Star Stuff

In Star Stuff, you play as Mija, a recently recruited engineer working at the Popoca star factory. It’s only your first day, yet the factory is in crisis and it’s up to you to fix everything using your programming skills.

Everything in this game is made to be as approchable as possible. The cute and clean visuals, the music, the soothing atmosphere (yes the factory is in crisis, but a relaxing one it seems), the basic programming…
And that’s usually not a good sign for me as it probably means the difficulty will be ridiculously low. I mean, a cute game with basic programming can’t possibly be challenging, right? Right…?

The goal of each puzzle is to reach the button at the end, using the help of various robots and mechanisms. The first thing you do when you enter a level is to go to the terminal, this is where you write the code for the robots. Well, you don’t need to write anything as the commands are all listed and you just need to drag and drop what you want, then specify the targets; it’s very easy to use and convenient.
The number of commands each robot can receive are limited, everything needs to be optimized. Once you’re code is done, you run it and the robots will start following their commands… then it’s Mija’s turn.
Of course, programming robots in not enough to solve the puzzles, YOU are also part of it. That means the game is kind of heavy in action and timings, however it’s never unfair and you can even rewind if you make a mistake.

Star Stuff shines thanks to that contrast between writing code and actually interfering with it. This allows the game to combine easy programming with classic puzzle solving, resulting in a fresh and very interesting experience.
The game loves to play with “eureka moments”; they won’t always blow your mind of course, but that’s the type of puzzle design I like a lot.

More robots and commands are introduced as you progress, yet the game never strays from its simple approach. It only gets harder by being smarter, the most difficult puzzles often even only have a few commands required.
Speaking of difficulty, Star Stuff doesn’t forget people who want more challenge, each area has bonus puzzles designed to be trickier. I even got stuck for a long time on two of them in the last chapter, which is something I absolutely didn’t see coming.

The only complaint I could make is that there is no level editor. I’m sure there are more things to do with the current mechanics, and like every other aspect of the game, even creating Star Stuff puzzles seems approachable.
… I just want more.

Whether you’re into programming or not, whether you like easy or challenging puzzles, whether you’re a child or not… it doesn’t matter. Star Stuff satisfies everyone and does it very well, which is really not an easy feat for a puzzle game.

Great game, highly recommended.

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Developer: Ánimo Games Studio
Publisher: Astra Logical
Platform: Steam – Windows/macOS
Release Date: June 7, 2024