Info about StarCrawlers:

Official game description:
**Crawlers Wanted: high pay, certain risk. Plausible deniability a must.**
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Build a crew of renegade adventurers on the fringes of space, taking jobs from megacorps to hunt bounties, sabotage rivals and conduct corporate espionage. If you can navigate the intricate politics of wealth and power, you might just survive long enough to spend your hard-won credits.  
You’re a Crawler, and that means you work for those that can pay. Asset recovery, commercial espionage, and mayhem for hire are just a few of your crew’s specialized services. If something shady needs doing, chances are a Crawler will be involved. Succeed and you’ll be rewarded with better pay then any corp drone can dream of. Plus, you'll earn the respect of the eclectic assortment of merchants, opportunists and adventurers who make their home in the fringes of space.  
Key Features:  
*   Wage strategic battles against futuristic enemies with an innovative time unit turn-based combat system.  
*   Procedurally-generated dungeons and events create endless replayability.  
*   Choose your allies and your foes wisely. Your choices will change how the story unfolds.  
*   Eight player classes each with unique abilities, both in combat and when exploring.  
*   Randomly generated weapons, armor and gear with upgradeable enhancements.  
*   Easy to Hardcore difficulty modes and optional permadeath.

Release date: May 23, 2017

Categories: Dungeon Crawler, Turn-based Combat, Tactical RPG, Procedural Generation, Class-based Combat, Sci-fi, Cyberpunk, Faction System, Loot-driven Combat System, Grid-based Combat


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Highly polished dungeon crawler (weight 0.97): Players consistently praise the game's polish, stability, and overall quality, highlighting its well-structured quests, depth, and presentation. The game is described as complete and enjoyable, even in Early Access.
- High replayability (weight 0.75): The game encourages multiple playthroughs with New Game+, dynamic content, and varied class/skill combinations. Players find it highly replayable due to procedural generation and faction systems.
- Unique class and skill variety (weight 0.58): The game offers imaginative classes with unique builds, skill trees, and playstyles, providing deep customization and replayability. Players appreciate the balance and synergy between characters and abilities.
- Sci-fi cyberpunk setting (weight 0.43): The game stands out with its futuristic cyberpunk/sci-fi theme, offering a refreshing alternative to classic fantasy dungeon crawlers. Players enjoy the setting's distinctiveness and nostalgic nods to older titles.
- Deep faction reputation system (weight 0.36): The faction system is well-implemented, offering meaningful choices, tangible benefits, and rich storytelling. Players enjoy aligning with or betraying factions, adding replayability.
- Diablo-style loot mechanics (weight 0.3): The loot system is randomized and addictive, with a variety of weapons, armor, and sidegrades. Players enjoy the collection and customization aspects, similar to Diablo or Borderlands.
- Beautiful art and environments (weight 0.26): The game features visually appealing graphics, detailed environments, and a cohesive art style. Players praise the aesthetics, lighting, and immersive world design.
- Excellent soundtrack (weight 0.15): The music is praised for fitting the game's atmosphere perfectly, with players highlighting its charm and thematic suitability. Composer Ben Prunty is specifically mentioned.
- Humor and witty writing (weight 0.14): The game's dialogue and NPC interactions are praised for their humor, wit, and charm. Players enjoy the lighthearted tone mixed with the sci-fi theme.
- Old-school grid-based movement (weight 0.14): The game revives classic dungeon-crawling mechanics with grid-based movement, free camera exploration, and influences from titles like Wizardry and Dungeon Master.
- Responsive and active developers (weight 0.12): Players appreciate the developers' active engagement with the community, frequent updates, and responsiveness to feedback and bug reports. This builds trust and improves the game over time.
- Customizable characters (weight 0.12): Players enjoy the ability to customize character appearances, names, and portraits, adding a personal touch and extending gameplay value.
- Intuitive and polished UI (weight 0.11): The user interface is clear, easy to use, and visually appealing, with improvements made based on community feedback. Players appreciate its hand-drawn art style.

