Game: Star Renegades
Genre: Tactical RPG, Roguelite
System: PC (Also on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One & PS4)
Developer|Publisher: Massive Damage | Raw Fury
Age Rating: EU 12+ | US Teen
Price: UK £19.99 | EU €19,99 | US $14.99
Release Date: September 8th 2020
Review code provided with many thanks to Raw Fury
Winning Streak
Raw Fury is quickly becoming one of my favourite publishers in gaming. This year alone they have been on quite the hot streak of publishing awesome game after awesome game like West of Dead and Atomicrops. Both of which were reviewed by our fantastic writer Ash. Now we have Star Renegades. Does this continue Raw Fury’s streak of brilliance? I think there’s a good chance.
Fight the Imperium
Star Renegades is about taking down the evil robotic force of the Imperium. A highly dangerous and difficult enemy that excels at wiping you and your band of heroes out. This is where the story has a little clever twist. There is a service robot named J5T-1N that is able to travel between dimensions and warn of the Imperium threat. Basically every time you fail in the game it’s brushed off as a failed dimension. The robot heads back and you try again hoping the dimension you’re in this time is the winner. It’s nice to see a game with a rogue-lite system going on to have a decent story to back up the reason you die over and over again. The feel of the plot is somewhat like the film Edge of Tomorrow or Live, Die, Repeat depending where you viewed it.
Wow Those Graphics
Surrounding Star Renegades is a detailed cyberpunk graphic style. It’s gorgeous and something to behold. While screenshots look like detailed pixel sprites the animations are also incredible. This game is quite the treat for the eyeballs. The soundtrack and the sound effects feel appropriately sci-fi and compliment the gameplay very nicely. The podcasts were switched off for my playthroughs here.
Begin a Run
When you start a run of Star Renegades you pick three heroes to take on a mission. You then head onto a map where you can move from area to area. There are usually multiple routes to your mission goal so you can plan the route you want to take by looking at the level map. Some routes will reward you with different items that may aid you better than others depending on how your run is going. Once you move to an area you usually can’t move back so you need to choose wisely. With each move, it’s likely you’ll encounter some robot baddies which is where the battle system comes in.
Battle System
Battles are turn-based but there are a lot of deep mechanics to consider with Star Renegades. When it is your turn you’re able to choose to attack, defend, or use a special ability if you have one. When you choose to attack a timeline at the top of the screen will tell you when your character will attack as well as your enemy. This helps you plan out your strategy. The main idea seems to be to ideally attack your enemy before they attack you so you can stagger them allowing for more chance for other characters to gain a critical hit on them. Of course, there are benefits to a delayed attack that delays more damage or just choosing to defend.
The game does a good job teaching you the basics of the battle system and even allows you to access assistance in the menus should you need a refresher. I personally enjoyed experimenting with the different characters and coming up with a different strategy in an attempt to win the day. There is of course is no right or wrong way to accomplish the task if things do fall apart your lessons are carried over to the next run.
Camp Out
Every now and then the day will end and you have to make camp for the night. This moment allows you to use ability cards to add abilities and perks to your characters for the next day such as heal them or increase their critical chance. It also increases the relationship between you and the character that played it. Sort of adding a Fire Emblem style relationship reward system into the mix. As the relationship improves you unlock even more perks. Kinda wish it was that easy in real life just give a card to someone and we were friends. Oh well. After a successful battle, you can level your characters up. You are also able to equip each character with new weapons and armor dotted around the place. Once you die though all your equipment, levels, and relationship experience go poof. Which is kinda heartbreaking at times.
A Chance for Revenge
If you get defeated by a commander they get promoted up the ranks in the Imperium adding a Nemesis style system reminiscent of Shadow of Mordor. Though it made my brain hurt why I would be taking on this enemy later for revenge when theoretically I’m playing in a different dimension. Ow, my brain.
Between runs, you are able to unlock new characters as well as perks and abilities to aid you in your quest. The game can turn into a bit of grind as unlocking new things took a long time for me. But that’s mostly because I just suck to tactical RPGs. I guess the only niggle I had with the game is you can’t adjust the difficulty. You just have to grind away at runs until the gaming gods smile down upon you.
Resist, Reclaim, Revive, Repeat
Star Renegades is a beautiful looking futuristic game with fun memorable characters and deep tactical gameplay to match. Certainly not an easy game. The Imperium is a hard enemy to stand up to. But with every failed attempt comes new lessons in the hopes of finally entering that dimension where you succeed. Star Renegades is a game I won’t be putting down anytime soon and look forward to its future updates.
Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up!
Notes
Turns out the fun doesn’t stop at launch as the developers are planning to continue to support the game in the future. This includes new characters, enemies, and items the works! Hey if I’m lucky maybe they will include a mode where I don’t suck so much. Or maybe that’s in a different dimension.