The playtest review of “Stellar Trader” highlights its promising space trading RPG gameplay with deep customization, trading, and strategic elements, but criticizes frustrating mechanics like the awkward pilot fatigue minigame and simplistic combat. Despite these issues, the reviewer sees strong potential in the game’s ambitious scope and encourages players to try the demo while hoping for improvements before the full release.
The video is a playtest review of the space trading RPG game “Stellar Trader,” currently available as a demo. The developer describes the game as a deep space trading experience set hundreds of years after humanity has taken to the stars. Players start as traders and can buy, fight, explore, and build their way to power, shaping economies, forming alliances, and influencing trade, technology, and politics. The game features RPG elements where players allocate perk points earned through quests and activities, impacting skills like piloting, intellect, and perception.
Players can customize their character, choose a ship, and engage in trading by buying low and selling high across various planets and space stations. The demo offers a generous cargo hold and a fairly straightforward trading system that is easy to grasp early on. Relationships and hiring crew members are important gameplay aspects, as players can build fleets, manage planets, and interact with various characters. The player in the video chose a military planet to develop, hinting at the game’s depth and strategic elements beyond mere trading.
However, the reviewer points out some frustrating mechanics in this early version, particularly regarding pilot fatigue. Piloting the ship causes exhaustion and mental disturbance, forcing players to stop frequently. The only way to recover from this fatigue in the demo is through a bizarre and out-of-place minigame resembling whack-a-mole, which the reviewer strongly criticizes as ridiculous and immersion-breaking. Hiring additional pilots can help mitigate this issue, but the mechanic itself needs serious reworking before the final release.
Combat in “Stellar Trader” is described as weak and lacking depth. It feels frantic and overly simplistic, with little strategy or tactics involved. The combat system is bare-bones and does not yet live up to the potential of the game’s other systems. Despite this, the game looks decent visually and shows promise if the developer improves the combat and removes or replaces the awkward fatigue mechanic.
Overall, the reviewer enjoyed playing the demo and sees potential in “Stellar Trader,” especially given its ambitious scope and RPG elements. While it currently has some rough edges, such as the fatigue system and simplistic combat, the game is on the right track. The reviewer encourages interested players to try the demo via the provided links and considers it worth a look, though they hope the developer addresses the highlighted issues before the full release next year.