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 a rich universe and multiple ways to play, including trading, exploration, and combat.
- Deep customization options for ships and crew, allowing for unique playstyles and strategies.
- Constant updates from the developers, showing dedication and responsiveness to the community.
- Very steep learning curve with minimal in-game tutorials, requiring players to rely on external guides.
- Heavy reliance on RNG can lead to frustrating experiences, especially in combat and mission outcomes.
- UI can be cumbersome and unintuitive, making navigation and management tedious at times.
- story4,128 mentions
- 15 % positive mentions
- 83 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The story in "Star Traders: Frontiers" is rich and multifaceted, offering players the choice to engage deeply with its narrative or to explore the galaxy freely without being tied to the main plot. Players can follow various story arcs that evolve based on their actions and decisions, impacting their relationships with factions and characters throughout the game. While the main storyline is engaging, some players feel it can become repetitive over time, and the game’s mechanics can sometimes overshadow the narrative experience. Overall, the game provides a dynamic storytelling environment that encourages replayability through its branching paths and emergent narratives.
“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 rng ruins the fun of the game, and everything else is a trade-off; story missions are on a timer to complete, but you also need to make money and level your crew.”
- gameplay1,842 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 and the mechanics poorly explained, leading to frustration, especially for casual gamers. The game features a mix of turn-based combat, crew management, and RNG elements, which can create engaging narratives but may also result in repetitive gameplay and a lack of clarity in mechanics.
“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 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 table after table.”
“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 mechanics of the game make pretty much no sense, and on top of that, the tutorial is more or less useless.”
- graphics580 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. While some players appreciate the retro aesthetic and find it charming, others criticize it for being too basic or unappealing. However, many reviews emphasize that the gameplay depth and mechanics far outweigh the graphical limitations, making it a compelling experience despite its visual shortcomings.
“The graphics are serviceable, nothing award-winning, but it does the job.”
“The beauty here is in the graphical simplicity that artfully serves up an incredibly complex weave of story & RPG mechanics, without needing the glitz that still fails so many much more expensive, but lackluster games out there.”
“Don't let the graphics fool you, this is a good game.”
“The graphics are not relevant because there is not much going on with graphics; you can almost run this game on anything.”
“The graphics look 1st gen, but the gameplay, content, and depth this game has is deeper than most EA AAA titles now.”
“The graphics are simplistic but the gameplay is amazing.”
- replayability424 mentions
- 49 % positive mentions
- 49 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The game boasts exceptional replayability, with numerous story arcs, customizable characters, and procedurally generated elements that ensure each playthrough feels unique. Players appreciate the depth and variety of gameplay options, which encourage experimentation and exploration, making it highly addictive and engaging. Continuous updates from developers further enhance the replay value, solidifying its status as a game with virtually limitless replay potential.
“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.”
“It's not a complete game however, as no true progress is ever made and a lack of variety takes away from replayability.”
“The ui deficiencies make it eventually tedious, destroying its replayability.”
- grinding222 mentions
- 1 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 99 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it excessively tedious and repetitive, particularly in managing reputation, crew, and resources. While some appreciate the depth and complexity that comes with the grind, others feel it 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.
“Unfortunately, Star Traders gates a ton of content behind challenges that end up being more tedious than enjoyable.”
“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 very grindy, long, repetitive - and the farther you go, the less of the story and dialogues you get.”
- music144 mentions
- 39 % positive mentions
- 53 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many players appreciating its ability to complement the atmosphere and enhance immersion, while others criticize it for being repetitive and lacking variety. Some users noted that the soundtrack is enjoyable but can become monotonous during extended play sessions, leading them to turn it off in favor of other music. Overall, while the soundtrack is generally well-received, there is a consensus that it could benefit from more diverse tracks to maintain engagement.
“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 original setting is lovingly presented with unique and highly atmospheric art and music.”
“Could be better: I understand this is a small indie company, but this has to be pointed out: the graphics are simple, the art style is unappealing, and there is basically one music track that keeps playing the whole time.”
