Starlink: Battle for Atlas

Starlink: Battle for Atlas is the BEST Starfox game ever!

71%Game Brain Score

story, gameplay

stability, grinding

64% User Score Based on 277 reviews

Critic Score 79%Based on 10 reviews

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Starlink: Battle for Atlas is a single player and multiplayer arcade role playing shooter game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Ubisoft Toronto and was released on October 15, 2018. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.

"Starlink: Battle for Atlas" is a single-player game with an interesting plot, beautiful mechanics, and pretty visuals. Players lead a group of interstellar pilots, building their own starship, exploring the Atlas star system, and battling enemies with moddable weapons and starships. The game features deep RPG mechanics, including unlockable pilot abilities and faction alliances.

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64%

Audience ScoreBased on 277 reviews

story33 positive mentions

stability4 negative mentions

Starlink: Battle for Atlas offers a visually stunning experience with breathtaking graphics and smooth gameplay, making space exploration and combat enjoyable.
The game features a rich world with diverse planets and a variety of customization options for ships and weapons, providing a sense of wonder and engagement.
Despite some repetitive elements, the core gameplay loop is fun and addictive, with a solid progression system that keeps players motivated.

The game suffers from significant technical issues, including crashes and problems related to Denuvo DRM, which can prevent players from launching the game altogether.
Many players find the DLC pricing excessive and feel that essential content is locked behind paywalls, making the overall experience feel incomplete.
The requirement to disable virtualization features in BIOS to play the game is frustrating and inconvenient for many users, limiting accessibility.

story
87 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
59%
3%
The game's story is generally well-received, featuring engaging characters, quirky storytelling, and enjoyable cutscenes, though some players find it somewhat simplistic or repetitive. While the main quest offers a fun sci-fi narrative, many reviewers express a desire for more variety in side missions and character interactions. Overall, the story provides a solid backdrop for exploration and gameplay, appealing particularly to younger audiences and those looking for a casual gaming 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 (even though some pilots are stronger than the others), 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, good story, amazing cutscene animations and artistic style, and finally the ships and combat feel good and fluid.”
- “Moving on from there, the meat of this game isn't its story.”
- “The story is not very long when excluding all the optional grinds... Ubisoft should really add online co-op to this game, and the grind would be a lot better.”
- “The plot is difficult to get invested in, aside from the Star Fox side story in the Switch version.”
gameplay
56 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
57%
5%
The gameplay of Starlink is characterized by a mix of smooth mechanics and creative elements, offering a fun space action experience with a variety of customization options and engaging combat. However, many players find the gameplay to become repetitive over time, with a lack of depth in certain mechanics and limited content that cannot be unlocked through regular play. While the game features beautiful graphics and a captivating atmosphere, some reviewers express a desire for more diverse missions and structures to enhance the overall experience.
- “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.”
- “Starlink's core gameplay is this: you fly from planet to planet and push back the Legion (the bad guys), you do this by capturing cities, hiring outposts to join your cause or building your own outposts to defend the planet, remove the fog of war on the map or deliver resources at set intervals.”
- “Awesome game! It's like a shooter only with spaceships. Many planets you can fly or hover on, you start with 2 guns, one on each wing, allowing you to choose different weapon types. There are lots of mods that improve your weapons, and the storyline with cutscenes feels fresh. This is my new favorite game this year; it's not like any other game, finally something different and very enjoyable combat.”
- “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.”
graphics
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
65%
26%
9%
The graphics in the game have received widespread praise for their stunning visuals, high frame rates, and immersive aesthetics, with each planet showcasing unique color palettes. While some players noted that the graphics on the Switch version were lacking, the overall technical performance is described as fluid and smooth, enhancing the gameplay experience. The art style may not appeal to everyone, but many find it engaging and well-executed, contributing positively to the game's atmosphere.
- “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 color palette.”
- “On a technical side, the graphics are nice, great performance, 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.”
optimization
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
31%
19%
Overall, the game's optimization is generally praised, with many users reporting smooth performance and solid graphics, particularly on high-end systems. However, some players express concerns about the impact of Denuvo on performance and call for further optimization updates, especially from Ubisoft.
- “But the game itself is solid, fun, and well optimized.”
- “On a technical side, the graphics are nice, great performance; it's fluid and smooth.”
- “Performance - smooth as butter on my i9 9900k with an RTX 2080 on ultra settings.”
- “Still waiting for optimization update.”
- “I will never get another Ubisoft game ever if they don't optimize their platform and make gaming more accessible for their users.”
- “- Denuvo, which totally doesn't affect your game's performance negatively in the slightest, nooo :^)”
atmosphere
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
The game is praised for its stunning atmosphere and immersive gameplay music, allowing players to seamlessly pilot a spaceship through various environments in the atlas system, including both outer space and planetary atmospheres. The absence of loading times enhances the experience, while features like teleportation and atmospheric flight contribute to a dynamic and engaging atmosphere.
- “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 loadings of any kind - 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.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The music in the game is praised for creating a beautiful atmosphere that enhances the overall experience, with a good soundtrack that complements the gameplay. Reviewers note that the combination of music and art contributes significantly to the game's appeal, making it a standout in the open-world space genre.
- “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, music and art.”
stability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
67%
Users report significant stability issues with Ubisoft games, citing prolonged support ticket processes that often lead to repetitive troubleshooting requests without resolution. Despite some players experiencing good performance in 4K, the overall support experience has been frustrating and unhelpful, with delays and inadequate responses from the company.
- “Runs great in 4K!”
- “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.'”
- “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.'”
grinding
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
67%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be quite tedious and repetitive, often requiring significant time investment to progress. However, having a variety of weapons and pilots can alleviate some of the monotony, making the experience feel less burdensome. Overall, while the missions are enjoyable initially, the grind can become overwhelming.
- “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.”
monetization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization strategy of the game, particularly its DLCs, is criticized as being a typical cash grab by Ubisoft, with players feeling that these additional content offerings are unnecessary.
- “The DLCs, like always, are unnecessary cash grabs from the house of Ubisoft.”
- “The DLCs, like always, are unnecessary cash grabs from the house of Ubisoft.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The reviews indicate that the game's replayability is considered sub-par, suggesting limited incentive for players to revisit the game after completing it.
- “Replayability is sub-par.”
- “Replayability is lacking.”
- “The game offers little incentive to replay.”

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79%Critics’ scoreBased on 10 critic reviews

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22h Median play time

16h Average play time

3-28h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 4 analyzed playthroughs

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Frequently Asked Questions

Starlink: Battle for Atlas is a arcade role playing shooter game with science fiction theme.

Starlink: Battle for Atlas is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Windows and others.

On average players spend around 16 hours playing Starlink: Battle for Atlas.

Starlink: Battle for Atlas was released on October 15, 2018.

Starlink: Battle for Atlas was developed by Ubisoft Toronto.

Starlink: Battle for Atlas has received mostly positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its stability.

Starlink: Battle for Atlas is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include Watch Dogs 2, Everspace 2, Star Control: Origins, Star Wars Outlaws, Tom Clancy's The Division 2 and others.

Starlink: Battle for Atlas

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