First Impressions: Stars Reach

If I had to compare Stars Reach to another game, it would be — obviously, really — No Man’s Sky. Both have an almost infinite number of worlds, both let you build bases, both let you explore, solve mysteries, kill alien creatures. Grouping isn’t a thing in NMS, but people can meet up and do things in the same location, and of course you can take on instanced expeditions with other people. In both games, you really are going to be defining for yourself what the game means to you.

Both games stretch the definition of MMORPG; sure, they are multiplayer, and both have a shared universe where, if you like, you can go without ever seeing another player. I was listening in on a shared call with other Stars Reach players today and there was talk about every player being able to claim their own planet, do whatever they want with it, kill the boss on it. (Every planet has at least one boss monster, apparently).

Character creation is TBD. At the moment, you can choose from male and female templates of the four races — the human-like Terrans, the orcish Skwatchi, the demonic Gertan and the doglike Elioni who are, whether male or female, all Good Boys.

The game starts you at the World Portal of a random world. The one on which I started wasn’t mentioned in today’s call; it started filling up with people’s homesteads almost immediately, so I imagine it was opened just before I logged in. Entering the World Portal brought me to a platform in an asteroid belt, with other world portals all around, some homesteads, and plenty of asteroids for raw materials.

While you can explore or do whatever you wish, the tutorial has a few suggestions for possible first steps. Hunting, gathering, exploring or homesteading. Most of these things will involve unlocks and skill trees, but for this playtest, we were given all the tools and supplies necessary to explore, at least a little bit, all the paths.

Combat in Stars Reach is very active. Dodging is required, and you need a steady aim and steely resolve to pick off the mobs as they come rushing for you. There are some mobs easier than others, but you won’t know which is which until you start punching them (or they start punching you; everything is aggro). I stupidly fought a gas bag monster that kept respawning bigger and more dangerous; fungi monsters that exploded when they approached; deerlike creatures that shot fireballs. It’s a lot. Sharks, flying sharks.

Exploring is the domain of the Ranger, a class that was not active in this playtest. A special device shows exploration points, that you can zap when you get close enough. You get some exploration experience for each one; collect them all, and something good probably happens. No matter what, the exploration points will get you exploring all the odd corners of the planet. You can then set waypoints to the best resource outcroppings, or the monsters who most definitely should be dead. Briefly. They respawn so quickly.

In combat, Rangers can freeze their enemies, or burn them, and they can send fireworks up. Pretty happening class.

Being used to the rapid construction in Valheim, Minecraft and Palworld, it took awhile for me to find my way around Stars Reach’s base building. Like everything else, the player equips special base building devices; one that builds stone floors and walls, and one that takes items out of your inventory (like walls, doors, etc) and places them in the world. In the full game, these will need to be crafted, but they were given away for free in the playtest.

I saw some pretty cool looking homesteads, and I saw a lot that had nothing in them. You do want one, and you’ll want to be sure to note down just where it is. After I played around and did some building and left, I couldn’t find it again. There was no map that I could find. I should have left a waypoint, probably.

Gathering, once again, has its own devices. One sucks in plants, one sucks in resources. Once you have gathered enough, you have to empty stuff into a hopper in order to gather more. I didn’t find a hopper anywhere. This made it hard to try crafting, as crafting requires rare materials, which can’t be gathered when you have too much junk materials. I didn’t try just dumping it on the ground; not sure if you can, or if you need to have a “dump this trash on the ground” tool equipped.

The game still has far to go to get in shape for release. My first impression is that this is a desolate galaxy where people will generally be alone, perhaps recruiting others out of game via Discord or other places when they need help with something. I think this will be a game with a very active offline community — like Guild Wars 2 is, for me.

I said up front that this stretches the definition of an MMORPG. The planets are small, the homesteads are tiny, the players will be spread out, and there doesn’t yet appear to be a centrally located city where people can hang out and socialize. I didn’t see any global chat channels (and in fact I am not certain it is possible to chat in game). Largely, I expect Stars Reach to be a single player experience without any defined goal other than existing and thriving in the galaxy.

Contrast to Star Wars Galaxies, where players were concentrated in cities and were given missions that encouraged exploration, but was always a central hub where people could rest and heal.

That mechanic is back, by the way. Dying takes away small chunks of your maximum health and stamina, and the only way to get it back is by time (very slowly) or by dancing, especially with others.

When Stars Reach makes its Mos Eisley or Coruscant, when I can log in and see hundreds of players running around, gathering supplies for their next expedition into the dark, selling the stuff they hunted, dug up or crafted at the market, then this will have earned the “RPG”.

I backed the Kickstarter; I am excited to see what the future holds for the game. The bones of the game are solid; now they just have to build more game around those bones.