Star Traders: Frontiers
- July 31, 2018
- Trese Brothers
- 28h median play time
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Get on Apple Store"Star Traders: Frontiers" is a sci-fi RPG adventure that puts you in charge of a spaceship in a vast open universe. Experience intense space combat, political intrigue, and elaborate trading systems as you rise to become a powerful leader in the galaxy. Customize your crew, manage resources, and make strategic decisions that will determine your crew's destiny.
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Reviews
- Fantastic sandbox experience with deep mechanics and multiple playstyles.
- Constant updates from dedicated developers, enhancing gameplay and adding new content.
- Engaging storylines and a dynamic universe that evolves with player choices.
- Steep learning curve with minimal in-game tutorials, requiring external resources to understand mechanics.
- Heavy reliance on RNG can lead to frustrating and unfair outcomes, especially in combat.
- UI can be cumbersome and unintuitive, making navigation and management tedious.
- story2,064 mentions
- 15 % positive mentions
- 83 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The game's story is rich and multifaceted, allowing players to engage with a detailed narrative that evolves based on their choices and actions. Players can choose to follow the main storyline or explore a vast sandbox universe filled with various missions, contacts, and factions, each influencing the game's political landscape. While the overarching plot progresses regardless of player involvement, many find the intricate world-building and character interactions compelling, though some critiques highlight the repetitiveness of missions and the need for more depth in certain story arcs.
“If you decide to dive head-first into the story, it is very detailed and has a lot of moving parts.”
“The story is quite intricate and frankly fascinating in places.”
“The game story moves even if you don't take main quests, which gives this game that real-world feel.”
“The story gets thinner by the minute and the game lacks a real goal.”
“The story missions only give you one chance, so if you commit to a path and fail one mission, you're locked out of the story until the next part.”
“The game story moves even if you don't take main quests, which gives this game that real-world feel, which can be frustrating.”
- gameplay921 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 68 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Star Traders: Frontiers" is characterized by its deep and complex mechanics, offering a rich sandbox experience that allows players to engage in various roles such as trading, piracy, and exploration. While the game provides a rewarding experience for those willing to invest time in understanding its systems, many players find the learning curve steep due to a lack of in-game tutorials and the reliance on external resources for guidance. The combination of turn-based combat, crew management, and RNG elements creates a unique but sometimes frustrating gameplay loop, with some players noting that the mechanics can feel repetitive or overly complicated at times.
“The mechanics are engaging, the art style is unique, and the ship and crew management kept me hooked from start to finish.”
“Star Traders: Frontiers is a very deep indie space simulation game with an interesting and detailed setting and a huge amount of mechanics.”
“The gameplay is simple to pick up but has a lot of depth; I just killed my 5th captain and every new game I play I'm getting a little better and learning more about the strategic elements.”
“The game is so committed to the RNG model that the gameplay loop gives that little dopamine kick while playing it, but it's not actually *fun*.”
“A key element that will make the game difficult to play for casual players is that it does a very bad job at introducing you to its mechanics.”
“The game is very close to something I'd absolutely love, but the aesthetics are too dry, the mechanics too obtuse, and the content too overwhelming a mass of tables after tables.”
- graphics290 mentions
- 22 % positive mentions
- 71 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally described as simplistic and reminiscent of old-school 2D styles, often falling short of modern standards. However, many players appreciate the unique art style and find that the graphics serve their purpose, allowing for deep gameplay mechanics and immersive storytelling. While some users express a desire for more visual diversity and customization options, the overall consensus is that the game's engaging mechanics and content outweigh its graphical limitations.
“The graphics are pleasant, the sound unobtrusive and well designed, the story and the worldbuilding deeply immersive, the gameplay utterly addictive, and figuring out how to build the perfect crew perfectly infuriating, but in a good way.”
“The artwork is awesome!”
“The graphics may be modest but the gameplay is vast, complex, and meaningful, with interesting narratives and characters, and an evolving universe.”
“The graphics are not up to modern standards; it is not a visual game.”
“The graphics look first-gen, but the gameplay, content, and depth this game has is deeper than most EA AAA titles now.”
“The graphics are simplistic but they work well, especially if you're running an older machine.”
- replayability212 mentions
- 49 % positive mentions
- 49 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its exceptional replayability, offering a wealth of customization options, multiple story arcs, and procedurally generated content that ensures each playthrough feels unique. Players appreciate the variety of play styles, character builds, and dynamic storytelling, which contribute to an engaging experience that can last for hundreds of hours. Overall, the game's design encourages exploration and experimentation, making it a highly addictive and replayable title.
