Even though it has been around for a while, the Souls series continues to grow in popularity as time passes. It seems like practically every developer is willing to try their hand at the genre, delivering intriguing twists on a gameplay paradigm that has come to dominate in terms of plot, stage design, and fighting. The Soulslike formula can also work just as well in a colourful game, as Acme Gamestudio demonstrated with Asterigos: Curse of the Stars, an action role-playing game that is entertaining enough despite some flaws. However, it is better suited for dark and oppressive settings.
Asterigos: Curse of the Stars follows a young fighter named Hilda as she travels to the city of Aphes in quest of her father, who went on an expedition to the city with his Northwind Legion and has been absent for a while. The formerly flourishing city has been cursed, making its citizens immortal and forbidding them from leaving. Hilda, who is adamant about finding her father and his legion, consents to work with the Adherents, led by Minerva, who has taken refuge beneath the city, in exchange for the Echo Stones that can aid Hilda in saving her father, to free the city from the curse.
The environment and mood are two things that Asterigos: Curse of the Stars does well. The ancient Greek and Roman influences give the city of Aphen a very distinct feel, even though it is mostly in ruins and plagued by various terrifying creatures in a true Soulslike fashion. The city has a very homey vibe thanks to its long marbled streets, stunning statues, enormous amphitheatres, and animals like harpies and minotaurs, to name just a few. The story, which is built through a combination of cutscenes, conversations with NPCs, and ambient narration, doesn’t feel very inspired, but it is nonetheless entertaining enough because of a very special element that very few action role-playing games have.
The main quests in the game have multiple ways to be finished, and each one rewards players with a distinct cutscene to show the results of their choices. For instance, in the first, Hilda is instructed to act discreetly and avoid any conflict, yet it is also conceivable to simply go all out to accomplish the goal. Hilda will not only be viewed differently by NPCs if the player chooses to go all out and ignore Minerva’s command, but she will also become more arrogant.
While there isn’t a right or wrong method to do objectives because the game may be finished regardless of the decisions made, doing things correctly reveals additional story details, which makes the game more enjoyable. Asterigos: Curse of the Stars accomplishes something that very few video games do well: making the player feel the effects of their actions.
Asterigos: Curse of the Stars fits into a different subgenre that I would refer it as Souls light if there is now a genre called Soulslike.
The game has many of the core elements that make up a Soulslike, such as stamina-based action combat, a variety of weapons with unique movesets, enemies that hit hard but become much easier to defeat once the player learns their patterns and abilities, and epic boss battles, but each of these features has been toned down in comparison to a typical Soulslike adventure. For instance, Hilda’s stamina does not affect her ability to engage in combat beyond avoiding, blocking, and using a few special strikes.
Another example would be weapons. There are only six of them and they are all available right away, but their movesets may be expanded through a skill tree, so they are not static. Only three stats can also be improved with attribute points, which are gained when levelling up and are not lost when a player is defeated. There is also a system in place that is comparable to the bonfire system, although it only functions as a checkpoint system because levelling up is always possible.
While it makes sense to tone down or adjust the standard Soulslike mechanisms to make Asterigos: Curse of the Stars a little more approachable (in conjunction with the three difficulty levels readily available right from the start of the quest), it does little to improve the experience. Although combat has some good ideas, such as the ability to equip two different weapons at once and switch between them seamlessly, a signature attack for each of them, such as a parry for the spear, a charged attack for the hammer, and a quick invincible dash for the daggers, the execution is a little lacking because combat lacks weight and is not particularly exciting.
It is still to some extent enjoyable because of the adequate enemy design. Giving the player all six weapons at the beginning of the game is also a poor decision for this genre of the game because it eliminates a potential incentive for exploration, which the game offers very little of.
The level design in Asterigos: Curse of the Stars is by far the poorest aspect of the game. The problem becomes clear as Hilda explores the winding streets of Aphen and other neighbouring locations after a brief, straightforward journey through nature to reach the cursed metropolis.
The level design appears to be aimless because it is a conglomeration of several paths that frequently end in a dead end. When they do lead to something, it usually leads to some meagre loot, like resources for upgrading weapons or Salves, which are healing goods that are only occasionally found outside of stores. There is some additional gear that can be obtained through exploration that allows players to further modify Hilda’s skills, but it does not significantly alter the gameplay or increase the sense of satisfaction from discovery.
The areas of the game require patience to fully explore, so after a few hours of getting lost or coming to dead ends with no rewards, I started focusing on the main roads that led to monsters. At times, I felt like I was fighting the level design more so than the minotaurs, harpies, and werewolves that wander Apne, which made for an unpleasant experience. A Soulslike or Soulslite’s level design may make or break it, and Asterigos: Curse of the Stars falls short in this area. Even the main hub, the Shelter, where Minerva gives Hilda objectives to complete, is made in a perplexing manner that doesn’t feel natural to the player like the majority of the places. It’s a shame because, despite its flaws, combat occasionally exhibits brilliant moments.
The presentation is largely where Asterigos: Curse of the Stars excels. Even while the game’s graphics aren’t the best we’ve seen in a while, their colourful design gives it a cartoonish atmosphere that works very well, especially when it comes to the characters and foes. Even though they eventually start to feel a little monotonous, the surroundings of Aphen appear to be reasonably detailed. In the roughly 20 hours I’ve spent playing the game, I haven’t run into any significant graphic problems. The immersion is slightly broken, though, by certain loading problems with certain assets.
Asterigos: Curse of the Stars on PC has some quite high system requirements despite the outdated graphics, however, AMD FSR 2.0 support will allow most players to play the game at a respectable framerate without needing to utilise low settings. The game runs rather well on the test system (i7-1700 CPU, RTX 3070 GPU, 16GB RAM), though I had to use FSR to get framerates greater than 60 at 4K resolution while combining a variety of the game’s high and medium settings. With numerous enemies on the screen and active particle effects, there are some performance drops, but nothing fatal. Asterigos: Curse of the Stars has the potential to stand out from the majority of action role-playing games influenced by the Souls series produced in recent years, but the poor level design significantly detracts from the enjoyment.
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