Asterigos: Curse of the Stars by developer
Acme Gamestudio and publisher
tinyBuild—
Sony PlayStation 5 review written by
Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Asterigos: Curse of the Stars by Acme
Gamestudio and tinyBuild is an action adventure RPG "Soulslike" that
has gone a bit beyond the norm for the style. It gives us both the mystery of
something that happened over a thousand years ago while also giving us a story
of what's going on now with a full narrative instead of simply dropping small
hints within item descriptions or a couple lines from NPCs.
Tasked with finding the Northwind Legion
that hasn't reported back in some time, Hilda makes her way to the ancient and
once grand city of Aphes. Having more than one reason to go, other than being
an elite warrior even for her age, Hilda is looking for her father that leads
the Northwind Legion but will find so much more on her journey.
Cursed with what is called the Asterigos,
the city of Aphes and its citizens are actually still here a thousand years
later. Unable to leave, and cursed to ingest what is known as stardust to
survive, which they themselves are now made of, those that have survived are in
various states and not quite human anymore because of the curse. Joining forces
with one of the current faction leaders Minerva, Hilda sets out into the
various districts to both hopefully find and bring back the Northwind Legion.
And maybe, just maybe, become a hero to the people of Aphes while she’s at it.
While not perfect, as Asterigos: Curse of
the Stars has some issues, it was hard to put down. Hilda's journey, her
monologuing and her conversations with others helps build a picture and makes
the world feel alive. Whether within your main hub with NPCs or out in the
districts knocking on doors in-between combat, even the most desolate places
have people with something to say. Whether it helps you, or helps them as you
pick up a side quest, is entirely up to you.
This is a big enough departure from the
norm set by From Software where everything is grim, dark, desolate and, for
lack of a better word, empty. Are there enemies? Sure, but other than that and
an occasional NPC, the story is in the lore, in the item descriptions and
unless you go out of your way, you’re pretty much there for the thrill of the
challenge set out in front of you. Stepping a bit away from that, the only
other title I can think of is Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order. Otherwise, unlike
Cal's journey through the Star Wars universe between Episodes 3 and 4, Hilda's
journey is a bit scaled back in the Soulslike department and concentrated more
on the action adventure RPG Elements which wasn't a bad thing.
Soulslikes generally have a checklist.
●
Vague background. Check.
●
Combat heavy. Check.
●
Convoluted exploration and needing
to unlock shortcuts. Check.
●
Substance to pick up and lose if
you die? Check.
But, Hilda doesn't need Stardust to level
up, gain attribute points and new abilities. She just needs experience points
meaning you can level up at any point in time as long as you gain enough
experience points. The Stardust? That's for improving your equipment, buying
new items and the occasional side quest.
This part of the shift made things
interesting as you don’t even really notice it at first. Combat feels pretty
natural and while you gain experience points, the Stardust that you accumulate…
accumulates. If you fall in battle, you’ll lose a percentage of it but that’s
all there is to it. So it was a bit odd that it took until talking to a few
important NPCs to find out that you can improve your gear and then buy items.
Other than that, unless you really need it for “something”? There’s no stress
of losing it all before getting to a rest point and leveling up like a lot of
others out there.
Rest points found in and around Aphes
function pretty much as we’ve come to expect. These points act as checkpoints
to respawn from if you fall in battle while also allowing you to heal up and
respawn enemies. Eventually, a LONG while down the line, they’ll also act as
teleport points which may be one of my two biggest issues with Asterigoes:
Curse of the Stars. It’ll take about a dozen or so hours to unlock this feature.
It makes sense within context, but, other than a one-way ticket home? The
amount of manual backtracking was legendary at times making you wonder if
heading back to the hub was worth it for an upgrade or two, or new trinkets
that act as defensive items.
