Hands-On Preview: Star Birds Brings Automation Out Of This World

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Quite some time back, I came across a game from the YouTube channel, Kurzgesagt, an enchanting group that produces moderately educational yet highly engaging content.

As a devoted gamer, I’d like to share my excitement about an intriguing title I recently stumbled upon – Star Birds! This captivating game revolves around the creation of colonies, resource gathering, and planetary exploitation, all beautifully rendered in a style reminiscent of the 2D animations that Kurzgesagt is renowned for.

It appears this is tailored quite well to my existing passions, given that I’m an avid enthusiast of their content and enjoy both automating Minecraft extensively and deconstructing galaxies in Spore.

It’s not uncommon to find YouTube gaming content that veers off course, frequently appearing as promotional material for the creator you’re already familiar with, rather than a true reflection of their enthusiasm or creativity.

Although there may be several doubts, the prevailing pattern remained, causing me some apprehension regarding

Flying Into a World of Charm

Although Spore offers a somewhat rough interplanetary travel, it’s far less detailed compared to the planetary systems in Star Birds. Essentially, you can explore just a few planets at once, but each one seems intimately linked.

Straight off, the scene is introduced with an enchanting animation reminiscent of Kurzgesagt’s signature style, and this style persists throughout the game, appearing each time a character or cutscene is presented.

The three-dimensional elements are quite convincingly rendered, with a cel-shaded appearance and lighting that resembles traditional two-dimensional animation when viewed slightly out of focus. This style is appealing and effectively complements the overall aesthetic of the game.

Following the transformation of birds from basic fruit-eating creatures into an advanced space-traveling society, you’ll gain control over a compact group of planets, each boasting unique resources for gathering and structures for construction.

In essence, this game’s core mechanism revolves around constructing extraction devices, linking them to a launch site, and occasionally incorporating additional tools or facilities to boost the resources you’re gathering.

For the demonstration, it was incredibly captivating, even though I wasn’t certain how long it would maintain interest before becoming repetitive. As a fan of farming simulations, I found the autonomous operation of the system to be delightfully enjoyable in itself.

I enjoy creating resource collectors to gather items, combining two of them into a single composite material, shipping them back to our home base, and sometimes redirecting the flow of resources between planets to power a new structure construction.

The entire experience is nicely wrapped up with soothing tunes, an amusing side-story unfolding concurrently while constructing your cosmic facilities, and tasks that continually give the sensation of advancing towards a goal.

Slipstream Toward the Future

After combining various resources with machines that gather coins on your behalf and construct a large structure to mine an intriguing rock, the influx of new items arriving steadily makes one ponder about their source.

Each level may introduce additional mechanics built upon familiar settings and storylines, leading me to ponder whether we’ll primarily encounter numerous new features rather than significant changes in the narrative or planets.

Instead of offering procedurally generated planets for endless exploration, Star Birds concentrates on a limited sector, yet compensates by regularly introducing fresh gameplay mechanics.

Each newly introduced mechanism seems intrinsically linked and adds layers to your manufacturing process by introducing additional aspects to take into account. Additionally, the bonus region in Sablena offers a hint of an unpredictable, semi-open setting.

It’s quite enjoyable delving into this expansive part of the universe, discovering fresh, unique content each time. However, since it seems to be located in a tiny region close to the border, Sablena gives off an impression that it’s a special case rather than the norm.

I’m really looking forward to having more opportunities in the game where we can step aside from the main storyline and build expansive networks of extractors, ships, chemical labs, and refineries. This is my favorite part of the game because once the guidance ends, I can optimize production according to my own strategy.

This game perfectly delivers what I’m looking for in games like these, making Sablena feel like the prime attraction. I relish creating my own factories and gathering resources autonomously, and this game offers an ideal realization of that experience.

As a fan, I can confidently express that it surpassed the enjoyment I derived from games like Factorio or Shapez, at least within the time frame provided by the demo. If the full game maintains this level of openness and supports player freedom as extensively, I’d go so far as to predict we’ve got a real gem here.

Breaking The Atmosphere

As a gaming enthusiast, I can’t wait to explore the future developments of Star Birds! The tantalizing hints dropped at the end of the demo have me intrigued, and I’m particularly eager to see how the promised enhancements will breathe fresh life into an already captivating game. The prospect of speedier building upgrades has the potential to address the somewhat leisurely pace I encountered during my playthrough, making the experience even more engaging!

I truly enjoy the process of mining, refining, and crafting various items across multiple planets, and I eagerly anticipate more self-directed, less prescriptive star systems in the main game. The freedom I experienced when given control was truly remarkable.

This game can become quite complex, and if you enjoy automation-based games, you’ll likely find it appealing. To be honest, I initially thought it would be more of an educational-entertainment blend, but what I discovered was a genuinely entertaining way to pass several hours by designing the optimal resource extraction system.

The narrative appears to include numerous additional linear planets, which is fine, given that I enjoy the overall story, even though certain parts feel restrictive and don’t offer much room for exploration or choice.

After each mission concludes, you have the freedom to linger in the assigned galaxy sector, doing as you please with the planets there. I find immense joy in meticulously fine-tuning whatever creations I’ve made, even if it’s not strictly essential.

Personally, I’m captivated by this game, constantly lured into refining and enhancing every aspect, striving to automate everything in the most efficient manner. Once set up, it’s like watching a well-oiled machine at work, with my creations humming along on their own while I enjoy the fruits of my labor.

To stay updated about the progress of Star Birds and have a chance to try out the demo, consider adding it to your wishlist and look for it on its Steam Store page.

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2025-06-06 22:39