Asterigos Review: Reach For The Stars
I have to admit, this one almost passed me by. Having spent a couple of hundred hours exploring the Lands Between in Elden Ring earlier this year, and having not long since reviewed the excellent Steel Rising, I felt like I was just about done with Souls-likes for 2022. That was, of course, until I got offered the chance to check out Asterigos: Curse of the Stars, which immediately caught my eye with its striking art style and fresh-looking combat. I, of course, snapped up the opportunity to review Asterigos, and oh boy, am I glad I did, because it’s absolutely fantastic.
Taking inspiration from Greek and Roman mythology, Asterigos sends players on a whirlwind adventure through the city of Aphes. Aphes has descended into chaos, with its inhabitants plagued by a curse that renders them immortal and unable to reproduce. Players take control of Hilda, who has been sent on a mission to locate her father and his military unit, who went missing on a crucial operation intended to lift the curse. Upon reaching Aphes, Hilda is taken in by the adherents, a clandestine group operating out of the city’s sewers, dedicated to studying the issues plaguing Aphes and combating the monsters and cursed inhabitants that now roam the streets. It turns out Hilda’s father has decided to assist Eumenides, the main antagonist and the man responsible for the sinister threat to life in the city, and so it falls on Hilda’s shoulders to locate her father and uncover the mystery behind the curse.
Unlike From Software’s work, Asterigos puts its story front and center, and it’s a welcome decision given the quality of the narrative and storytelling on display. Cutscenes are plentiful, as are the plethora of Bioware-style optional conversations to be had with the colorful cast of side characters. It’s a world to immerse yourself in, with each conversation peeling back another layer of Aphes’ complex history, and I feel confident in saying that a decent portion of my playthrough was spent conversing with the cast and poring over collectible notes, eager to soak in every detail that the world of Asterigos offers.
Prepare To Die
When not obsessing over the story, you’ll likely find yourself engaged in battle, what with Asterigos being a Souls-like. I’m pleased to report that combat is the star of the show. Hilda can equip two weapons at any given time, with the primary attack for your first being mapped to the right shoulder button, and the second mapped to the right trigger. Each weapon also has a special move, mapped to the left shoulder button and trigger.
Having two weapons accessible at any given time opens the door to all manner of flashy and effective combos. My playstyle throughout saw me opt for the daggers and magic staff combo. With my daggers, I could get in close, unleashing a flurry of deadly attacks in quick succession, before using the daggers’ special move to quickly leap to safety which would enable me to then instantly begin firing ranged projectiles from a safe distance. The instantaneous and responsive nature with which Hilda switches between weapons makes for a highly satisfying experience enabling you to adapt on the fly to counter whatever circumstances you face.
Combat options are further deepened by the four skills that Hilda can have equipped at any given time, obtained by dumping points into an extensive talent tree. Given my playstyle with my standard weapons largely focused on single target damage, I was able to plug the gap with regards to my area of effect capabilities by stacking skills that specialized in dealing damage to multiple enemies at once. Within a few hours of play, I had turned Hilda into a hybrid class of sorts – on one hand, a dagger-wielding assassin who was deadly at close range, on the other, an almighty powerful mage, able to create distance while raining down barrages of lightning bolts and causing tremendous earthquakes beneath the feet of my foes.
That level of flexibility is really only scratching the surface of what Asterigos has to offer in the combat department. Take into account the multiple weapon types that Hilda comes across, being able to switch between elemental attack types on the fly, and the vast talent and skill trees, chances are that even if you wind up building towards a playstyle that doesn’t suit you, you’ll be able to find something that absolutely does.
This flexibility is helped in part by the simplified character leveling system. Being a Souls-like, Hilda naturally gets stronger as she beats down on enemies, able to then spend points on three stats that upgrade her health, standard attack power, and the damage done with skills. Whilst three stats may not sound like much, it does mean that unlike From Software’s works with their huge character sheets and multiple stats, it isn’t really possible to waste stat points here as the three stats are all equally useful irrespective of how you build your character. Sure, it isn’t the deepest system out there, but there is plenty of variety to be found with the weapons and skills themselves, and I actually welcomed a character progression system that doesn’t punish careless choices the way many Souls-likes can.
Git Gud
As with most good Souls-likes, a sound combat system is only half the battle when it comes to providing a satisfying gameplay loop. The other half typically comes from the enemy variety, satisfying boss encounters, and an adequate level of challenge. Thankfully Asterigos largely succeeds on all three fronts.
