The titular curse of Asterigos: Curse of the Stars has fallen on the people of the city of Aphes, turning some who sought to take advantage of a mystical force into immortals, while others became monsters. Protagonist Hilda, the young north-looking lass that has come to this ancient realm, has been tasked with finding her father, who in turn oversaw a team of warriors. The world looks pretty and colourful, making one think that this fantasy action-RPG might be really good. Sadly, it’s one more case of the ol’ “looks can be deceiving” problem, as the debut creation of Acme Gamestudio is full of issues – none of which render it unplayable, but there’s nothing special here either. After a look at the PlayStation 4 version, here’s another one at something that may very well be the most average experience available right now.
The quest begins and one of the biggest problems makes its appearance from the get-go: Asterigos isn’t very good at creating interest as to what’s going on here. The writing and overall presentation is severely lacking, dumping tons of lore exposition before letting those behind the gamepad slowly “digest” it and become immersed into the world. Also, Hilda talks too much. Way, way too much, with a lot of the words that come out of her mouth being things that could be handled simply by environmental storytelling. Once she arrives at the hub of Aphes, she can talk with a variety of characters, with 90% of these sequences having no voice acting – not that that would really help.
A few minutes in and Hilda finds her missing equipment, which is actually the only equipment available. The six types of weapons enable Hilda to pick from a variety of different combat styles, and experiment with dual combinations from the very beginning. She can mix the defensive capabilities of the sword and shield with the slow powerful blows of the war hammer; take advantage of the spear’s parrying ability and long reach and at the same time use a stuff to spell some spells, and so on and so forth. Each weapon has a secondary move, combat mechanics work pretty good and generally fighting enemies is where the fun is mostly at, with bosses making Asterigos feel like a soulsborne-lite – and that’s a compliment.
Similar to Dark Souls and the like, this revolves a lot around slowly exploring a vast, interconnected world filled with branching paths. Unlike FromSoftware’s gem of an action-RPG, however, the design of each different section of the city lacks those striking points of interest that stick in the mind. Instead, it is similarly-styled road after similarly-styled road, which, coupled with the absence of a map or a cursor to point towards a general direction, leads to an annoying feeling of being lost – although traversing Aphes isn’t really that challenging, making it hard to lose your way. Exploration is just…boring, not hard.
The biggest problem with Asterigos is that it is average to a fault. Combat is nice and all, but not enough to sustain a 40+ hour journey; the story is kind of interesting, but the exposition and quality of writing lowers the immersion second by second. There’s also a lack of that feeling of progress that makes playing a lengthy RPG enjoyable. Gaining levels lets one pick amongst a variety of passive perks and active skills, but Hilda doesn’t really become that much stronger; instead she just gains a bit of variety in her abilities. Even the Greco-Roman aesthetic and themes are handled in a superficial way, which feels like a terrible waste. At least the whole thing looks pretty, with its vibrant colour palette and semi-cartoonish, Pixar-like design of its world and characters.