Because otherwise? The general flow of
the adventure is pretty solid and each part of the adventure leaves itself open
to what you want to do instead of railroading you. Having these choices was
nice as you could change up the path you take in a NG+ if you feel like it. Or,
if an area is currently too hard, you could go to another which may be a bit
easier, level up, gear up, and come back. Having that choice is always nice to
have and other than the introductory section and the finale? Everything in
between is up to you.
Getting into the actual combat itself,
well done. Given all your weapons from the beginning, Hilda has access to a
Sword and Shield, a Spear, Hammer, Staff, magical bracelets and a pair of
knives. Able to have two equipped at a time, each has both standard attack
patterns and an alternate ability. If you’re like me, you may want the Sword
and Shield at all times to be able to block and deal with most situations as
they are versatile. The knives however allow for an epic level dash attack that
can similarly be used for defense to get out of the way. Or, you could use the
staff which while in normal combat will use one of four elements, its alternate
mode acts as your true ranged weapon to take enemies out from afar.
Again deviating from the norm, Hilda
doesn’t need to worry about stamina for normal combat which others have also
successfully done. Each weapon has its own attack pattern and you can even mix
and match such as a few sword strikes and then a staff blast knocking you
backwards to give a bit of breathing room. Running, dodging and the alternate
forms, such as blocking or ranged staff attacks do cost SP so it’s still good
to keep an eye on that bar. Adding in an extra level, Hilda also has special
abilities with their own Astral Point (AP) cost that can be used whenever
there’s enough AP such as a devastating sword into hammer attack or a super
useful Captain America shield throw that also protects Hilda from attacks for a
short period of time.
A side to all of these, is that magic
isn’t just for the magical bracers or the staff. Split between four veins,
Hilda can infuse all of her attacks with Fire, Ice, Electricity and Astral
magic. Making me think of Skies of Arcadia a bit, I thought this was genius as
it also made me think to Nioh / Nioh 2 where there’s a “style” for every
situation and if one element doesn’t seem to be doing the trick? Swap! It takes
seconds to do and there’s no harm in trying out what works best depending on
the situation as it can only be to your advantage to get it right.
Finally, while improving your items with
Stardust back at the main hub through the Blacksmith will help, it’s the
abilities that you unlock while leveling up that will make a difference. Set
into three branches, Hilda has access to a skill tree that will allow you to
both learn these above abilities and make “adjustments” to certain attack
patterns or attacks. This threw me for a bit in the beginning as I was thinking
to myself, why would I trade “X” for “Y”?
For example, why would I want to be able
to run longer but run slower? But these options, or the option to accumulate
less points for special attacks while attacking but gain them from blocking or
taking damage, can be turned on or off as needed and you’re not stuck with the
decision. Some you’ll probably want to keep such as hold less healing items (20
-> 16) but have them be more effective.
This leads into the other issue that I
had with Asterigos: Curse of the Stars. With most things being so well
designed, even if it takes over a dozen hours to get fast traveling, healing
items and management was truly a curse. Hilda can carry by default twenty
potions. Get the ability to make them better but carry less, sixteen potions.
Get an item to bring that back up? There’s ways around everything BUT restocking
them. I thought I was mad for a while as I just could truly not figure it out.
Potions do not restock themselves if you
rest, if you fall in battle, or, if you go back to the hub. They’ll only
restock if they dropped from a defeated enemy, or, if you buy new ones.
HOWEVER, beside the current number within your inventory, you’ll see a stock
number which will range in the hundreds by the time you’ve completed your first
adventure. So where are those? Why can’t I have those? If you over buy from a
merchant? They’ll add to that number but you’ll never be able to access them. I
was originally fine with the Demons’ Souls approach, but even there, you could
restock from your storage. This could make certain sections rather tricky,
especially when you are faced with the choice of having to “run” all the way
back to where you are because you need healing items.
Otherwise, Acme Gamestudio and
tinyBuild’s Asterigos: Curse of the Stars is a solid adventure. Not simply
following the standard Soulslike formula, they’ve gone and made it their own
and have given us both the mysteries of the past as well as a solid journey in
the present.
Score: 8 / 10
