Star Overdrive Reviews
Star Overdrive is a unique title that is fantastic fun and compelling enough to see through to the end. I can’t fault the ambition of the development team in creating something that feels enjoyable to play and explore. It misses the mark in some areas, but the core gameplay loop and cruising around on the hoverboard kept me engaged from the start.
Star Overdrive is an ambitious game that delivers a lot of fun through its movement mechanics across the open world using a hoverboard. Unfortunately, however, it falls short by going overboard with the addition of systems and mechanics that lack the necessary polish to work as the studio intended, making much of the gameplay loop feel repetitive.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Star Overdrive surprised me in the best way. What started as a space-themed curiosity turned into a fast-paced, emotionally engaging experience that blends satisfying movement, creative combat, and a genuinely good story. Between the hoverboard upgrades, keytar-based combat, and an intriguing skill system, there’s more depth here than I initially expected – and it kept me coming back for more.
Indie studios are consistently creating some fantastic games, and Star Overdrive is one such example. Caracal Games Studio is a small, Italian team of around a dozen people and, with the publishing help of Dear Villagers, have delivered a brilliant adventure. This was a really fun title to play, with some beautifully unique environments to explore. Whilst the combat is fairly basic and the puzzles not too taxing, Star Overdrive is, overall, a game definitely worth playing. That’s why I’m giving Star Overdrive the Thumb Culture Gold Award!
Star Overdrive is a contradiction of a game. At its core, it has something beautiful, an incredible hoverboard system, a sprawling alien world, and a dreamlike vibe that's unlike anything else I've played recently. When the game just lets you ride, it soars. But surrounding that core are systems that feel clunky, tedious, and too random for their own good. The crafting, the skill trees, the combat, the dungeons, they all pull you away from what makes the game special.
Star Overdrive is a big open world, with big ambitions, but lacks a little bit of synergy in my opinion. I think comparisons to the giants of this type of game are fair and some of what Star Overdrive does different, like the hoverboard, are great, but I don’t think they mesh together in one package that presents a game that I want to spend a great amount of time with.
Star Overdrive is a bold love letter to fast-paced adventure games. It mixes hoverboard tricking, keytar-powered combat, and rich environmental design into a compact, replayable package. There’s nothing else quite like it this year.
Cruising across a beautiful and desolate alien planet on a hoverboard while listening to an atmospheric soundtrack is incredibly fun, feels great, and never gets boring. Unfortunately, the rest of "Star Overdrive" can't quite keep up. Most gameplay elements, like the combat and platforming, aren't bad, but they never come close to blowing you away. Crafting and leveling feel very superficial. If you get involved in the story and the world, you can still have a good time with the title.
Review in German | Read full review
Star Overdrive is a title that manages to combine many different styles of gameplay in a single adventure. The hoverboard exploration system, combined with dynamic combat and a carefully crafted, colourful setting, make this title developed by Caracal Games a noteworthy game that is well worth trying out.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Star Overdrive is an impressive game made by a really small team, but it is also a game that tried to bite off more than it could chew. The hoverboard action is so much fun, and honestly the only thing this game really needed to succeed! The board customization is great, the power ups are fun to use in combination with the hoverboard, and the gameplay itself is both fast and fluid. Sadly the rest of the game slows to a crawl the moment you are off the board, with clunky and repetitive combat, and puzzles that overstay their welcome.
While Star Overdrive reaps the rewards of its bold proposal, it also suffers in some areas. The results are more than positive, with an engaging adventure full of exploration through fun surfing, as well as cool special abilities, great for solving puzzles and explore this enchanting world. Other elements fell short and limited the overall experience, but it is still worth checking out, especially for those who enjoy an original and refreshing game.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
For those seeking a peaceful experience away from the noise of big blockbuster titles, Star Overdrive might be one of your best picks — a surprising indie gem that blends elements from beloved titles like Journey and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. It's a fun and fast-paced journey through an 80s-inspired space setting, where the Italian studio has successfully carved out its own identity with rich ideas and a stunning artistic direction.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
his is a game that’s easy to fall in love with and allows you to have a lot of fun right at the start but it can be a bit overwhelming for some.
Overall, Star Overdrive is a mix for me. The gameplay felt stale after a while, and I did blast around on my hoverboard more than actually playing the game, but there is certain potential that can be built on. The amplified soundtrack, decent scenery, and simple controls make for a good time boost across Cebete. Star Overdrive has the foundations to be something great, but we shall see in due time.
Star Overdrive is not a flawless or technically polished title, but it is an interesting mix of gameplay elements and inspirations from other games, and it doesn't feel drawn out like other open-world games.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Star Overdrive is everything it’s cracked up to be. It’s the closest an indie game could get to The Legend Of Zelda: Breath of The Wild; it has movement mechanics reminiscent of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater; it’s a sci-fi with elements of the “hero myth”. But it’s much more than that. It’s about exploring worlds in style, it’s about defeating giant enemies, it’s about adrenaline with a hoverboard and a lot of style with a sword/guitar/keyboard. Finally, it’s about a gameplay loop so enjoyable and addictive that even though it’s an indie game and has a price tag, it feels more like it’s coming from a AAA game.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Star Overdrive is the perfect open-world adventure for you if you're looking for a challenge to master rhythm and speed in a world that dares to merge genres.
Star Overdrive is another example of a game where a cool reveal didn’t live up to the end result. Whatever inspiration there was to be found in last year’s trailer didn’t make it to the finished product, and there’s little here to make the game worth recommending.
The imagination is clear throughout, and the team at Caracal Games has done a wonderful job in creating an interesting world that deserves your attention and time. If you're looking for a unique Zelda-like, with a rough 20-hour playtime and a mysterious sci-fi tale, then Star Overdrive might just be what you're after.
Star Overdrive feels like a seamless fusion of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, offering a fresh and exhilarating take on the action adventure genre.