Starcaller Reviews

Hands work now, teleport doesnt (vive cosmos) very fun fast paced puzzle solving :D OLD REVIEW : [I unfortunately cannot get my hands out of the floor upon starting using Vive Cosmos. will update review if fixed. game looks hella fun tho.]

I had fun with this, but it isn't my cup of tea for any longer than about an hour.

I thought this game looked quite pretty and wanted to give it a shot. It is basically a very pretty closet where the walls slide in and out with extremely simple tasks on each wall that ramp up in complexity as each one is completed. After a few minutes of simple tasks on walls around you, the walls fall away and you are now in space playing an odd portal basketball game where only one portal gives you positive points and all the other portals give you negative points. The good portal randomly changes every 10-15 seconds as you quickly try to cram as many of the floating crystals in the hole as you can. So the puzzles you see in the trailer appear to be tasks that give you more time to play the portal basketball game. And the portal basketball game is the only thing that appears to affect your score. This is not the greatest game in the world, but I can roll with that much. The real problem I ran into is the awful grabbing and physics in the game. With by valve index I couldn't grab the tools that were needed to interact with the puzzles, there is a pickaxe wall, and it was next to impossible to smash the crystal on that one for some reason. The game lost my interest extremely quickly so I didn't bother remapping the controls for the index, but I did check to see if there was already something in the controller mappings... It didn't even appear that the game was capable of having it's controls remapped at first glance. I wanted to like the game, but sadly it was only eye candy without a solid game under it. It honestly reminded me of those toys you see in doctor's offices where toddlers can slide beads back and forth around crazy wires. Just busywork.

If you're looking for a fun game to play and challenge yourself at the same time, I doubt you'll find something better than this. The graphics are absolutely beautiful, it's immersive and also extremely fun to play. Highly recommend :)

Super fun puzzles, and addictive game play. Visuals really high quality for VR and game play is original and fun. Hopefully they will add multiplayer in the future!

Super relaxing, fun game for VR. I'm new to VR, and this is the perfect game for me getting used to how to use the controllers and practice my hand eye coordination. The music is chill, the colors are beautiful and the puzzles are fun. They get harder the more you progress, so it is not overwhelming when you are just starting. I am able to play this in a smaller space, either standing or seated. I really like the global and friend leader boards, the achievements and the ability to earn new hands. Gives me something to shoot for! I look forward to playing with my friends when multiplayer comes out! Definitely recommend.

I recently had the pleasure of playing Monarch Studio's game, Starcaller, and I have to say, it's an absolute blast! From the moment I started playing, I was hooked. The gameplay is incredibly engaging and challenging, but never frustrating. I found myself constantly pushing to get better and beat my own high scores... And the developers score. One of the things I love most about Starcaller is the music. It's upbeat and energetic, and really helps to keep you immersed in the game. The sound effects are also spot on, adding to the overall experience. I have to admit, Starcaller can be a bit stressful at times, but in the best possible way. The sense of urgency and adrenaline rush really makes the game feel exciting and intense. But despite the stress, it's always fun, and I found myself constantly coming back for more. Overall, I would highly recommend Starcaller to anyone looking for a fun and challenging game. Monarch Studio has really outdone themselves with this one, and I can't wait to see what they come up with next.

This is a beautiful, fast paced, and fun game. It is hard to know how to categorize it. It has puzzles, but it isn't the typical puzzle game where the point is to solve all the puzzles and then you are done. Each puzzle type is randomized and has different levels of difficulty. It comes at you fast and furiously. So there is a puzzle solving element, but you also have to build skill in order to solve each puzzle quickly as it comes at you. One of the reasons I love this game is that it is a room scale game (granted, a small room), and it makes full use of having 2 hands! There's some unique hand tech at work under the hood here, very different from how hands work in most other VR games. It really has to be experienced to be fully appreciated. There's an active discord. I've provided a couple of ideas to the devs and they were very responsive.

Really delighted with this game. I expected a single "game" to last a little longer, but after playing through a couple times, I actually appreciate that I can pick it up in bursts and I don't have to play through to a good stopping point when I am ready to be done. I've played about an hour so far, and will be playing a lot more to try and get a better score. I love how the puzzles get more complex as you complete each type!

I did not expect this game to be as fun as it is. I guess part of the fun is seeing myself beat my own score as I learn strategies to go about this game. I love puzzles, I'm a huge fan of puzzles, and most of my favorite games consist of puzzles. This game doesn't exactly have the same mind-bending puzzles as some other puzzle games, but they are puzzles that don't necessarily need too much thinking (except for the one with the wheels and matching symbols). Even if they aren't the thought-provoking puzzles I thought I was in for, the gameplay loop is extremely addicting. Seeing myself beat my own records and landing in 1st place is part of that addiction. It's definitely easy to pick up and learn, but there is a good enough difficulty curve that I improve in some area each run. I do hope to see more puzzle variants though (although having too many puzzle variants would overwhelm me, now that I think about it). There is a bit of jankiness in some mechanics. I notice that with the players' hands colliding with the walls has messed me up in some puzzles that require twisting of wheels. Sometimes I even feel as if there is friction with some wheels because my hand isn't grabbing it in the way the game expects. It's also hard for me to accurately twist the wheels in the matching symbols puzzle. I had to train myself to grab the star fragments/crystals because I often would smack it rather than grabbing it when I quickly go for them. It would also be nice if we can rebind the controls because I'd like to use my grip button rather than triggers to grip stuff (on Oculus Touch controllers). Overall, I really enjoy this game because it's fresh and unlike anything I've played before. The gameplay loop is addicting and rising up on the leaderboards is satisfying. There may be a few bugs with the players' hands, but it's easy to retrain your movements to avoid that (bug fixes/patches are welcome too). I didn't pay attention to it beforehand because it fit so well, but the music really sets the mood of the game and each ritual that I do.