Stela Reviews
Stela’s tight platforming and beautiful yet oppressive atmosphere can only go so far when the game as a whole does little to impress.
Stela feels like a golem, crafted from the bones and sinew of better titles. Sometimes, this can be a successful experiment: Darksiders, for example, may not contain a single unique gameplay concept but manages to forge its own path through its worldbuilding, characters, and art direction. Stela accomplishes no such feat, and so I spent most of my playtime wishing I was playing its inspirations instead.
A look inside this polished me-too platformer reveals quality nuances often stuck in limbo.
When it all clicks together, Stela makes for some beautiful platformer moments. When it doesn't, it's frustrating and obtuse.
Stela is a platform-puzzler that's quite clearly been made in Inside's (and indeed Limbo’s) image. It's a serviceable approximation of Playdead's work, with a beautifully strange world and even a couple of neat ideas of its own. But it fails to immerse you in its world in quite the same way courtesy of some unfortunate flat spots.
Stela is a nice looking, but completely soulless game that tries to grab a piece of fame from popular developments, but is not able to offer anything new. This is the case when the graphics and music do not draw out a weak story against the background of too simple puzzles. However, we never had any illusions about this game.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Stela is an atmospheric platformer that offers solid puzzles and mechanics that will genuinely challenge the player, but may leave them wanting more than what is ultimately offered.
As a fan of cinematic platformers, I rather enjoyed playing Stela from start to finish. Be that as it may, it didn't take me long at all, hence one of my leading (but not my only) concerns. At under three hours, and with little replay value to speak of, $19.99 is a lot to launch for on the Nintendo Switch. On sale, this would be one to consider for sure, depending on how burnt out you might be on the subgenre.
Stela hopes you’ll look at it with the same reverence everyone had for Inside. The problem is that Stela needs to do a lot more than just copying Playdead’s formula.
Stela clearly wants to be as unnerving and fascinating as its contemporaries but the end product is merely an empty imitation. There is no element of surprise or wonder here, nothing to make players consider the game at a deeper level. Instead, it acts as a good reminder of the far superior titles that came before it.
There's no doubt that among the many influential indie games made over time Limbo is pretty high up there...
Including all unavoidable failures and retries, it only takes two hours to play Stela through. In that sense, the asking price of twenty bucks is a bit too steep. However, the game is well done and the gameplay focuses only on the essential as there’s nothing extra to distract you.
If you're into games for the experience more than the narrative, Stela might work for you. A few of the puzzles took more brute force than smarts to solve, but nothing was impossibly difficult. The idea of plane-jumping is good, except for when you can't tell if the feature is active. The graphics look beautiful, but the early levels suffer from too many dark colors muddying the waters. It's too bad that the set pieces lack anything special to connect them together. Overall, while Stela may not be top-tier material, it is solid enough to warrant a look.
Stela is good but unspectacular.
Stela will be a familiar experience for those who've played Limbo and Inside. That doesn't mean it lacks its own merits, though it does try to imitate those Playdead classics a bit too much.
Stela is a beautiful atmospheric puzzle-platformer; however, it seems to emphasize style over substance. The musical score, however, is phenomenal, making almost mundane actions feel grandiose or anxiety-inducing. The first playthrough only takes a couple of hours, and once you know what to expect, you'll be able to run through the game in under 90 minutes.
Stela is similarly brief but also a fleeting experience that doesn’t make much of an impact while you’re playing or linger once you complete it mostly due to its hollow world.
Overall though, even with how short it is, Stela is worth a playthrough if for only the visual and the musical presentation. It won’t take long to go through, but this is definitely something that should have the sound system on high and the lights turned low to allow yourself to immerse into the world as Stela runs and puzzles her way through it.
Stela’s adventure is incredibly atmospheric and I certainly enjoyed playing through it, though the short run-time and slightly high price may put some gamers off. It offers a beautiful yet desolate world to explore and the brilliant sound design helps bring every intense moment to life, whilst each encounter with the grim creatures that ravage the environment will certainly keep you on the edge of your seat as you fight for your survival. Just don’t expect to be tested too much throughout the game, with most of Stela’s puzzles and platforming sequences feeling a little bit too simple in design and offering little challenge to the player.
Stela is a very pleasant experience from the first moment. Beatiful visuals and soundtrack for a platformer adventure maybe too short, flat and excessively simple in terms of difficulty.
Review in Spanish | Read full review