Astral Archive

Astral Archive is a perfectly competent game that unfortunately never quite manages to become a compelling one. There is nothing particularly wrong with it—the mechanics work, the presentation is solid, and the experience is enjoyable enough—but it never captured my attention in the way I had hoped it would. To be clear, this is likely to do with my personal preferences and NOT the quality of the game itself which is why i am leaving a positive review. I initially found the Space Invaders inspiration particularly intriguing, but the further I got, the more it seemed that the connection was largely superficial rather than something meaningfully woven into the core experience (or perhaps i didn't get far enough?). I have already prestiged twice, so clearly there is something here keeping me engaged. At the same time, I am having a hard time convincing myself that another prestige—and seeing this thing all the way through—is worth the investment of time. Good? Absolutely. Great? Not quite.

Intresting and addictive, well polished incremental game. It gets a bit grindy at the end but that's just what these games are about. For a solo dev, this game is really well made. Support solo devs.

Enjoyable game, took about 5 hours over a couple of days to beat it. I think the concept definitely could be expanded into a longer and more feature-rich game, but it's pretty solid as-is and worth the price of entry. The 'skill tree' could use some expanding as you can unlock most of the skills within your first few runs so the progression kind of stops in that regard while you finish the rest of the game.

Good game.

Idle & Incremental Lovers recommends Astral Archive: [i] Creative way to itch the classic space shooter scratch by introducing incremental features. Short arcade-style runs but with upgrades, artifact collecting and long-term progression between runs. Fun! [/i] + This is a small scale game: small upgrade tree, small prestige tree, ten levels, sixteen ships, a reasonable grind... I liked it, it didn't overstay its welcome. + Tired of repeating the same level to get more money for your upgrades? You can always idle in the menu and gain money passively. Not necessary at all, but I love that it's a possibility. + You kinda play a baddie who just wants money and doesn't care about others. I was waiting for a plot twist or a change of mind in the endgame, but no. One day a baddie, forever a baddie! :-) + Just the right amount of grind, in my opinion. +/- Runs are fun in the beginning, when failing is an option. It's still OK once you become OP but it's kind of a different game: I understand how it can feel a little repetitive if you don't enjoy the grind. *How do you find an archivist in cold storage? Shivering.* Found this review helpful? Give it a thumb up and follow my curator page fo…

It's okay. Simple and can be 100%'d in a few hours. Its rough in gameplay. Feels untested. And even though I can't find it written anywhere, it feels very...AI generated. At least AI assisted elements. It honestly feels very randomly thrown together. But anyway, its cheap and easy and passed the time.