“This dynamic storytelling keeps the game feeling fresh and adds immeasurable replay value.”
“The game's use of procedural generation and random rolls makes it very replayable because no two games are exactly the same.”
“With enough replayability to make a second run just as fun (and sometimes frustrating, but in a good way) as the first.”
“This game lacks focus, and its replayability to me is limited.”
“The ui deficiencies make it eventually tedious, destroying its replayability.”
“It's not a complete game, however, as no true progress is ever made and a lack of variety takes away from replayability.”
- grinding111 mentions
- 3 % positive mentions
- -2 % neutral mentions
- 99 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it tedious and repetitive, particularly in managing reputation, crew, and resources. While some appreciate the depth and complexity, others feel that the heavy reliance on grinding detracts from the overall enjoyment, leading to a sense of monotony and frustration. Overall, the game appeals to those who enjoy grind-heavy mechanics, but it may not be suitable for players seeking a more streamlined experience.
“The game strikes a perfect balance; while grinding is present, it never feels tedious or overwhelming.”
“I appreciate how the grinding mechanics are designed to be rewarding, making each session feel meaningful.”
“Grinding in this game is engaging and offers a sense of progression that keeps me coming back for more.”
“Though there is a lot of depth, you will find that you get a real 'grindy' feel in trying to keep up with reputation for various factions and trying to make money and keep your crew alive/happy.”
“However, after a few hours you quickly realize that after that fog of mystery and what seems to be complex mechanics, there is shallow gameplay that is quickly becoming tedious, repetitive, and boring.”
“It's too slow, too tedious, and too unexciting.”
- music72 mentions
- 39 % positive mentions
- 53 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many praising its ability to complement the atmosphere and enhance immersion, while others criticize it for being repetitive and lacking variety. Some players found the soundtrack lovely and memorable, but noted that it can become monotonous during extended play sessions. Overall, while the music contributes positively to the game's experience, there is a consensus that more diverse tracks would improve it significantly.
“The soundtrack perfectly complements the game's atmosphere.”
“There are dozens of jobs, dozens of ways to play the game, deep character building, dense atmosphere, and an amazing soundtrack.”
“The music strikes a very good balance between adventurous sci-fi scores and light ambient music in the right situations.”
“The music is distracting.”
“I turned off the music after the first couple of hours as it is very repetitive.”
“The only downside is there could have been a bit more variety, and a bit more heavier music during more tense moments.”
- optimization27 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is a mixed bag; while it runs smoothly across various platforms with minimal bugs, the user interface and shipbuilding mechanics are criticized for being unintuitive and lacking guidance. Players appreciate the depth of crew and ship management, but many feel that the optimization aspects require excessive micromanagement and external resources to fully understand. Despite these issues, the game offers a stable performance and a rewarding experience for those who enjoy complex systems.
“You can play on an easy difficulty and chill, or crank up the difficulty and get really in the weeds with ship/crew optimization.”
“All of these can be customized extensively, and equipped with various types of gear to enhance their performance.”
“Great performance and rapid responses on bug fixes keep this turn-based winner winning.”
“The controls are better optimized for touch screen gameplay rather than keyboard/mouse.”
“Shipbuilding itself is an even bigger mess of misinformation and lack of guidance, with several different ship skills contributing to combat performance in unintuitive ways (such as hyperspace navigators contributing to range changing instead of pilots, which would be the much more appropriate option).”
“The UI also is not very optimized.”
- atmosphere19 mentions
- 37 % positive mentions
- 47 % neutral mentions
- 16 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its depth and immersive qualities, drawing inspiration from iconic universes like Dune and FTL. Players appreciate the combination of stellar soundtracks, unique art designs, and a rich setting that enhances the feeling of being in a vast, dynamic universe. However, some critiques mention that certain political themes can disrupt the overall experience.
“The original setting is lovingly presented with unique and highly atmospheric art and music.”
“It really feels like the real hustle and bustle of being a ship captain, with incredible atmosphere.”
“At the time of writing, I have barely two hours into the game and I find myself engrossed in the game world's atmosphere already.”
“You will want to turn it off after a while and use space atmosphere/themes on some YouTube channel.”
“This is Battle Brothers but with none of the grimdark atmosphere.”
“I love space style games but one problem I have always encountered was that the whole of space does not create the atmosphere that one is in a vast universe where travel can be dangerous, unknown, and rewarding.”
- character development16 mentions
- 44 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is praised for its depth and integration with gameplay mechanics, particularly through a robust job/class and talent/perk system that applies to both the main character and the crew. However, while the character design is visually appealing and well-executed, it suffers from inconsistencies with other game elements, leading to a perception of a lack of overall engagement and enjoyment. Despite these criticisms, many players find the character development and story missions to be the most immersive aspects of the game.
