Star Renegades – Review (PC)

After having first played Star Renegades at PAX East 2019, one of our most anticipated indies is finally here. Like most people, we were initially struck by its vibrant and charismatic pixel art style. The gameplay in the original demo was a satisfying mix of intricate and rewarding turn-based RPG mechanics with a unique timeline based twist. I’m happy to say that over a year and a half since we first played, developer Massive Damage has delivered on our lofty expectations, and then some, with the full release of Star Renegades.

What separates Star Renegades from a traditional turn-based RPG is its use of a timing system. At the beginning of every encounter a timeline at the top of the screen shows the exact point in a given round when an Imperium soldier is going to attack. You can use your own attacks to stagger an enemy which pushes their attack further back in the timeline. If used strategically, you can actually break an enemy and make it so they don’t attack at all in the round. Staggers can be daisy chained to continuously push weaker enemies deeper into the timeline of every round, whittling away at their HP before they even have a chance to attack. There are trade-offs with your own party’s abilities that players will need to balance. Some heavy attacks deal huge amounts of damage, but take longer to execute and don’t stagger an enemy very far into the timeline.

In addition to being able to see when an adversary is going to attack, you’re also able to see details about the ability they are about to execute and which party member they’ll be going after. This allows for further tactical planning. It may be tempting to go for a kill shot or armor shattering onslaught. But if all of your enemies are targeting a single party member with brutal attacks, you may instead opt to deflect or provide a shield buff for the targeted ally. It may seem like Star Renegades is providing a massive amount of foresight to the player to the point where it makes things too easy. But what this actually does is make for layers upon layers of strategic planning and tactical execution. Every encounter, especially boss battles, has the potential to play out like a chess match. One missed deflect, staggering the wrong enemy or focusing too heavily on damage dealing can have huge ramifications on any given fight. You’re given all the information you need to succeed – it’s just a matter of using your own party’s abilities to balance damage dealing and managing the timeline.

Adding further strategic depth is a Camp System. Each mission plays out over a finite number of days. While the sun is up, your party can roam around a map made up of small encounter areas separated by breach points or bridges. This is when you’ll move from battle to battle while picking up valuable DNA for leveling up, Credits for purchases, and Equipment upgrades during the day. When night falls, however, you’ll need to camp with your party. Each member has a set of cards that they can exchange with other party members. These cards provide a number of different uses including damage or defensive buffs for upcoming battles or instant heals to armor or health. Since only a limited number of cards can be used for each camping session, players will need to choose wisely for the next day’s battles. As allies exchange cards with one and other, their relationship increases. Friendships in this relationship system can blossom and allow for special joint attacks in battle.

The visuals in Star Renegades strikes a perfect balance between vibrancy and nostalgia. Combining vivid pink hues with endearing pixel art sprites and varying planetary settings has gameplay pop off your screen from start to finish. Not to mention the expert use of a 2DX effect where the point of view pans in and out to give the illusion of a third dimension. All of these aspects come together to make Star Renegades one of the most visually stunning pixel art games ever.

If Massive Damage’s previous game, Halcyon 6, was a nod to Star Trek, then Star Renegades is clearly the developer’s equivalent ode to Star Wars. The space opera’s influences and inspirations can be seen in several different areas throughout the game’s story and settings. This plays out from a canteen with a band playing a jaunty tune eerily similar to the one playing just before Greedo shot first to the companion droid J5T-1N traveling across dimensions to deliver a distress message to an unlikely group of heroes. Fans of mainstream sci-fi will have a lot to like in Star Renegade’s dimension hopping story and light hearted character interaction with just the right amount of humor.

Where the game falters slightly is in its shoehorning of a nemesis system. Boss enemies are randomly generated and displayed on a grid-like hierarchy map for players to see. Unfortunately, these elite enemies quickly start to feel too similar and eliminating them from battles didn’t feel as impactful as it should have. The best part about clearing one of these bosses from the nemesis grid was collecting whatever equipment upgrade they were guarding. Further to this there are some slight traversal based annoyances. When trying to cross bridges or breach points, it can be difficult to find the exact point you have to click to trigger the entry animation. Luckily these are minor gripes and do little to get in the way of what makes the game fun.

Simply put, Star Renegades is an indie masterpiece. The depth of its gameplay and tactics make it one of the most creative and rewarding turn based experiences available today. Couple that with captivating visuals and an endearing story and cast of characters make this one that you cannot miss. As one of our most anticipated indie releases from the last two years, Star Renegades was more than worth the wait.

Star Renegades releases on Steam on Tuesday, September 8th, 2020.

*Star Renegades was provided to the reviewer by the publishing company, but this in no way affected the reviewer’s opinion.