“The music is fine enough, but gets monotonous after a while with only a handful of tracks; and the space combat sounds are honestly silly.”
“I turned off the music after the first couple of hours as it is very repetitive, though I have not turned it on since the last update with new music tracks, so that may have been fixed.”
- optimization54 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
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. Touchscreen controls are better optimized than keyboard/mouse, and while players can engage deeply with crew and ship optimization, the overall experience could benefit from improved UI/UX design. Despite these issues, the game offers a rewarding experience for those who enjoy complex mechanics and character management.
“You can play on an easy difficulty and chill, or crank up the difficulty and get really in the weeds with ship/crew optimization.”
“Star Traders places a far greater emphasis on caring about all of your crew members, because each one has skills that will affect ship performance, and you will have dozens of crew to worry about.”
“The in-game tooltips are good, but if optimizing your ship and crew is what you're into, the external resources are quality.”
“Shipbuilding itself is an even bigger mess of misinformation and lack of guidance, with several different ship skills contributing to combat performance in un-intuitive 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.”
“It is literally spreadsheet optimization only.”
- atmosphere38 mentions
- 37 % positive mentions
- 55 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its depth and immersive qualities, drawing inspiration from iconic works like Dune and FTL. Players appreciate the unique art and music that enhance the experience, creating a sense of being in a vast, dangerous universe filled with opportunities. However, some critiques mention that certain political themes can disrupt the overall immersion.
“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 development32 mentions
- 44 % positive mentions
- 44 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is praised for its depth and integration with the mission system, featuring a robust job/class and talent/perk system that applies to both the main character and the crew. However, while the character design is noted as beautiful and well-executed, it is criticized for not aligning well with other game elements, leading to a sense of imbalance. Overall, the character development aspects are seen as a highlight, but the game suffers from linear gameplay and a lack of engaging action.
“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.”
“The game mechanics work well in my opinion and everything is set out really well in the screen displays, and being able to level up all characters is a real bonus to someone like me who enjoys character development.”
“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.”
- stability30 mentions
- 53 % positive mentions
- 7 % neutral mentions
- 40 % negative mentions
Overall, the game is reported to be quite stable and largely bug-free, with players experiencing minimal glitches and no crashes during extended play sessions. However, some users have noted issues with the save system and minor bugs related to scripts and visuals. Despite these concerns, the game's mechanics and performance are generally praised for their reliability.
“The game is quite bug free, the aesthetics work very well, and, most of all, it is a lot of fun.”
“In its current state, this game is very enjoyable and challenging and, for me, seemingly bug free.”
“The mechanics themselves seem to be quite stable as there has been no glitches or odd behavior in my experience thus far.”
“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.”
- humor16 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is described as a mix of absurdity and situational comedy, with players finding amusement in the game's quirky interactions and unexpected failures, such as failing a primary mission due to an arbitrary timer while still being offered side quests. The interactions with characters, like a space-cowboy rummaging through cargo, add to the lightheartedness, although some players note that the humor may not resonate with everyone. Overall, the game provides moments of hilarity amidst its chaotic gameplay and character designs.
“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.”
“Then the human models themselves just have a weird funny look to them, particularly the faces.”
- monetization14 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- 29 % neutral mentions
- 57 % negative mentions
The monetization model of the game is highly praised, as it features no microtransactions, paid DLC, or in-app purchases, allowing players to buy the game once and access all content, including regular updates. Reviewers appreciate the developers' commitment to providing a complete and engaging experience without the pitfalls commonly found in other games, such as time limits or energy depletion. Overall, the game is seen as a refreshing alternative to the prevalent cash grab tactics 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 -- and solid engagement with 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 put out.”
“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.”
- emotional12 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players express a desire for deeper emotional engagement with the crew, feeling that their development lacks significance and that many choices feel like traps. While the game offers replayability through varied storylines and exploration, the emotional connection to characters and their roles remains underdeveloped, detracting from the overall experience.
“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.”