“All well integrated with the context, mission, politics, and character development choices.”
“(1) (game design) character development (8/10): the job/class and talent/perk system is excellent and applies not just to your main character but your whole ship's crew with a perfect balance of complexity.”
“I found the character development, story missions, and items to be what makes the game immersive for me.”
“Character design seems lacking.”
“The game is dull, not enough action, linear gameplay, and just not enjoyable once you get past the character development features.”
“My two main gripes, however, boil down to the following: story and character design.”
- stability15 mentions
- 53 % positive mentions
- 7 % neutral mentions
- 40 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's stability is generally praised, with many users reporting a bug-free experience and no crashes during extended play sessions. While some minor glitches and issues with the save system have been noted, they appear to be infrequent and do not significantly detract from the overall enjoyment of the game. Players appreciate the polished mechanics and the developers' apparent commitment to maintaining stability.
“The mechanics themselves seem to be quite stable as there has been no glitches or odd behavior in my experience thus far.”
“In its current state, this game is very enjoyable and challenging and, for me, seemingly bug free.”
“The game is pretty well polished, and aside from some unfinished story arcs, is really bug free.”
“The save system is either buggy or is intentionally poorly designed.”
“The glitches are rare, so you get lulled into a false sense of security, 10-15 hours in thinking 'this time, I'm going to actually get to... and my whole crew died exploring a danger level 1 planet when I wound up with a risk 1 outcome.'”
“Then you get a buggy game, loot boxes, and shiny pre-order and pay-to-win stuff.”
- humor8 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is described as a mix of unintentional comedy and situational absurdity, with players finding amusement in the game's quirks, such as arbitrary timers and the interactions with NPCs that lead to humorous scenarios. While some moments are genuinely funny, like entertaining conversations with quirky characters, others stem from the game's frustrating mechanics, creating a blend of laughter and exasperation. Overall, the humor is hit-or-miss, appealing to those who enjoy a more chaotic and unpredictable comedic style.
“Best game for pooping I've ever played, and I don't even mean for that to be funny.”
“In a game that otherwise allows saving skills and dice rolls for outcomes, it's maddening that you can fail the primary mission because of a non-interactable arbitrary timer, and then are unable to talk with the prince to try again. Hilariously, he will still offer you side missions related to the main quest even after he declares you are no longer trustworthy.”
“For instance, I'm playing a game where a Rychard Syndicate bounty hunter is dead-set on getting me and keeps popping up every now and then in spaceports. I also had this space-cowboy woman rummaging through my cargo when I came back to the ship, clearly looking to steal my stuff... hilarious and entertaining conversations ensued.”
- monetization7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 57 % negative mentions
The monetization model of the game is praised for being straightforward and player-friendly, with no microtransactions, paid DLC, or in-app purchases. Players appreciate that they pay once for the game and receive all content and updates without any cash grab tactics, highlighting the developers' commitment to a fair gaming experience. Overall, the game is seen as a refreshing alternative to the prevalent monetization practices in the industry.
“No paid DLC, no microtransactions, no dirty tricks to keep you playing because they don't need to -- it's compelling and continues to be fun, with solid engagement from the gaming community.”
“Zero in-app purchases; you buy the game, you get the whole game, including the frequent updates and additional content that is still regularly being released.”
“This game has the addictive qualities of your favorite mobile phone game you play on the toilet, with none of the pitfalls of microtransactions, time limits, or depletable energy that makes you wait for hours to play again.”
“I thought this game was a cash grab when I found out about it, but I decided to give it a try.”
“Very friendly and helpful devs. In times of 60€ AAA games with companies that invent cash grab after cash grab (loot boxes anyone?), I am glad there are still some honest and passionate devs like the Trese brothers to throw my money at.”
“This game has the addictive qualities of your favorite mobile phone game you play on the toilet with none of the pitfalls of microtransactions, time limit factors, or depletable energy that makes you wait for hours to play again.”
- emotional6 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players express a desire for deeper emotional engagement with their crew, feeling that the ranking system lacks significance and that choices often feel like traps. While the game offers replayability through varied storylines and exploration, the emotional connection to characters and their development is seen as an area needing improvement.
“But that brings me to the one thing I wish was better implemented... that your crew mattered more emotionally.”
“All of this adds to the replayability of the game in the long run, as you could spend most of one playthrough not really touching the story and then playing again and finding yourself embroiled in something completely different.”
“It's because there's something engaging about the story, zipping freely around the universe, either touching on quests or just blockading planets for the heck of it.”