Common complaints:
- Repetitive gameplay loop and content (weight 0.97): The game suffers from repetitive missions, dungeons, and enemy types, with procedurally generated content feeling bland and padded. Side quests and grinding exacerbate the lack of variety, making progression feel monotonous.
- Late-game combat is tedious and unbalanced (weight 0.91): Players report repetitive, overly long, and poorly balanced combat in late-game missions, with enemies having excessive HP and damage output. Difficulty spikes and lack of meaningful rewards make encounters frustrating rather than engaging.
- Game-breaking bugs and stability issues (weight 0.5): Frequent crashes, combat-breaking bugs, and progress-losing glitches plague the experience, particularly in Early Access. While some bugs are minor, others severely disrupt gameplay.
- Lack of strategic depth in combat (weight 0.38): Combat is criticized for being overly simplistic, with trivial decisions, limited skill variety, and no resource management. Long animations and lack of healing options further reduce engagement.
- Poor loot and progression systems (weight 0.38): Loot feels meaningless due to minor stat boosts, flawed RNG distribution, and arbitrary gear/skill selection. New Game+ scaling is broken, and grinding for upgrades lacks payoff, discouraging long-term play.
- Weak story and narrative engagement (weight 0.18): The storyline is described as incoherent, underdeveloped, and lacking depth, with repetitive missions and a disappointing ending. The game fails to motivate players through narrative or character development.
- Language barriers limit accessibility (weight 0.09): The game’s English-only localization and complex language use create difficulties for non-native speakers, particularly in understanding quest objectives and skill details.
- Early Access limitations (weight 0.08): As an Early Access title, the game lacks polish, missing features, and an incomplete story. Players acknowledge these issues as typical of the development stage but note they impact the current experience.

Gameplay feedback:
- Diverse class system with synergies (weight 0.67): Eight unique classes (e.g., Hacker, Tank, Ninja) offer distinct skill trees, playstyles, and synergies. Players highlight the variety and experimentation possible through class combinations and build diversity.
- Deep tactical turn-based combat (weight 0.51): The game features a rich turn-based combat system with strategic elements like initiative, time management, and class synergies. Players appreciate the tactical depth, including buffs, debuffs, and varied mechanics (e.g., CTB, cooldowns).
- First-person dungeon crawling (weight 0.46): The game revives the classic dungeon crawler genre with 3D exploration, grid-based movement, and procedurally generated levels. Players enjoy the retro-meets-modern aesthetic and loot-driven progression.
- Procedural loot and equipment (weight 0.41): Randomly generated loot, including gear upgrades and vendor trash, encourages farming and customization. Players note the progression from minor upgrades to legendary items.
- Faction reputation and storytelling (weight 0.38): A robust faction system with reputation mechanics influences missions, alliances, and narrative outcomes. Players engage with 20+ factions, each offering unique quests and consequences for choices.
- Branching missions and choices (weight 0.31): Main and side missions feature branching narratives, ethical dilemmas, and faction-driven storytelling. Procedural sidequests and random encounters enhance replayability.
- Scalable difficulty and permadeath (weight 0.27): Multiple difficulty modes (e.g., Ironman, Challenge) cater to casual and hardcore players. Enemy scaling and optional permadeath add replay value, though some note difficulty spikes.
- Hacking minigame with depth (weight 0.21): A dedicated hacking minigame (e.g., deck-building, tool configuration) adds variety to gameplay. Players control a single character during hacking segments, which integrate into turn-based combat.
- Puzzles and interactive exploration (weight 0.12): Environmental puzzles, hacking, and hidden loot encourage exploration beyond combat. Players interact with traps, secret rooms, and terminals to progress.
- Limited healing mechanics (weight 0.1): Healing is scarce and expensive, with medkits and critical strikes as primary sources. Players must strategize around resource scarcity, adding tension to survival elements.

Performance notes:
- Frequent game-breaking crashes (weight 0.15): Players report multiple instances of game-breaking bugs, including crashes after missions, freezes requiring task termination, and random crashes to desktop without saving. These issues severely disrupt gameplay and may lead to loss of progress.
- Cursor alignment issues (weight 0.06): Players experience cursor misalignment on Steam Deck and in free-look mode, making navigation and interaction difficult. This affects usability, particularly on non-traditional platforms.
- Unity engine performance problems (weight 0.06): High RAM and CPU usage linked to the Unity engine causes performance issues, particularly on lower-end machines, despite some reports of optimization.
- Minigame and dungeon bugs (weight 0.04): Bugs in the hacking minigame and dungeon restart mechanics frustrate players, as these issues interrupt core gameplay loops and progression.
- Touch-friendly UI design (weight 0.03): The UI is praised for being designed with touch screens in mind, improving accessibility and user experience on compatible devices.

