes advanced technologies like Mantle to enhance performance, the controls have been criticized as subpar.
- “This game has great graphics, but the controls are terrible!”
- “Highest graphics”
- “This software tests the mantle technology that some modern graphic cards are able to use.”
- “Unable to initialize graphics system.”
- “Nvidia graphic card doesn't work.”
- “It locked up my system (no user input), then crashed my graphics driver (kernel) 3 times in a row, then it BSOD and now it will not do anything except it makes a gray window for the launcher program.”
music
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
300%
The music in the game enhances the experience, particularly during intense moments like space battles, with a spacey and dramatic soundtrack that elevates the overall atmosphere.
- “The spacey music in the background creates an epic atmosphere, making every battle feel dramatic and intense.”
- “The soundtrack perfectly complements the gameplay, enhancing the overall experience with its immersive soundscapes.”
- “Each track is carefully crafted, adding depth and emotion to the game's narrative and elevating the player's journey.”
- “The music feels repetitive and lacks variety, making it hard to stay engaged.”
- “While the sound effects are decent, the background music is forgettable and doesn't enhance the gameplay experience.”
- “The soundtrack is underwhelming and fails to capture the atmosphere of the game.”