Stella Glow
OpenCritic Rating
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for Stella Glow
As Imageepoch's swan song, it may not be a slam dunk, but it's clear that Stella Glow was crafted with care from people who know the genre, even if at times you just have to stare at whatever just happened in disbelief and say, "Okay, whatever, game."
In many ways, Stella Glow is a by-the-numbers strategy RPG, but it does have a partially interesting cast, some unique storylines, and a working combat system. Imageepoch has had some ups and downs in their lengthy career, but thankfully they can at least end on somewhat of a high note.
Unoriginal yet competent, Stella Glow is your typical japanese SRPG with added fashion-witches.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Stella Glow is a solid, old-school SRPG experience that will delight those who enjoy Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics, or any of the other turn-based strategy games of the Japanese flavor that have come along in the last few decades.
Stella Glow does a lot of things well, but it also has annoyances that hold it back from being an easy recommendation on the 3DS to any SRPG fan.
A fitting swan song for imageepoch and another gem in the 3DS' legendary RPG lineup, Stella Glow is smart, stylish, and seriously satisfying. Fans of SRPGs will get a kick out of the combat, characters, and strategy, the fun, fast-paced story will keep you entertained to the end, and the musical motif works wonderfully, winding its way through the gameplay and presentation with ease. A few interface wobbles keep it from being a totally perfect show, but they're minor concerns in an otherwise spellbinding performance. Stella Glow is absolutely worth singing about.
Even with those complaints though, Stella Glow is an awesome game if you like JRPGs. It has almost everything one could ask for: a lovable cast of characters, solid voice acting and music, a moving story, sharp anime stylings and most importantly, deep, satisfying game-play. As a new IP, I honestly thought Stella Glow would leave me wanting and with a list of improvements to be made in the sequel. Instead it left me surprised with how good it was, elated, and very hopeful for a Stella Glow 2.
Stella Glow isn't reinventing the wheel here, but to its benefit it's not trying to. It's trying to be a fun, engaging, and relatively brief tactical J-RPG that signs the end of Imageepoch's tenor with a franchise they started. The story is anime-solid. The combat and social mini-games are enjoyable, and what few irritants the game does have are easily bested by any invested role-playing gamer. Stella Glow has a talent for keeping you engaged all the way through, which is a rare trait for the increasingly niche world of Japanese Role Playing games.
