Stardiver

32%
Game Brain Score Based on 29 reviews
  • story
  • gameplay
  • graphics
Stardiver Game Cover
Starting at $1.44Buy now
Get on Steam

Stardiver is a sci-fi action-adventure game where you pilot a ship and shoot at enemies underwater. As a pilot, explorer, and scientist, you'll fight dangerous monsters, engage in battles with enemy ships, and discover new species, places, and ancient ruins. Manage resources, craft, and develop your ship while shaping the planet's fate.

  • PC
  • Windows
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

32%
Audience ScoreBased on 29 reviews
graphics3 positive mentions
story3 negative mentions
  • Enjoyable underwater shooter with a captivating atmosphere and good graphics and sound.
  • The game has a lot of potential with interesting concepts, exploration, and combat mechanics.
  • The visuals and soundtrack create a calming vibe, enhancing the exploration experience.
  • The game is plagued by numerous bugs, including mission objectives not triggering and poor control responsiveness.
  • Gameplay can feel slow and cumbersome, with frustrating mechanics and navigation issues.
  • Optimization is poor, leading to performance issues and a lack of clarity in mission objectives.
  • story12 mentions

    The story of the game is described as captivating, focusing on uncovering the secrets of a civilization through exploration and evidence collection. However, players have reported significant issues with mission objectives not triggering, poor controls, and a frustrating user interface, which detracts from the overall experience and hampers the storytelling. Despite its potential, the game's current state makes it difficult for players to fully engage with the narrative.

    • “The story is captivating, the visuals are beautiful, and the gameplay is smooth and engaging.”
    • “The story focuses on uncovering the secrets of this civilization and is directly involved with exploration and collecting evidence you discover in the game.”
    • “I was in the homestretch when the waypoints for the next mission disappeared and reloading the autosave didn't fix the issue.”
    • “Auto save barely works and missions don't update, like mission 4 which says to return to base.”
    • “There's no way to back out, which is a problem since some of the missions are frustrating as hell (I'm looking at you: tracking the drone, damage but don't destroy it).”
  • gameplay12 mentions

    Gameplay reviews highlight a mix of frustrations and positive elements. Players criticize the cumbersome dodge mechanic, slow pacing, and underdeveloped mechanics, which detract from the overall experience, while also noting the engaging combat and exploration in a visually appealing underwater world. Despite its captivating story, the gameplay is seen as shallow and repetitive, suggesting a need for more depth and refinement.

    • “Grapple with foes and fish alike in dogfights, defeat powerful bosses both organic and mechanical, and find traces of the explorers who’ve come before you, all while scouring the seafloor of this strange yet oddly familiar sunken world to learn the secrets that lurk beneath the waves.”
    • “The story is captivating, the visuals are beautiful, and the gameplay is smooth and engaging.”
    • “This generally creates a very dynamic flight mechanic, where combat and exploration tends to become much more realistic, at least at first.”
    • “The dodge mechanic when using a controller goes off every time you turn, and it doesn't seem to keep your aim where it was.”
    • “Slow and cumbersome gameplay; the only advantage of which would be the underwater world, but it was not exploited either.”
    • “Furthermore, despite its interesting concept, Stardiver suffers from shallow mechanics, simplistic combat, and repetitive environments, making it difficult to recommend to players looking for a deeper and more engaging experience.”
  • graphics5 mentions

    The graphics are consistently praised for their quality, with users noting that they are crisp and visually appealing. The sound design complements the visuals well, creating a calming atmosphere that enhances the overall experience. Overall, the graphics contribute positively to the game's immersive and engaging qualities.

    • “The visuals are pretty solid, and there's decent sound design.”
    • “Graphics are very nice and crisp, so no negative comments there.”
    • “The visuals and soundtrack create a really calming vibe, perfect for relaxed exploration.”
  • optimization5 mentions

    The game's optimization is widely criticized, with players reporting poor performance even on high-end systems, such as achieving only 45 fps at low settings with an AMD 5800X3D and NVIDIA 3080 Ti. Many users feel that significant improvements are necessary to make the game playable, leading to reluctance in recommending it.

    • “So the optimization needs a lot of work.”
    • “As for recommending the game, I wish Steam had a neutral recommendation, but at this time with the optimization problems and quest directions, I cannot recommend this game.”
    • “Performance is abysmal.”
    • “I was getting around 90 fps at 4K with my RTX 4090, which suggests the game is heavily unoptimized.”
    • “Optimization is not very good; even at low settings, I get a maximum of 45 fps, and I have a reasonable system that is above the recommended specs (AMD 5800X3D & NVIDIA 3080 Ti & 32GB RAM).”
  • music5 mentions

    The music in the game is generally praised for its atmospheric quality and calming vibe, enhancing the overall experience during exploration. However, some users noted that the volume can overshadow the AI voice, and while the soundtrack is impressive, it may not fully engage all players.

    • “The music is quite nice and atmospheric.”
    • “Audio and soundtrack are very good.”
    • “The visuals and soundtrack create a really calming vibe, perfect for relaxed exploration.”
    • “The music is so loud that it drowns out the AI voice.”
    • “The soundtrack is repetitive and lacks variety.”
    • “The music doesn't fit the game's atmosphere, making it feel disjointed.”
  • stability3 mentions

    The game is criticized for its lack of stability, with numerous bugs affecting textures, navigation, and resource collection, leading to a frustrating experience that feels incomplete for a version 1.0 release.

    • “Unfortunately, it is far too buggy and too rough around the edges to be called v1.0 'complete'.”
    • “The textures are buggy and visually lack richness, and the navigation isn't smooth, which causes a lot of dizziness.”
    • “Resource collection is very buggy and challenging, as your ship keeps bouncing off surrounding objects.”
  • atmosphere2 mentions

    The game's atmosphere is highly praised, with users appreciating its engaging concept and the accompanying music, which enhances the overall immersive experience.

    • “The atmosphere of the game is great; I really like the concept as well.”
    • “The music is quite nice and adds to the overall atmosphere.”
  • emotional1 mentions

    Players find the emotional aspect of the game to be impactful, as moments of frustration, such as getting stuck or experiencing disorientation, evoke strong feelings and a sense of vulnerability. These experiences contribute to a deeper connection with the game's environment and mechanics.

  • grinding1 mentions

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to lack depth, leading to a tedious experience that fails to provide meaningful rewards.

    • “They offer no real depth and quickly become tedious rather than rewarding to the player.”
    • “The grinding feels endless and lacks any meaningful progression.”
    • “It turns into a monotonous chore that detracts from the overall enjoyment of the game.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Buy Stardiver

Videos

Similar Games