Put simply, the enemy variety from area to area is immense, each sporting imaginative designs with all sorts of erratic attack patterns that you’ll need to commit to memory in order to succeed. Asterigos never gets as challenging as its inspiration outside of its boss battles, but that isn’t to say that the challenge isn’t there. On the hardest difficulty, the impeccably designed boss battles are likely to push even the most seasoned Souls-like player to their limits. They demand quick reflexes as well as a thorough understanding of your weapon’s movesets, and I’m not afraid to admit that a few encounters took me well over an hour to finally conquer.
If that level of challenge doesn’t appeal to you, then fear not, as Asterigos has you covered with multiple difficulty levels. Genre snobs might incorrectly turn their noses up at such concessions being made for the more casual player, but to hell with them, I say. Asterigos isn’t trying to be the same overwhelming challenge posed by some of its competitors. At its core, it’s a narrative-heavy action RPG that the developers clearly want everyone to be able to enjoy irrespective of skill level, and, on that front, they have absolutely succeeded.
Room For Improvement
Whilst there’s a lot to love about Asterigos, it isn’t without flaws that I’d love to see improved upon if we’re ever to see a sequel. Level design, whilst not the worst example of the genre, can be a bit bland. One of my favorite elements of most Souls-likes is labyrinthine level design, spaces that loop back in on themselves in interesting and logical ways that make the space you’re exploring feel more like an actual place rather than a video game level. Asterigos does pepper its environments with the odd shortcut here and there, but they never come close to providing the wow moments we’ve come to expect from the genre.
I should add, this isn’t a knock against the visual design at all. In fact, Asterigos is generally a great-looking game, leaning into its Saturday morning cartoon aesthetic, and using its Greek and Roman mythology influences to create spaces that are always visually appealing. It’s just that the level design itself is a tad underwhelming.
My other gripes largely relate to minor quality-of-life issues. Something I hate in Souls-likes with a passion is health items that don’t replenish when resting at checkpoints. Asterigos is very much guilty of this, with health vials being a purchasable consumable instead. Further irritating is the fact that enemies do sometimes drop these, but, if you’re carrying the max of twenty, these will be sent to your stash, which you can’t access unless you travel back to the Adherent hideout that serves as the Hub world. You can fast travel here, but only via another consumable, with yet another item then being needed to travel back to the latest checkpoint in the area you’re currently traveling through.
It creates this frustrating loop of having to constantly buy consumables to ensure that should a boss wipe you out and clear you of your health items during that run, you have the items needed to go back to base and replenish. These items are relatively cheap to buy, and the currency is easily obtainable, with it dropping from each enemy killed. Still, the ease with which you can obtain this stuff just begs the question as to why the developers felt the need to even have this hurdle in place. Asterigos would absolutely be a better game if this system was streamlined, so here’s hoping the developers at least consider a patch that allows players to replenish their supplies from checkpoints, rather than having to return to the Hub world.
A Feast For The Eyes
I touched on presentation when talking about level design earlier, but I feel the need to emphasize again just how great Asterigos looks. It isn’t the sharpest-looking game ever, but with the art direction falling somewhere between a Disney production and Ubisoft’s Immortals: Fenyx Rising, it’s a title that constantly looks fantastic. It’s got a great score as well, kicking in at just the right moments, usually just as the boss battles start ramping up, complimenting the action perfectly.
Performance is rock solid as well, and I rarely noticed any frame drops outside of a few screen-filling area-of-effect attacks that certain bosses like to spam with reckless abandon. Between the gorgeous visuals, impeccable performance, and a welcome absence of meaningful bugs, the development team should be especially proud of their achievements, more so when you consider this is Acme Gamestudios’ first project to date.
Conclusion
Asterigos: Curse of the Stars is a triumph, a title of such confidence and quality that it feels like the work of a veteran studio, rather than a studio trying its hand at the genre for the first time. With a truly flexible combat system, an engaging and deep narrative, and a gorgeous visual style that makes the most of its Greek and Roman inspirations, Asterigos: Curse of the Stars easily overcomes any minor criticisms that can be raised against the slightly lacking level design and quality of life issues. Even if you’re like me, and felt like you had already had your fill of Souls-likes for 2022, give Asterigos: Curse of the Stars a chance, and you’ll likely find yourself falling in love with the genre all over again.
Final Verdict: 4.5/5
Available On:PS5 (Reviewed), PS4, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, PC; Publisher: tinyBuild; Developer: Acme Gamestudios; Players: 1; Released: October 11, 2022; MSRP: $34.99
Full Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher.
