Preview code provided with many thanks to Valhalla Cats.
Stars in the Trash is a short little demo about a little cat. Players have to move through the world as the cat protagonist, hoping to get outside and see the world.
The Look of Stars in the Trash
What an adorable game! You can tell a lot of love went into every aspect of this game’s visuals; everything looks hand-drawn and gorgeous. The movements of the animals are lovingly rendered and realistic. The cat’s sad meowing was so real in fact that I had a very visceral reaction to it, and I felt the need to go and hug my cat.
The characters are life-like; they have natural movements although they are very cartoonish. It feels a lot like playing a Disney movie. I was immediately enamoured with the two main characters: a grey cat with a lot of cat-like attitudes and an adorable handicapped dog with a wheelchair.
The Gameplay
Stars in the Trash is played like most platformers; players have movement keys and interaction keys and not much else. There are left and right movements, action, attack, and pick-up buttons. There is also a button to crouch that turns the main character into a ninja-like sneaky kitten.
The problem for me was the awkwardness of the layout of the buttons; I really wanted to remap the keys or use a controller to play this game. The movement is the arrow keys, and the interaction buttons were all on the left hand. Not my ideal setup for any game; I’m hoping controller support will be part of the full release.
Different Game Elements
Stars in the Trash has elements of a puzzle platformer, an RPG, and a visual novel that all kind of blend together to make a cute little game that seems great for all ages. Some of the things that can be interacted with don’t stand out very well from the background, so a hint system would also be a boon in this game. I got a little bit stuck when I was supposed to help my dog friend out with a toy up on a high shelf he couldn’t reach.
There is a brief bit of combat, and the combat seems fairly straightforward. I liked the way you have to use the different interact, roll, and dodge buttons in order to kill the Evil Vacuum Cleaner that attacks you. The fight didn’t seem to really fit in with the story of what was happening at the time, but it felt like it was thrown into the demo to give players an idea of what the combat will be like in the full release.
Overall Thoughts and Impression
This game is wonderful. I love the sound design, the music, the characters, and the animation! From the blurb, this game sounds super cute story-wise too! The demo really gives a great idea of what playing the game will be without spoiling any of the tales. I’m really looking forward to what this game will turn out to be.
I love any game that really feels like a good cat-like game. So I want to be a cat, pet the cats, find the cats, and interact with cats. Between this game, Stray, and some of the other titles I’ve gotten to play this year, I’m super excited for more cat games! Bring on the kittens.
You can find the Stars in Trash demo here on Steam.