Starlink: Battle for Atlas

62%
Game Brain Score Based on 128 reviews
  • story
  • gameplay
  • graphics
Starlink: Battle for Atlas Game Cover
Starlink: Battle for Atlas is the BEST Starfox game ever!
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Starlink: Battle for Atlas is a sci-fi action-adventure game that allows players to build and customize their own starship models, which are then instantly integrated into the gameplay. Explore the open world of Atlas, battling alien enemies and completing quests to save the galaxy from the villainous Forgotten Legion. With a focus on cooperative play, Starlink encourages players to work together and strategize in order to overcome the challenges they face.

  • Nintendo Switch
  • PC
  • Play​station 4
  • Windows
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X|S
  • Cloud
  • Play​Station
  • Uplay
  • Xbox
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

62%
Audience ScoreBased on 128 reviews
story16 positive mentions
grinding3 negative mentions
  • The game features stunning graphics and a beautiful atmosphere, providing an immersive experience as players explore various planets and engage in space combat.
  • Gameplay is enjoyable with a mix of exploration, combat, and ship customization, allowing for a fun and engaging experience reminiscent of titles like No Man's Sky and Starfox.
  • The game has a solid story and character development, with good voice acting that enhances the overall experience.
  • The game suffers from significant technical issues, including problems launching on modern systems and requiring users to disable virtualization features, which can be frustrating.
  • There is a heavy reliance on paid DLC, which can lock content behind additional purchases, leading to a feeling of being nickeled and dimed for a complete experience.
  • Many players find the gameplay repetitive over time, with a lack of variety in missions and enemy types, which can diminish long-term enjoyment.
  • story42 mentions

    The game's story is generally well-received, featuring engaging characters, a quirky narrative, and enjoyable cutscenes, making it appealing for younger players. While some reviewers note that the story can feel repetitive and lacks depth in side missions, many appreciate the overall fun and adventure it offers, with a solid campaign that complements the sandbox gameplay. Overall, the narrative is considered a strong aspect, enhancing the exploration and combat experience.

    • “The story is very, very good and if you are a completionist it will take around a week to finish everything.”
    • “The story, the characters, the voice acting, the adventure, the quests, the weapons, the ships, the dogfights in space—there are so many good things.”
    • “Starlink has great characters, a good story, amazing cutscene animations and artistic style, and finally, the ships and combat feel good and fluid.”
    • “The story is not very long when you exclude all the optional grinds... Ubisoft should really add online co-op to this game, and the grind would be a lot better.”
    • “Moving on from there, the meat of this game isn't its story.”
    • “Also, the DLC prices are absurd because the DLC doesn't net you any new missions, stories, or things to do; you're only getting new pilots, ships, and weapons.”
  • gameplay27 mentions

    The gameplay of the game is a mixed bag, with some players praising its smooth mechanics, creative elements, and enjoyable combat, while others criticize it for being repetitive and simplistic. Although the game offers a fun space action experience with a variety of customization options and a decent soundtrack, many feel it lacks depth and variety in its tasks and mechanics, leading to a potentially monotonous experience over time. Overall, while the core gameplay loop is engaging, it may not sustain long-term interest for all players.

    • “This game has a beautiful atmosphere and gameplay music.”
    • “But in this particular game, the mechanics of even the most simple things (like picking seeds/fruits/flowers in the field with your ship) are fun and passionately crafted.”
    • “This is an extremely well-made open world space game, slightly reminds me of Galaxy on Fire 2 but with planet gameplay, good soundtrack, decent story, great graphics, fun weapons, lots of customization, and the gameplay loop doesn't feel monotonous.”
    • “The gameplay is shockingly simple and uninspired.”
    • “The game is very repetitive and made for children; once you completed the first planet, you pretty much saw half of all the game mechanics.”
    • “To avoid spoiling gameplay, I won't discuss the planets in-depth, but I do wish there was a greater variety of structures, characters, and unique side missions to separate other, somewhat repetitive tasks within the game.”
  • graphics17 mentions

    The graphics in the game are widely praised for their stunning visuals, high frame rates, and immersive aesthetics, with each planet showcasing unique color palettes and designs. Players appreciate the fluid performance and engaging art style, although some note that the graphics may not appeal to everyone, particularly in the Switch version. Overall, the game is considered visually impressive, enhancing the overall gameplay experience.

