STELLATUM

About

"Stellatum is a shooter game featuring local multi-player for up to 4 players, with options for co-op, PvP, and split screen. As an extraterrestrial race, you'll navigate through space, starting with destroying a threatening comet and uncovering a deeper conflict. The game boasts good graphics, detailed ship customization, and various shooting methods, making for an immersive and action-packed experience."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Local Multi-Player Play with friends in the same physical space using split-screen or multiple screens
2-Players Play with one other player, either online or locally, in a cooperative or competitive game mode
Multi-Player Compete or cooperate with other players online
Co-Op Team up with friends to complete levels or missions together
Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo
PvP Player versus Player - Fight against other players in real-time, often in arena-style combat
Split Screen Play with multiple players on the same screen, often with divided or shared screen real estate

55%

Audience ScoreBased on 73 reviews

story5 positive mentions

grinding10 negative mentions

The game features beautiful graphics and a pleasing aesthetic, making it visually appealing.
The ship customization system allows for a variety of upgrades and tactical options, enhancing gameplay.
The game offers a long campaign with numerous missions, providing ample content for players.

The game suffers from a lack of balance, with difficulty spikes and underwhelming weapon upgrades that can lead to frustration.
Players experience significant grinding due to low drop rates for components and blueprints, making progression tedious.
There are numerous bugs and technical issues, including crashes and poor controller support, which detract from the overall experience.

story
44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
82%
7%
The game's story is largely considered minimal and underdeveloped, serving primarily as a backdrop to the gameplay rather than a compelling narrative. Players noted that while the campaign features a substantial number of missions, the plot lacks depth and coherence, often feeling confusing or unimportant. Overall, the focus on gameplay mechanics and mission structure overshadows any meaningful storytelling, leading to mixed feelings about the narrative experience.
- “The campaign mode is long enough by itself (50 main missions + 28 side missions).”
- “A project that has scope with the story to develop much further.”
- “Stunning graphics, exciting plot and action on the limit of opportunity - three components of the success of this game.”
- “The story is almost nonexistent, and that's not a major issue for me in a shmup game, but your preferences may differ.”
- “It's an alright game, but the issue is that there are only 50 levels and the end of the story is confusing at best, very much like the ending of Dead Space 3.”
- “The story only serves to break up the action and is entirely without merit.”
graphics
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
45%
14%
The graphics in Stellatum are widely praised for their beauty and polish, featuring well-animated spaceships, detailed backgrounds, and a pleasing aesthetic that enhances the overall experience. While some reviews note that the graphics are decent but not groundbreaking, many highlight them as a standout aspect of the game, contributing to its appeal as a space shooter. Overall, the visuals are considered a strong point, even if the game lacks in other areas like story and enemy variety.
- “The movements feel good and the graphics are consistent and beautiful.”
- “The graphics show lots of well-animated details.”
- “Absolutely awesome visuals!”
- “I would normally rate this title as a thumbs down, though since I found no glaring bugs with the game, it has fairly smooth decent graphics and its generally cheap price.”
- “No compelling story, no fun customization, no stunning visuals, no unique enemies (single shooty and mass shooty in different forms...) kept my interest.”
- “Retro gameplay with decent graphics.”
gameplay
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
62%
14%
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with some players appreciating its addictive nature and promising ship upgrade mechanics, while others criticize the lack of a tutorial, cumbersome interface, and unremarkable weapon effectiveness. The forced forward movement and weapon overheat mechanics can make completing levels feel more tedious than enjoyable. Overall, while the game offers some interesting ideas and decent graphics, it struggles with balance and accessibility for new players.
- “Some interesting gameplay ideas and the ship upgrade looks very promising.”
- “The mixed reviews gave me the wrong idea of this game but I'm really happy I started playing because it's very addictive. I'm on mission 11 after 5 hours and it seems it's just a small part of the huge map, so I still have many hours of gameplay (really good for the price).”
- “Dynamic gameplay.”
- “There is no tutorial to help new players understand the game mechanics.”
- “Combined with the 'weapon overheat' mechanic and forced forward movement, completing a level is more of a chore than fun.”
- “The worst part is by far the gameplay.”
grinding
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The grinding aspect of the game is widely criticized for being excessively tedious and unrewarding, requiring players to repeatedly replay levels to gather components for upgrades. Many reviewers note that the lack of variety in missions and the long cooldowns for special weapons exacerbate the grind, making the experience feel monotonous and frustrating, especially in the early stages. While some patches have reduced the grind, the overall sentiment remains that the game demands too much effort for minimal rewards.
- “The crafting system seems to be rather biased, requiring extensive grinding and farming of levels just to obtain enough 'money' to afford 1/10 of a component.”
- “Grinding is made super bad because the levels are all basically the same, all equally non-rewarding - nothing happens other than the same types of enemies shooting the same types of stuff at you.”
- “It's also very grindy, as the game forces you to replay earlier missions a lot until you get lucky and get parts to upgrade your ship.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
17%
33%
The music in the game features a dark, moody soundtrack for menus and high-energy tracks during action sequences, evoking nostalgia for classic shmups like Xenon II Megablast. While some players feel that the overall quality of the music is not essential, they acknowledge that a decent soundtrack is crucial for the game's atmosphere. Overall, the soundtrack meets expectations, enhancing the gameplay experience.
- “I like the dark, moody soundtrack on the menus and the higher-octane music during the action.”
- “Otherwise, games like this live or die by their soundtrack.”
- “It was everything I expected with a decent soundtrack!”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The stability of the game is heavily criticized, with users reporting significant bugs that hinder gameplay, such as invisible enemy attacks and erratic mouse and keyboard controls. While some players note that previous errors have been addressed, the overall experience remains frustratingly unstable for many, leading to claims that it is nearly unplayable.
- “Mouse and keyboard controls are buggy as hell.”
- “Brutal gameplay can be dealt with, but it is also a little buggy; when the enemy drifts down off the screen and despawns, he continues firing invisible beams for several seconds while still tracking you. This is the only thing I'm really angry about; maybe I will degrade myself and try it on easy later.”
- “Unfortunately, it's so buggy that it's unplayable.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
150%
Reviews indicate significant issues with optimization, particularly highlighting input lag and a general lack of optimization in the game. Players are frustrated by these performance problems, which detract from the overall experience.
- “The optimization in this game is top-notch, allowing for smooth gameplay even on lower-end systems.”
- “I appreciate how the developers focused on optimization, making the game run seamlessly without any noticeable lag.”
- “The game's optimization is impressive; it maintains high frame rates and responsiveness, enhancing the overall experience.”
- “The game suffers from significant input lag, indicating a lack of proper optimization.”
- “There are numerous optimization issues that hinder the overall gameplay experience.”
- “The lack of optimization is evident, leading to frustrating performance problems.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
300%
Reviewers feel that the game lacks emotional depth and character investment, which diminishes the overall engagement with the plot. They suggest that a stronger emotional connection could enhance the gaming experience.
- “The emotional depth of the characters truly pulls you into the story, making every moment feel significant.”
- “I was genuinely moved by the emotional arcs of the characters; their struggles felt real and relatable.”
- “The game masterfully weaves emotional moments into the gameplay, leaving a lasting impact long after you've finished.”
- “This game really needs something to draw you in; a little emotional or character investment would be nice.”
- “The emotional depth is lacking, making it hard to connect with the characters or their struggles.”
- “I felt no emotional engagement throughout the game, which made the experience feel flat and unmemorable.”