Astral Disorder

"Astral Disorder" is one of literally thousands of student projects infesting Steam. It's from SAU Game Studio in Arkansas. While student projects tend to be better quality than most "amateur" made games, we must still question what value such projects have for gamers. As with all student projects, this isn't really a fully fleshed out game, it's just the result of an academic exercise, and as such it has much more limited value as a game than a professionally developed game would have. Educational institutions should not be using Steam as a dumping ground for homework assignments (especially if the students didn't even pass the course). Sure, it helps their marketing and helps the students feel good about themselves, but this is another case of a business putting themselves before the needs of gamers. The students made a simple first person puzzle adventure game with a handful of little puzzles... like always with student projects, this is a tech demo more than a full game for gamers, there's not really enough content here to make you want to download it. Worse, again, like all student projects, this is riddled with bugs, lacks polish, and none of the broken aspects of the …

I think it's important to take into account the fact that this is a project made by a class of students (as shown in the credits). [b]Astral Disorder[/b] is a short survival-horror game lasting around 20 to 30 minutes, where you play as the last survivor of an abandoned space station, with a monster lurking in the shadows, ready to pounce on you at every turn… It’s a small-scale project made in Unity, with modest ambitions, and it’s free. The game doesn’t bring anything new to the table: the gameplay revolves around collecting three items scattered around the map to access an evacuation shuttle, all while being chased by an unstoppable monster. Your only option is to run if you want to survive. The challenge isn’t especially tough, but the clunky movement doesn’t help much. Let’s just say it’s fine if you’re out of ideas and have 30 minutes to spare — but you have to look at it the way a parent does when their child gives them a portrait of themselves for Christmas: it’s ugly and a bit laughable, but considering it was made with good intentions, you make the effort to smile.

Feels like a bad Roblox game. Sound design is bad. Graphics are just plastic-looking. Gameplay is summarised in: go to room, find code, go to next room, find code, etc. Monster looks goofy and there's not even a cut scene of any kind when the monster gets you, you just get a "you've been caught" retry or quit screen. Not scary at all. Only positive is that it's free, but even then it's not even worth trying out because it's not even in the "so bad it's good" category. 0/10

I got stuck on train bit. :((((. Instructions up to that point confusing

This is a great example of how games don't have to be complex and have amazing graphics to be fun. I had a great time and a few laughs. "Partial controller support" is generous... Also the crouch being hold and sprint as toggle makes it impossible to navigate certain tight spots, getting "caught" trying to crouch through a vent that I'm just running past is not fun. Crouch toggle, sprint hold OR just make that an option in the menu?

Astral Disorder is a short game about a worker on an unkempt space train station who has to escape from a beast in order to survive. To do this you have to search for some tools and solve puzzles. Unfortunately the Achievements are bugged and it is impossible to obtain them. But hey, it is for free. So give it a try. Gameplay- ☐ Very good ☐ Good ☐ Nothing special ☑ Okay ☐ Bad Graphics- ☐ Masterpiece ☐ Beautiful ☐ Good ☑ Will do ☐ Bad ☐ Awful Audio ☐ Amazing ☐ Very good ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☑ Not too bad ☐ Bad Audience ☐ Kids ☐ Teens ☐ Adults ☑ Everyone Story- ☐ Lovely ☐ Good ☐ Average ☐ Not great ☑ None Difficult- ☐ Just press a bunch of buttons ☑ Easy ☐ Significant brain usage ☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master ☐ Not so easy ☐ Difficult ☐ Dark Souls Grind- ☑ Nothing ☐ Only if you care about leaderboards/ranks ☐ Isnt necessary to progress ☐ A bit grindy sometimes ☐ Average grind level ☐ Too much grind ☐ Insanity Game Time- ☑ Short ☐ Average ☐ Long ☐ Depends on you ☐ Endless Price ☐ Just buy it ☑ Worth the price ☐ Wait for sale ☐ Maybe if you have some spare money left ☐ Not recommended