Game: Stars in the Trash
Genre: Adventure
System: Steam (Windows)
Developers | Publishers: Valhalla Cats | Valhalla Cats, IndieArk
Controller Support: Full
Price: US $11.99 | UK £9.99 | EU € 11,99
Release Date: December 9th, 2024
A review code was used, and many thanks to Press Engine.
Stars in the Trash is a completely hand-drawn adventure platformer. You play as a cat that finds themselves out on the street battling against a Dog Pound employee.
Content Warning: Pet death, animal death.
What is Stars in the Trash Like?
Stars in the Trash is, at its core, a platformer. It’s a very short, simple game, and when you break it down, you play as a cat that has to parkour his way across town and out into the world. But coupled with the beautiful artwork and the story, it becomes a whole lot more.
The true heart of Stars in the Trash lies in its obvious love for animals. A lot of attention and detail went into the movements and body expressions of the cats, all in a beautiful, Disney-like animation. All the panels of every animation were hand-drawn, and there are a lot of really loving details in every inch of those drawings.
The basic story follows the main character, a gray tabby male cat. He spends a lot of time trying to break out of his house, but he is often stopped by his fellow pet, the brown dog. Once he finally gets out of the house, he meets a lovely lady cat, and he decides to stay outside instead of returning home.
While you do have to solve some jumping puzzles, most of the game is moving through the world and letting the environment and the animals. And there are a lot of little things to take in.
Such An Adorable Game
Stars in the Trash has such a great sense of itself, and a great sense of humor. It features little jokes, like the scale that reads “Big Boy” above, some copies of cat memes in the background of the world you walk through, and even a cameo of Jackson Galaxy, one of the biggest names in cat behaviour and training people on TV and YouTube.
While Stars in the Trash is very short (I think I completed my playthrough in about two hours), it is worth it to get this stellar little story and the amazing animation. A lot is going on in this short little game, and I loved just about every moment I spent with it. There is so much attention to detail in every aspect of the game, and I was blown away by all the little things they went out of their way to put into this game. One of my favorite examples is that they went out of their way to make sure that the main character had an M on his forehead; all tabbies have a M in the fur on their foreheads.
A Couple of Small Issues
While I didn’t have any major issues or problems during my time with Stars in the Trash, I did have a couple of issues I wanted to bring up. The first major one is the lack of content warning. I am a pretty tough person when it comes to video games; I can play gory, scary, challenging titles without a thought, mowing down enemies and taking down monsters, but seeing a single animal being harmed is really tough for me emotionally.
There are a lot of pretty disturbing scenes in this. You get a Disney-style death in the middle of the story, and there are a lot of death animations if you fail one of the jumping puzzles. None of them are graphic (this is a wholesome game, after all), but some of them are hard to watch. I think a short little CW at the beginning of the game or on Steam to warn people what they are getting into would be a massive improvement. I felt a little bit like I was going to fall to pieces when the one animal character died in Stars in the Trash, and I feel like I would have handled it better if I had been warned.
The second little issue I had with Stars in the Trash was with the scene I screenshot and put below:
After a long chase scene, you are sliding down a roof. Your cat character has his eyes closed, and you slide for a long time. The only agency you have during this scene is that you can speed up a little bit and you can jump. But there is nothing to jump over, nothing to outrun. It’s a weirdly long scene, too; I felt like something was missing from it. I spent whole minutes sliding down the side of a roof, and basically, nothing was happening. It feels like a puzzle that someone didn’t finish.
The Sound Design in Stars in the Trash
I adored the sound design in Stars in the Trash. The barking, meowing, and other cat and animal sounds sounded real. The music is fantastic, and the sound effects are staggeringly beautiful. A whole lot of effort went into making it not just look great but also sound great. If you decide to pick up Stars in the Trash, please play it with headphones in; you won’t regret it.
Conclusion
Overall, I had tons of fun with Stars in the Trash. If you like things like the Aristocats or The Fox and the Hound, I think you will love this game. There are so many details, such as beautiful art and loving care and taking in every detail, that I think anyone who loves animals will dig this game. As I said in my preview of the Stars in the Trash demo, it feels like playing a Disney movie. Now that I’ve played the whole thing, it feels even more like that. I love this game a lot, and I think most of you will love it too.
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot
Do you like our content? Support LadiesGamers on Patreon!
Check out our Tiers and Benefits and join us.