Planet exploration is a pretty big theme in not only movies, but in games. From games such as Lethal company that allows the player explore different moons (the moon isn’t a planet, I know), to games like Helldivers 1 and 2, games where the player goes to different planets and explore their contents can not only create a fun gameplay experience, but also an immersive one.
Recently, a popular Youtube channel named “Kurzgesagt”, an animation channel that aims to explain all types of science to a broad audience, decided to take their attempt at creating their own game. While the channel is widely loved by all types of audiences, what about their game? How does it hold up by comparison?
In Star birds, the player plays as a bird who’s on a mission with his crew to find resources to help their survival. Your objective is to go across different asteroids collecting their resources to build more machines to collect more resources to go to more asteroids. It’s a hybrid between a survival game and a tycoon game, where you have to craft various items and other things in order to progress through the game.
Currently, the game is only in early access, but it has already received glowing reviews on steam, with reviews such as “fantastic game with intuitive design. I expect nothing less from Kerz. and Toukana Interactive. They seem to really care about their game. 10/10 game.”
— By a user named “MetaSin”
Since I also watch their channel from time to time, I also decided to buy and play the game myself, and was pleasantly surprised with the quality.
Since Kurzgesagt is an animation channel, it’s no surprise that the artstyle and animation in the game is beautiful. There’s not much that you can say that you can’t just say for the channel in general, but basically it’s a unique and pleasant way to look at artstyle, with good animation that captures the feel of space so well that it seems like the developer actually went there themselves. However, art is only secondary to the main entree of a video game, also known as the gameplay.
The game in general is very calming to play, while also still being complex and challenging at times. You constantly figure out how to craft new things, new machines, and so on. The game changes frequently, but still at a pace where the player doesn’t get overwhelmed.
The hud is also well designed. In the hud, you’re given multiple tasks to complete, machines to build, and what I love the most, a dictionary containing all the recipes you know that you can use to search for things that you may have forgotten how to craft. Not only is it useful for refreshing your memory, but they also added a search bar as well so you don’t have to scroll for 10 minutes because you forgot how to craft an element, which is useful since there’d be a lot of things to remember if there wasn’t.
The only flaw I have with the game is the story and writing. Despite the animation being amazing, the story is mostly just basic. The writing in general is mostly that too. It’s not bad, but nothing to write home about (pun entirely intended.) This isn’t a huge issue since the game is still good overall, but it is something I’d recommend be expanded upon in the future release of the game.
Overall, this game is fun, relaxing, and impressive for a youtube channel that went from only making animations to making an entire game. I wouldn’t call the game a flawless masterpiece, nor do I think everyone will enjoy it (I seriously wouldn’t recommend it to people who like more intense games), but it’s still a good game that I’d recommend to a decent amount of people. Hopefully the Kurzgesagt team can expand on this already great game in the future to make it even better.
Where to find reviews, and also the game itself: