Between the Stars Review Summary

A solid game with varied ships and weapons, good visuals, and a highly praised story, though repetitive gameplay and poor voice acting hold it back.

Variety of ships and weapons: Players appreciate the large variety of ships, weapons, and equipment available, allowing for diverse playstyles and combat options.

Compelling story praised: Many reviewers highlight the story as impressive, enjoyable, and genuinely compelling. The narrative quality and events are frequently commended.

Solid overall game: Many reviewers consider the game solid and very good overall. It is described as enjoyable and well-made.

Good graphics and visuals: Reviews frequently mention that graphics are nice, stunning, and visually appealing. The visual aspects are often noted as a strong point.

Engaging space combat: The combat between spaceships is described as amazing, fun, and visually impressive. Some consider it okay, but overall it is well-received.

Repetitive Gameplay: Gameplay becomes stale or repetitive after a few hours, with a loop of travel, fight, repair, and repeat. Missions, side encounters, and random events also feel repetitive quickly.

Poor Voice Acting: Many players criticize the voice acting as poor, with issues ranging from subpar performances to terrible delivery, especially for the protagonist and certain characters. Some note inconsistency, where it starts okay but degrades or feels like a children's cartoon.

Clunky Controls: Controls are frequently described as wonky, clunky, or uncomfortable, requiring significant adjustment. Some find them hard to learn initially and jumpy even with larger ships.

Lack of Ship Variety: Players complain about few ship types, lack of meaningful differences between ships, and poor specialization options. Many feel ships are too similar in size and power, all feeling like capital ships.

Bugs and Instability: Numerous bugs are reported, ranging from minor annoyances to game-breaking issues that prevent progression. Some players consider the game a buggy mess from the start.

Space Combat Core Gameplay: The game centers on space combat with full 3D flight, various weaponry, and tactical options. Battles are intense and often compared to games like Everspace, Rebel Galaxy, or Freelancer.

Dice-Based RPG Mechanics: The game features dice rolls for skill checks, combat, and event outcomes, similar to tabletop RPGs. Dice mechanics are used in both ground and crew combat.

Branching Narrative with Choices: Player decisions affect story development and can grant permanent traits. The narrative branches based on choices, similar to choose-your-own-adventure.

Ship Customization and Upgrades: Players can buy, upgrade, and customize ships with different weapons, modules, and hardpoints. Ship management includes upkeep and build choices.

Space Simulation with RPG Elements: The game blends space simulation with action RPG mechanics, including open-world exploration and story-driven combat. It combines starship management with crew development.

Crashes in Photo Mode and Missions: The game crashes when taking pictures in photo mode and also during the final mission. These crashes disrupt gameplay and can cause loss of progress.

Lag in Large Space Battles: Space combat involving 10-15 ships causes significant lag, and rare freezes occur during very intense battles. This affects combat performance and responsiveness.

Crashes and Stability Issues: The game suffers from crashes and infinite crashes causing freeze, leading to stability issues that prevent smooth play. This is a common complaint among players.

Stuttering During Warp and Travel: Players frequently report stuttering when moving towards Solar Empire territory or during jumps and warps. This negatively impacts the smoothness of space navigation.

High System Requirements Demanding: The game requires a very strong graphics card for the best configuration and is not suitable for weak laptops. Performance issues are noted on lower-end systems.

Recommended overall: A significant number of reviewers give a positive recommendation, stating the game is enjoyable, well worth it, and that they are happy to recommend it to others.

Recommended for space genre fans: The game is recommended for fans of space arcade shooters, space adventures, and spaceship management. It appeals to those who enjoy space-themed games, particularly fans of Freelancer, Wing Commander Privateer, and Rebel Galaxy.

Not recommended for everyone: Some reviewers do not recommend the game, citing reasons such as lack of polish, boring gameplay, or unmet expectations. They advise saving time and money.

Great value for price: Many reviewers emphasize that the game offers excellent value for its price, especially when purchased on discount. They consider it worth the money and a worthwhile purchase.

Wait for sale or discount: Many reviewers recommend waiting for a sale or discount before purchasing, as the game is not considered worth the full price. It is advised to buy it at a lower price to avoid disappointment.

Community fair range: $5.00 - $20.00.

Game completion: 20.0h.

Story completion: 24.0h.

Session length: 2.0h.

Endgame: 12.0h.

Between the Stars opens with a promising hook — a strong tutorial story and satisfying arcade space combat — but many players report it flattens into repetitive missions and a tedious text-heavy loop after the first few hours. A minority instead find it grows on them, so the dominant profile is enjoyment that fades rather than builds.

Friction: Bugs and technical problems such as stuttering and broken docking controls; Repetitive mission and gameplay loop (go to a point, dialogue, fight, return); Poor quest design with objectives that block progression; Dice-roll RNG that makes ground combat feel unfair; Walls of text and a dry intro that slow the pacing; Tedious crew management and crafting systems.

Tabletop Roleplayer and Dice-Choice Seeker: Plays text-heavy, choice-driven scenarios; invests in crew stats, perks, and survival outcomes; treats the game as a D&D-like space RPG. Motivation: To see dice rolls and narrative choices shape the fate of the crew and create tabletop-style roleplaying stories. Stance: buy.

Space Combat Veteran and Ship Systems Optimizer: Compares combat feel to classic space sims, uses a joystick, tests ship loadouts and weapons, and scrutinizes build viability. Motivation: To experience challenging, skill-based space combat with meaningful ship, weapon, and build progression. Stance: buy.

Space Opera Narrative Adventurer: Reads text-heavy narrative, makes dialogue and story choices, and plays space battles as an interlude to the plot. Motivation: To enjoy a story-rich space opera with lots of reading and light arcade combat. Stance: buy.

The Windows 12-15GB VRAM cohort shows a positive outcome based on the single included recommended review, which reports generally playable performance with some stuttering.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: positive. The included review is recommended and reports mostly playable performance, with some stuttering when warping or moving toward Solar Empire territory.

Steam Deck: The audit found no direct Steam Deck-specific reports of Proton toggles, external launchers, small text, or battery drain. However, one review reports severe stability failures including black screens, frequent crashes, system freezes, and autosave rollbacks that make play impossible. Additional friction comes from missing native controller support and clunky ship/combat controls. Because frequent crashes are present, the score falls in the Broken range.

Early access status and progress: Players note the game left early access but remains unfinished, or is still in early access. Some mention it has been in early access since 2019 and still needs polish.

Indie game by small studio: The game is described as a small indie game made by a very small development team. The developers are a two-person Spanish indie studio (Isolated Games).

Compared to Freelancer: Multiple reviews compare the game to Freelancer, with some saying it captures about 30% of what made that game great. The comparison highlights a similar feel despite differing controls.

Comparison to Starpoint Gemini: The game is compared to Starpoint Gemini for its legendary bad voice acting, and Starpoint Gemini 2 is recommended instead. Gameplay is similar to Starpoint Gemini Warlords but less involved economically.

Comparison to Rebel Galaxy: The game is compared to Rebel Galaxy for its look, control style, and ship/combat complexity. It offers more vertical freedom than Rebel Galaxy.