Star Overdrive is a really cool and original sci-fi adventure that stands out thanks to its atmosphere, emotional story, and strong creative identity. It clearly knows what it wants to be and sticks to it from start to finish. I had a great time.

From the beginning, the world feels unique and well put together. It’s not just background scenery, it actually supports the feeling of exploring something lonely and unknown. The game does a great job of building a mood, and it keeps that feeling all the way through.

NOUS is probably one of the most memorable parts of the game. She really feels like the emotional center of the whole experience. The way the story uses memories, messages, and fragments of connection makes the relationship feel meaningful and surprisingly personal.

The hoverboard gameplay is another big highlight. Once you get into the flow, it feels fast, smooth, and really satisfying. Movement has a lot of personality, and the game really shines when it focuses on speed and momentum. The races and bigger set-pieces add nice variety, and the soundtrack makes those moments hit even harder.

The structure of the game also it varies pace a lot, mixing traversal, challenges, and more dungeon-like areas keeps things from feeling repetitive and adds different rhythms to the experience. Some sections push you to slow down and actually pay attention, which feels rewarding if you engage with it, some are very fast and requires instant reactions and mastery of what you learned during the game.

Crafting and progression are also handled in a way that encourages experimentation. The game doesn’t over-explain everything, treating me as an adult and not a dund child, so you end up learning by doing. Upgrades feel more like real discoveries instead of just menu optimization.

The final act lands really well thematically. It sticks to the game’s core ideas about connection, change, and sacrifice, and doesn’t go for a simple or clean ending. It is mature, original and intense. Iit leans into the emotional weight of the journey and leaves some things open to interpretation, which makes it stick with you.

Overall, Star Overdrive feels like a game with a strong voice and a lot of atmosphere. The best moments are genuinely great, it's full of ideas and it is something that I expect from an indie developer, since AAA is dead to me.

Too slow. Underwhelming combat.

TL;DR: Great atmosphere, frustrating gameplay, and an ending that feels unfinished.
It’s the kind of ending that makes you wonder why they didn’t go all the way.

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Star Overdrive is the kind of game that makes disappointment hurt more because there is clearly something good at its core.

What works:
The atmosphere is strong, the world has style, and NOUS is genuinely charming. Her voice performance is excellent, and the photos, messages, and memories do a very good job of creating real emotional attachment. When the hoverboard gameplay clicks, it feels great. Some races are exciting, some boss moments with the rock soundtrack are genuinely cool, and the game absolutely has identity.

What doesn’t:
The execution keeps getting in the way.

A much larger part of the game than I expected is made up of punishing dungeons, awkward platforming, and trial-and-error sequences that feel more exhausting than satisfying. Too many sections demand precision without giving the controls the clarity needed to make that fun. The crafting system is also vague and underexplained, and it never felt rewarding enough to justify how much uncertainty it creates.

The final stretch made things worse, not better. The last boss is more annoying than exciting, and by that point I was pushing through mostly because I wanted to finally see the ending.

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The real issue: the ending

This game puts a lot of effort into making you care about NOUS and the relationship through the photos, the memories, the distance, and the emotional framing of the journey. So after all the frustrating sections, I expected payoff.

I wanted a happy ending.

Instead, the game goes for a bittersweet sci-fi route where love becomes the reason for sacrifice, but not the reward.

What makes this more frustrating is that the ending is not just "sad" or "open". It actively builds the logic for a better payoff - and then refuses to follow through.

NOUS makes it clear:
they will never be together again,
she had to become something else,
their bond made it possible.

In other words, she becomes an interface, not a person who can return.

And then the game introduces something critical:
a world where mind and soul can be separated - and even reunited with the body later.

It shows her body preserved.
It builds the idea that reunion might actually be possible.

And then it stops.

That is exactly why the ending did not work for me.

This isn’t a story that had to end this way - it feels like it chose to.

The game spends hours building emotional investment around love, longing, and reunion - only to turn all of that into setup for separation.

That makes the ending feel less like a powerful tragedy and more like withheld payoff.

The "consciousness transferred into a system" twist also doesn’t feel particularly original for sci-fi, which makes the lack of resolution even more noticeable.

This is especially frustrating because the ending is a cutscene. An alternative ending - especially a proper happy ending - would have gone a long way here.

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If I had known in advance what kind of ending this had, and how much of the game would be slow, punishing dungeon/platforming rather than hoverboard freedom, I honestly doubt I would have bought it.

Star Overdrive has a beautiful concept, a strong emotional setup, and some genuinely cool moments.

But it never delivers the ending needed to make the whole journey worth recommending.