Starbound Xbox Series X Review 9/10 "Terraria in Space" ⭐️ @ChucklefishLTD #IndieGame #GameDev

A few years ago, my partner and I were hips deep in Terraria, I genuinely think I own a copy on every system it’s been released - aside from Switch, thinking about it - and we would often spend weeks just getting back into the groove with the amazing music (which I am lucky enough to own on vinyl) and just the pure sense of wonder and relaxation that exists in the quiet exploration. To be honest, we barely bothered with the boss fights, it was all about pottering about for us.

My next – and true – love, came through the glorious Aground, and once my gaming thirst had been slaked there, I vaguely hearing about Starbound, but as it wasn’t then available on consoles, I promptly forgot about it and went on my day, a day that was bereft of crafty, pixel, action-adventure games…until now.

Starbound is very, very good. If you’ve played any of the games I’ve mentioned above, you’ll know the score – there’s a simple story to kick you off into the stratosphere, and from there, you can craft, potter, battle and build to your hearts content.

The difference here in Starbound, though, is the sense of scale and opportunity. there are myriad planets to explore, colonise, or tear through, with a built-in main quest line and side quests available from the hundreds of characters that populate this universe, that means you’ll always have a focus, should you so wish to pursue it.

The controls can take a little while to get used to, as they should in this genre, because in this situation complexity means depth - as opposed to poor, janky design. The ability to play online multiplayer is also well-implemented, as much as I love split-screen gaming, the truth is that in games such as this, the items and icons are so small anyway, that halving the screen can cause more issues than it solves. Over the last week, we’ve been playing in almost an old-school ‘LAN’ setup in our house, and whilst we both have different approaches to the game, the enjoyment level is high on both counts.

In terms of the music, whilst there are some memorable ditties, it blends into the background a little, although I daresay that in a few weeks, I’ll be humming and whistling the earworm sections to myself as I work, such is usually the case with these types of titles. As always, the immersion is improved with headphones and the sound design really shines here, with the hums of spacecrafts and the crack of weaponry almost seeming oddly epic when playing such a seemingly harmless, pixelated game. Good.

Starbound is also surprisingly pacey and accessible once you get to grips with the layout. Even when playing with others the in-built teleportation system and quest design makes quick work of shifting you around the galaxy to where you need to be, and because it has spent so long in early access and has such a grounded fanbase, any questions you have will certainly have been asked and solved online, meaning that this is a fully rounded and deep experience that truly rewards experimenting and exploring.

From your beginnings as a lone space cadet with a rusty sword, within hours you’ll find yourself whizzing around in your spaceship, pet bounding happily at your feet, before you teleport into low orbit, blasting everything in sight in your bright pink space mech. Good. Just don’t forget to eat your rice before it goes off.

SUMMARY

Starbound is a game that comes highly recommended from us here at GF and, in summary is a far superior space exploration game to Starfield – and it has a sense of humour.

9/10

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