Asterigos: The Curse of the Stars is a game taking inspiration from Dark Souls. It is an action-RPG game in which you control Hilda, a warrior from the Northwind Legion who embarks on a quest to find her lost father. The environment is beautifully designed, looking like Greek/Roman architecture. There are many hidden troves to find in all corners of the world.
You are equipped with 6 different weapons, all having different moveset, skills, and abilities. You can equip two at a time, and each offers a unique playstyle. Maybe you’ll dart around quickly with the daggers, or play more defensively with a sword and shield…or maybe both at the same time. Combat does feel like a Dark Souls game, but is far less punishing. Many of the combat encounters seem to be with groups of less than 3 foes, but now and then you’ll be faced with a large number. Combat does have a rhythm to it, you cannot attack super quickly together as you may in other games, but once you find the cadence, it feels very fluid and rewarding.
The music in Asterigos: The Curse of the Stars harkens back to the days of the JRPGs from the Super Nintendo era. Amazing orchestral that fit the beat of the game, whether it is a more somber point, or ramping up into an incredible boss fight.
Oh ya, did I forget to mention the unique bosses that stand in your way of trying to find your lost father? The character designs on them are incredible, my one disappointment was I felt like they had a somewhat limited moveset, maybe only 3-5 moves. But, the fights were well-designed and fun to tackle.
There are three difficulty levels to open Asterigos: The Curse of the Stars to all gamers, with a Story mode for those wanting to experience the rich environments and captivating story, normal difficulty as the game was designed to be experienced, and a challenging mode making the enemies hit much harder.
Most NPCs are fully voice-acted, there were a couple of encounters with main NPCs that I found where some of their dialogs were voiced and others were not, but the voice actors do a great job of bringing these characters to life and giving them more depth.
Overall, Asterigos: The Curse of the Stars is a phenomenal game. There are hundreds of collectible lore-bit hiding through the worlds, numerous bosses to challenge, and an epic story to unravel. I would highly recommend this to anyone, especially to someone who has an interest in Dark Souls-style games, but may need a less brutal experience.