    • “The graphics are nothing short of amazing.”
    • “A special mention needs to go to the way each planet is completely different in its aesthetic and colour palette.”
    • “On a technical side the graphics are nice, great performances, it's fluid and smooth.”
    • “After playing the Switch version for a bit, I really liked the game but just couldn't get past the truly awful graphics.”
    • “Starlink's tone and art style may not appeal to everyone.”
    • “Graphics are serviceable on ultra considering it's a Switch game.”
  • optimization8 mentions

    Overall, the game's optimization is generally praised, with many users reporting smooth performance and fluid graphics, particularly on high-end systems. However, some players express concerns about the need for further optimization updates and criticize the impact of Denuvo on performance.

    • “But the game itself is solid, fun, and well optimized.”
    • “Fun to play, smooth performance.”
    • “On a technical side, the graphics are nice, great performance; it's fluid and smooth.”
    • “Still waiting for an optimization update.”
    • “Denuvo, which totally doesn't affect your game's performance negatively in the slightest, nooo :^)”
    • “I will never get another Ubisoft game ever if they don't optimize their platform and make gaming more accessible for their users.”
  • atmosphere3 mentions

    The game is praised for its beautiful atmosphere and immersive gameplay music, allowing players to pilot a spaceship seamlessly through various environments, including outer space and planetary atmospheres. The absence of loading times enhances the experience, while features like hover-mode and space dogfighting further enrich the atmospheric gameplay.

    • “This game has a beautiful atmosphere and gameplay music.”
    • “The player pilots a spaceship to traverse different parts of the atlas system, both in outer space and within a planet's atmosphere, with no pauses or loading times. We can even choose to teleport to planets and some places in outer space we have visited before.”
    • “But besides hover mode, the game also features atmospheric flight and space dogfighting.”
  • music3 mentions

    The music in the game is praised for its beauty and atmospheric quality, enhancing the overall experience alongside impressive graphics and engaging gameplay. Reviewers note that the soundtrack complements the open-world space setting, contributing to a captivating and immersive environment.

    • “This game has beautiful atmosphere and gameplay music.”
    • “This is an extremely well-made open world space game, slightly reminds me of Galaxy on Fire 2 but with planet gameplay, good soundtrack, decent story, great graphics, fun weapons, lots of customization, and the gameplay loop doesn't feel monotonous.”
    • “It's a really beautiful game, though, with music and art.”
  • stability3 mentions

    Users report significant stability issues with Ubisoft games, citing prolonged support ticket processes that often lead to repetitive troubleshooting requests without resolution. Despite some users experiencing high performance in 4K, the overall support experience has been frustrating and unhelpful, with delays and inadequate responses from the company.

    • “Runs great in 4K!”
    • “The game maintains a steady frame rate, even during intense action sequences.”
    • “I haven't experienced any crashes or bugs; the stability is impressive.”
    • “I tried to do the same thing, or have Ubisoft do it, for Starlink, but they claim they can do nothing and argued with me in support tickets about what troubleshooting should be done for eight months.”
    • “I opened tickets for this and my other Ubisoft games eight months ago and have had 6-8 responses in that time, mostly apologizing for the delay, asking me to do the same troubleshooting I had already done, or having me do ridiculous things such as 'record videos of forwarded ports on my router'.”
  • grinding3 mentions

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be somewhat tedious and repetitive, although having a variety of weapons and pilots can alleviate some of the monotony. While the missions are enjoyable on the first playthrough, the need for grinding can detract from the overall experience.

    • “Grinding in this game is incredibly rewarding and keeps you engaged.”
    • “The grind is satisfying and offers a real sense of progression.”
    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “The missions are all pretty fun the first time around, but it is grindy and repetitive.”
    • “The more weapons and pilots you have, the better this works and the less tedious it feels.”
  • monetization2 mentions

    The monetization strategy of the game has been criticized as a typical cash grab, particularly through unnecessary DLCs from Ubisoft, which detracts from the overall experience.

    • “The DLCs, like always, are unnecessary cash grabs from the house of Ubisoft.”
    • “I remember watching one of the game shows and the advertisement for this came on.”
  • replayability1 mentions

    Users generally find the replayability of the game to be sub-par, indicating that it lacks sufficient incentives or variety to encourage multiple playthroughs.

    • “Replayability is sub-par.”
    • “The game lacks the depth needed to encourage multiple playthroughs.”
    • “Once you've completed the game, there's little incentive to return.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

79% average critic score

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Play time

22hMedian play time
16hAverage play time
3-28hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 2 analyzed playthroughs

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