1) The game started in Chinese I guess and didn't even give me the ability to change the language before starting anything and then forced me into tutorial mode.

2) This appears to be Asia server only for some reason.

3) The first hotkey I saw on the game was pressing "J" then I uninstalled it.

A solid game where you can sink endless hours into the gameplay with a loyal community and good developers backing it with their constant updates. Long-time player here that has played for 334days since the start of the game opening up to the Asia community on steam back in season 1 of the PVP season. Been maintaining my black hole rank (Upper Tier player rank title) every season since S4 and also a strong supporter of the game. The below review is to try to provide my views on some aspects regarding the game experience so far.

Starward is mainly a live service game with gacha where players select female characters to fight it out in 2-on-2 battles in an arena online. There are also 1 V 1 player mode and arcade mode but those are not the main modes of the game. For players that are familiar with the “Gundam VS” series, you will find yourself quite at home with the gameplay aspects as a lot of it has taken inspiration or were brought over from there.

Gameplay:
With a constantly expanding character roster of unique characters since the game started. Experience a myriad of playstyles with 42 unique characters (as of this review date), each with their own unique gameplay, strengths and weaknesses. Characters can range from low cost to high cost, from close range to far range, with various skill ceilings and difficulty to use.

A player online experience will depend on how skilled the player is at using their controlled character and their ability to make quick decisions to create a favorable situation with your partner to beat the opposing team. No 2 games are the same as the choices that the player makes provides endless possibilities to how the outcome turns out, making it a unique experience that can end in different ways. It being a live PVP environment means the partner you get and the opposing team can change in the next game with your ally before becoming your enemy.

Gacha currency economy and gacha system:
Unlike some games, newly released characters (exception of collaboration characters due to IP rights) will enter the available pool of a permanent custom select gacha banner after 2 updates from their initial release (approx. 6weeks equiv 2 big update cycle later) where one can choose the previous limited character release to be the target guaranteed character. One can also choose the 100% rate up banner pool instead if one does not want to deal with the 50% gamble when hitting the hard pity of 70rolls. However, on the 50% banner, if you were to roll out the non-rate up before hitting pity or hitting the pity, your next SSR character is guaranteed to be the rate up character of your choice or the current banner.

There are 3 currencies for the type of gacha tickets that can be used to roll the banners. Being standard ticket, advanced ticket and rerun ticket. Each can only be used on their respective gacha pools with the advanced ticket being able to use on both the limited banner and the rerun banner (custom select gacha pool). Dupes of characters that are obtained during rolling will be converted into “talent upgrade” items and also another currency “star essence” that can be used to purchase items such as more gacha tickets or a limited character copy themselves. For dupes of the “burst” from characters, it will be converted to “star dust” that can be used to purchase “burst” of characters you own, more gacha tickets (limited to X times a month), or even character shards of characters that can used to redeem additional limited character copies.

The player gacha free currency economy is more on the generous side, with a daily income minimum of about (130 -195) star crystals through clearing the daily requirements. With additional 100 weekly through collecting on their support tracking site. You also can redeem from a ranking reward box every week depending on how high you have achieved (about 400crystals from the lowest competitive rank of Superstar 3 reward box). This nets you about 1410crystals which is almost a 10pull worth (1600crystals). With the free currency you get through playing every week, you can redeem SSR dupe item or up to additional 15 standard rolls and 15 advanced ticket rolls every 3weeks(every character update). So every character update, a f2p can accumulate almost a pity worth. There are also at least 150rolls worth of standard banner tickets you can obtain through the free PVE modes.

Character dupes:
Dupes of a character are used to upgrade their talent that provides upgrades on their kit like additional ammo, new cancel route or new weapon. It does not affect the core gameplay of a character, and players are able to try out the character in a trial room at max upgrades against an AI opponent. The gacha is not the only way to get dupes for a character, one can obtain random character shards x2 from various sets of daily character shard packs which are free (like pack 1 features 4 characters, pack 2 another 4 etc). collect 60 shards and u get to redeem a character dupe free. For the standard banner characters, you can get 100 character tickets every day, with an additional 3000 every 3 weeks update, so just through saving 5400, you can buy out enough char shards of any standard SSR character of your choice. SSR dupe upgrade item are also obtainable as a f2p through the season shop (free currency through playing) and exchanging 12000 character tickets for another copy, these items reset every version update (approx. 63days) so even f2p can max dupe a limited SSR character with enough time.

Matchmaking:
As the pool of players available to match with are dependent on various factors such as the region selected (up to 3 can be selected at any time), and the current attained rank of the player (even in casual matches). One can easily identify whether facing a AI bot or player when seeing the wifi icon next to the player name during a match. Generally players just starting out will find issues facing the same people or bots constantly, just raising your rank will make it easier to get games. The game will not match people of too different rank against one another. You should easily reach the rank most suited to you if you have a net positive win rate, even against bots or players. Noone wants to keep losing every game constantly for 10rounds straight against too strong enemies.

Other points:
Constant updates – every 3 weeks a new character releases with balance adjustments made to characters depending on their performance during the season. Teaser videos before every major version update on the upcoming characters.
Strong developer support and loyal community – Developers sponsor prizes for community hosted tournaments that are informed to them. Join a community (JP, SEA, NA, TH, KR, HK etc) to find other players to play with to enhance your game experience in a custom room with them or learn from them. More content creators on social media have been joining the community with live gameplay and guides.
Dedicated developers – they have come a long way since the game started. Already announcing collaborations with figure making companies, IP like Frame Arm Girls, and hardcore mecha. More server regions have opened up like the North American, Japan and Singapore regions to accommodate players to have better latency during games. Tournament hosting support and spectator modes are being worked on to provide better support for community events.

Conclusion:
Now is a good time to join the Starward community since it is the first anniversary, plenty of freebies and interesting collaboration with Frame Arm Girls. Many waifus for you to choose from awaits you, with veteran voice actors and new timers, from loli devil imp to Chinese ladies to knights in armor to witches.

BANDAI! GIVE ME A PC PORT OF EXVS2 AND MY LIFE IS YOURS!!!!