Star Fire: Eternal Cycle Review: This New Roguelike Is a Little Too Addicting

It’s strange that after all these years, it’s the roguelike genre that often feels oversaturated. There’s always a new one around the corner, and today isn’t any different. Star Fire: Eternal Cycle has all the hallmarks of an action roguelike game, being fast-paced, action-packed, and always changing, and here, you have some control over what the next stage can drop, even if the options are randomized. However, Star Fire‘s real charm is in the way it creates an experience that changes every time you go through the stages with a playstyle that has old school vibes made into an addictive modern masterpiece.

Personally, I’m used to bullet hell roguelikes, so Star Fire: Eternal Cycle felt different from the start since there’s less chaos happening on your screen during combat. Trading in chaos for control is part of what makes Star Fire so addicting, as you can jump into combat with the simple controls, but there’s room to improve your skills and become a master of mechanics. The result is an experience that you can tailor to your playstyle and play repeatedly without the game feeling the same every run, turning Star Fire: Eternal Cycle into a roguelike that’s addicting and easy to pick up.

Rating: 4/5

Pros	Cons
Simple controls	Little information about stats
Action-packed without being overwhelming	Genre dependent on RNG
Every run is different	Takes time to master

Star Fire Nails the Experience of Playing an Arcade Game at Home

Star Fire: Eternal Cycle brought me back to the days of playing arcade games at the mall, hoping that I could get through them with the limited number of tokens I had to work with. However, it puts a modern polish on the familiar side-scrolling style of many arcade games and keeps you moving through the action with its beat ’em up combat. It’s fast. It’s fun. It’s insanely addicting. The combination is everything you expect from an arcade, but with the added benefit of not needing to use another token every time you die.

You can hop right into the game — at the start, you have a basic tutorial that tells you how to move, attack, and open your inventory to use the items you pick up. That’s all you need to get going. It might seem simple, but actually mastering the combat takes practice. Still, the responsiveness is smooth, making the controls feel intuitive and good to use. I experienced some stuttering, and that’s not fun to have with a fast-paced game, but I can’t say for sure that it’s due to the game and not from my own PC.

Star Fire Also, Unfortunately, Has a Lot of Trial and Error

As one might expect from a rougelike, you don’t get to keep your general progress when you die. Additionally, Star Fire doesn’t give you a lot of information about the stats on items, meaning you have to through a lot of trial and error with items to find ones that you really like and ones that work for you. For me, that can be part of the fun, even if it ends up frustrating to find out that a stat might not work as well with my playstyle as I had hoped. But it’s understandable if that’s not an element everyone enjoys, as it can feel like homework to try and remember everything.

For the most part, the stats are easy enough to figure out, but I’d love to see a feature added to the game that gives you a better idea of the benefits for each one to let you weigh your decisions. How much does additional crit actually impact my damage? Is it enough to be worth taking over an increase to my weapon damage? I want to see the math and statistics in order to create my perfect build, and I need more information to do so. Right now, I spend my time trying out different builds and learning through error instead, which at times can feel like artificially padding the playtime.

Star Fire Already Feels Like a Classic Roguelike Game

If you enjoy roguelikes as a genre, you’ll likely have fun with Star Fire: Eternal Cycle. It also has appeal for anybody who enjoys fast arcade games or beat ’em ups. It’s new, but it has a classic feeling to it with a modern sheen. You can jump into it without knowing anything about the game. The fast pace makes it perfect to play when you have a limited amount of time for gaming, but the addictive quality makes it dangerous when you’re limited to a specific timeframe, as you simply want to keep playing after each death.

Truly, Star Fire: Eternal Cycle is a strong competitor in a genre that often feels oversaturated with content. I see so many games that are marketed as roguelikes, but many of them are unable to capture the foundation of the genre in a way that makes you want to sink hours into it. Star Fire is a classic roguelike at its core with the spirit of old arcade games, and the smooth combat and fast pace combined with the ability to choose the way you play each run within the limits of RNG make it the kind of approachable title that’s worth trying for yourself.