Recommendations:
- Highly recommended for genre fans (weight 0.44): The game is consistently recommended for fans of dungeon crawlers, old-school RPGs, and sci-fi/cyberpunk themes. Players with nostalgia for titles like Wizardry, Might and Magic, or Shadowrun will find it particularly appealing.
- Strong value for price (weight 0.29): Reviewers highlight the game as a great purchase for its cost, offering many hours of gameplay. Even with minor frustrations, the consensus is that it delivers solid value, especially if on sale.
- Early Access considerations (weight 0.22): While the game is playable and worth buying now, some players suggest waiting for the full release to avoid potential bugs or missing content. Regular updates show developer commitment, which may ease concerns.
- Tactical combat praised (weight 0.08): Players who enjoy deep tactical combat and faction systems find the game highly rewarding. It’s particularly recommended for tacticians looking for a low-cost, strategy-heavy experience.
- Niche appeal for specific players (weight 0.08): The game is not universally recommended, as it may frustrate players seeking variety or those averse to grindy combat. It’s best suited for those who enjoy tactical, story-driven experiences with repetitive elements.
- Comparisons to better alternatives (weight 0.05): While the game is well-regarded, some reviewers suggest alternatives like *Operencia: Stolen Sun* might offer a superior dungeon-crawling experience. This limits its universal recommendation.

Other player notes:
- Buggy item functionality (weight 0.04): Items like the Esuna bomb are malfunctioning, targeting enemies instead of allies. This disrupts gameplay balance and player strategies.
- Support and website problems (weight 0.04): Frequent complaints about poor customer support and website functionality, such as login issues or lack of responsiveness. This impacts player trust and accessibility.
- Codex lacks term explanations (weight 0.04): Players find the codex unclear, particularly for in-game terms like 'Maneuver.' This hinders understanding of mechanics, especially for new players.
- Soundtrack bundle issues (weight 0.04): Players report problems with the soundtrack bundle, likely related to accessibility, missing tracks, or technical issues. This affects the overall experience for those who purchased it.
- English language accessibility (weight 0.03): Players note that the English language implementation is manageable for gameplay, though it may not be perfect. This suggests minor localization issues but no major barriers.

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.27): Players experience frustration primarily due to repetitive and grindy gameplay mechanics, such as endgame grinds, repetitive encounters, and lack of meaningful rewards. Technical issues like game-breaking bugs, crashes, and poor balancing (e.g., high TTK, unbalanced healing, and class imbalances) further exacerbate the problem. Additionally, clunky controls, long combat animations, and hidden or unexplained mechanics contribute to a tedious and punishing experience.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.14): Players enjoy the game for its strategic combat, class variety, and engaging exploration mechanics, particularly dungeon crawling and faction systems. The tactical depth, replayability, and rich storytelling create a satisfying and immersive experience. Many appreciate the retro-RPG feel combined with modern elements, such as environmental puzzles and loot collection.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.13): Satisfaction stems from the game's depth, replayability, and well-designed systems, such as class combinations, faction interactions, and dungeon design. Players feel rewarded by meaningful choices, rare equipment finds, and the overall polish of the game. The developer's responsiveness and community engagement also contribute to a positive experience.
- Disappointment (weight 0.13): Disappointment arises from unmet expectations, particularly in storytelling, tutorial clarity, and depth of gameplay. Players cite repetitive combat, poor balancing, and game-breaking bugs as major letdowns. The lack of meaningful progression, underdeveloped mechanics, and technical issues further diminish the game's potential.
- Excitement (weight 0.11): Excitement is driven by the game's unique setting, class variety, and engaging gameplay mechanics, such as procedural generation and tactical combat. Players appreciate the immersive atmosphere, decision-making, and the addictive loot-driven gameplay loop, which encourages long-term engagement and replayability.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.03): The game evokes nostalgia by reviving old-school dungeon crawling mechanics, offering a zen-like and chill experience reminiscent of classic RPGs. Players who enjoyed traditional dungeon crawlers appreciate the retro feel and simplicity of the gameplay.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.03): Enthusiasm is fueled by the game's depth, replayability, and engaging systems like faction missions and loot collection. Players often find themselves enjoying the game far more than expected, particularly due to its addictive gameplay loop and strategic combat.
- Admiration (weight 0.02): Players admire the game for its high-quality design elements, such as the hacking minigame, unique class design, and well-crafted faction stories. The overall passion and effort put into the game's development are also highly praised.
- Appreciation (weight 0.02): Appreciation is directed toward the developer's passion and effort in polishing the game, as well as its tactical combat and storytelling depth. Players recognize the hard work behind the game's mechanics and narrative, which enhances their overall experience.
- Boredom (weight 0.02): Boredom stems from repetitive missions, lack of content variety, and shallow combat mechanics. Players feel that the game lacks meaningful progression and rewards, leading to a monotonous and unengaging experience.
- Amusement (weight 0.02): Players are amused by the game's humor, pop culture references, and witty dialogue, which add a lighthearted and enjoyable layer to the experience. Fun combat abilities and item descriptions also contribute to the amusement.
- Betrayal (weight 0.01): A specific narrative moment, such as the Revolutionary faction's neurotoxin mission, leaves players feeling betrayed by the game's choices or direction, impacting their emotional investment in the story.}