Star Renegades (PS4) Review
Release Date: March 10, 2021
Publisher/Developer: Massive Damage/Raw Fury
Platform: PS4 (reviewed), previously available on Steam, Xbox One, Switch
Price: $24.49
The diabolical Imperium and it’s monstrous military is hell bent on taking over everything it touches, even if it means crossing dimensions. They have already destroyed at least one dimension, and are on their way to the next. A brilliant scientist has created a droid, J5T-1N, with the ability to travel between dimensions and warn others of the incoming threat. This sets up a unique niche that is a cross between a rougelike and RPG.
Star Renegade’s heroes are likable and charismatic, but it’s crazy to think that when they’re dead, they stay dead. You fight the alien menace tooth and nail until every one of your party members gets vaporized. You take the knowledge from your battles and hop to the next dimension in the hopes of making it through next time. I both love and hate the bittersweetness of it all: in a certain gameplay mechanic characters will bond, perhaps even romance, but if they die and you dimension hop, you find them all over again, oblivious to the love lost by their doppelgangers.
Each world you visit is procedurally generated, with a set number of battles and challenges before coming to a main map. The plot states that the enemy needs a particular resource and have constructed barriers to block your party. J5T-IN can destroy three of these barriers a day before the party camps for the night. This mechanic is there to force you into making choices: you can take a longer route full of easy enemies that will get you to the goal at the last minute before the enemy arrives, or head through the powerhouses, grab the loot, and get there in plenty of time to strategize a plan. In the evenings, the team camps and can use cards representing social issues to strengthen bonds and add effects to character attacks. Strengthen bonds enough and characters will be able to perform team up attacks for extra damage.
Star Renegades has a timeline in battle, and attacks can stun enemies, knocking them back in turn order or even knocking them out of turn. You can set up your three attackers in any order as you see fit. Some characters may be able to attack before the round even starts or set up buffs and debuffs to aid your team. I really enjoyed this part of the game once I wrapped my head around it: every option shows you how much the timeline, armor, and health of each character would be effected before nailing it down, and pulling together that perfect round where you go from “certain your character will die” to “unscathed and enemies stunned” is exhilarating.
There are a couple issues with general development that I had, but there more “warning on what is going on” rather than “core problems with the game” and they may very well be personal experiences. Enemy life bars are right above the characters, and if they are standing in a line their data kind of blurs in with the beautiful sprite animation. Also, it took me a couple of “dimensions” to figure out how the timer works and what you’re supposed to do. The whole “does in three days mean 3-2-now or 3-2-1-now” and that you aren’t to get to the spot to prevent the invasion, but to prepare, et cetera. These aren’t big detractors, just things I wish were explained a little better.
Overall, I love the game mechanics and presentation. The spritework is well detailed, and despite there being minimal narrative in general gameplay, you really can see all of the characters’ personality and quirks through their general modeling and behaviors. I thought it strange at first to mix a roguelike with traditional RPG leveling on characters that reset after every run, but the quick leveling and strategy of choosing a team that can grow together to reach their potential really fits well with the roguelike genre. Once you deal with a couple of minor growing pains to learn the mechanics of the game, you’ll find a game that, even though it has lots of depth, can offer that “short burst” gameplay allowing an RPG lover a combination of strategy and fast action.
Pros:
-Awesome time delay style strategic combat
-Cool “camping” mechanic enhances relationships
-Great spritework really brings out the personality of each character
Cons:
-Could use a little more logistics in the tutorial, but you get used to it eventually
Special thanks to Massive Damage/Raw Fury for providing a code for review!