Stars Reach Review Summary

Serves as a spiritual successor to Star Wars Galaxies with great exploration and crafting, but remains too buggy and laggy to recommend in early access.

Game shows great potential: Players consistently note the game's strong foundation and promising vision, despite current imperfections. The core concept and skeleton are well-received, suggesting a bright future with continued development.

Exploration is highly praised: Exploration is a standout feature, with players enjoying the vast number of planets and the satisfying sense of discovery. The open-world sandbox and world generation are frequently highlighted as major strengths.

Crafting and building are enjoyable: Crafting and base building are fun and intricate, adding depth to the gameplay. Players enjoy the combination of crafting, farming, and combat, which enhances the overall experience.

Gameplay is fun and engaging: The game is described as fun and engaging, with enjoyable combat, missions, and overall gameplay. Players find the experience rewarding, especially after the tutorial phase.

Developers are responsive and active: The development team is praised for being active, communicative, and responsive to player feedback. They quickly fix bugs and are dedicated to shaping the game based on community input.

Not ready for early access: The game was launched into Early Access in an unfinished, buggy state that feels more like a pre-alpha. Many players believe it should not have been sold at its current price.

Buggy and laggy experience: Players frequently report bugs, glitches, lag, and performance issues that affect gameplay. The game often feels unpolished and unstable, leading to frustration.

Performance issues in areas: Specific areas like the tutorial zone experience significant lag and stuttering. This makes early gameplay feel less smooth and can deter new players.

Combat feels clunky: The combat mechanics are often described as janky or not great, with movements feeling awkward. This affects the core gameplay loop and player satisfaction.

Poor UI design: The user interface is widely criticized as unintuitive, poorly designed, and generally terrible. This negatively impacts the overall player experience.

Sandbox MMO with social elements: Players describe the game as a sandbox MMORPG featuring player-driven progression and simulation of living worlds. It emphasizes social interaction and emergent gameplay.

Planetary building and terraforming: The game allows players to build settlements, claim planets, and terraform, with actions shaping the universe. Endless planets are available for exploration and control.

Complex crafting system: The game features a complex crafting system that includes homesteading and combat. Crafting often requires player-made stations, adding depth.

Early Access stage: The game is currently in Early Access, with some players noting it is in late alpha. This indicates ongoing development and potential for change.

Player housing and government: Players can establish settlements with infrastructure, elections, and government systems. This supports deep social and political gameplay.

Pervasive lag and stuttering: Many players report significant lag, stuttering, and rubber-banding across various parts of the game, which severely harms the experience. This issue appears consistently across multiple clusters, indicating a widespread performance problem.

Starter and tutorial areas laggy: Performance is particularly poor in the starter and tutorial areas, with increased lag, jank, and longer completion times. This problem often improves once players progress further into the game.

Optimization and frame rate issues: Players experience low frame rates, severe frame drops, and constant stuttering, indicating poor optimization and technical problems. This is particularly noticeable during combat or in busy areas.

Performance poor on high-end hardware: The game struggles to run smoothly even on high-end PCs, with stuttering, low frame rates, and optimization issues. This suggests a lack of proper optimization and possibly hardware-specific problems.

Crashes and game freezes: Frequent crashes, game lock-ups, and freezing are reported, especially during loading screens or when entering new regions, sometimes requiring restarts. This instability is a major concern for players.

Not recommended in current state: Many reviewers advise against purchasing the game until it receives further development, citing its unfinished and buggy nature. Some explicitly state that it is not worth the current price.

Buy to support development: A significant portion of positive reviews recommend purchasing the game to support the developers and the project's future, even if the game is not yet polished. This is seen as a way to fund the vision.

Recommended for sandbox and SWG fans: Fans of Star Wars Galaxies (SWG), Ultima Online (UO), and sandbox MMOs in general are likely to enjoy this game. The recommendation is specifically tailored to those who appreciate exploration, crafting, and player-driven economies.

Support early access with caution: Some reviewers recommend buying only if you are willing to support the development and accept the current alpha/pre-alpha state. This is not a purchase for immediate enjoyment but for long-term investment.

Avoid for now, wait later: Many suggest not buying now and instead checking back in a few months or years when the game might be more stable and complete. This avoids the frustration of an unfinished product.

Community fair range: $10.00 - $20.00.

Session length: 6.0h.

The game's early tutorial zone is plagued by lag, bugs, and slow progression, but most players report that enjoyment significantly increases once they leave the starting area and begin exploring planets and engaging with the sandbox activities.

Reported time to anchor: 30m.

Friction: Tutorial zone lag and stuttering; Slow progression (navigation, mining); Buggy tutorial quests (crashes, stuck); Unclear tutorial directions; Queue issues during early access.

Unlock drivers: Leaving the tutorial/starting zone; Exploring other planets; Starting missions from kiosk; Engaging with social sandbox; Having freedom to approach activities.

Enthusiastic Sandbox Creator: Social, builder, explorer, active in terraforming and crafting. Motivation: To build, terraform, and socialize in a persistent sandbox world. Stance: buy.

Disappointed Waiter: Patient, quality-focused, may have tried the game and quit due to rough state. Motivation: To see the game improved before investing time or money. Stance: no buy.

Cautious Supporter: Engaged but critical, often long-term players who compare to classic MMOs. Motivation: To support the game's vision while enjoying what works, despite flaws. Stance: sale.

Performance is generally positive for the Windows 12-15GB VRAM cohort, but severe issues dominate in the Windows 16GB+ VRAM and Windows 8-11GB VRAM cohorts.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: positive. Most players report good performance after initial tutorial area, with only minor lag in hubs.

Windows 16GB+ VRAM: negative. Overwhelmingly negative reports of severe stuttering, frequent crashes, and unplayable performance.

Windows 8-11GB VRAM: negative. Majority of players report serious stuttering and performance issues, making the game feel unplayable.

Game is early access alpha: The game is currently in early access and alpha status, with many reviewers noting it is unfinished and rough around the edges. Developers are upfront about its state, but some feel it was released prematurely.

Spiritual successor to Star Wars Galaxies: Many reviewers compare the game to Star Wars Galaxies, seeing it as a spiritual successor that aims to emulate its features. Some note that Star Wars Galaxies had better features, while others simply draw the comparison without specifics.

Kickstarter backed project: Several reviewers mention backing the game on Kickstarter, indicating it is a crowdfunded project. This context is used to discuss the game's development progress and expectations.

Not a theme park MMO: The game is described as unique compared to generic theme park MMOs like World of Warcraft. Reviewers appreciate its departure from the typical MMO structure.

Priced at thirty dollars: The game's pricing structure includes a lowest price of $30, which some reviewers consider overpriced for the current state. This is a common point of discussion.