Review: Asterigos Curse of the Stars (2025)

Asterigos: Curse of the Stars is the newest addition to the action RPG genre. Tinybuildgames and Acme Game Studio have combined Greek and Roman mythology into a game with shining examples of originality. You can imagine a blend of Kena: Bridge of Spirits with Dark Souls-like combat, and you are left with a game most deserving of its own franchise – Asterigos: Curse of the Stars.

We play as Hilda in Asterigos. She is a soldier in the Northwind legion and on a mission to solve what exactly is causing this curse. While searching for her father, the commander of the Northwind legion, Hilda comes across Minerva. At thousands of years old, Minerva is a deity that tasks Hilda to seek out and solve the curse. What makes Asterigos so original is the manner in which the story plays out. Missions have different consequences dependent upon how they are completed. For example, one of the early missions sees Minerva request you retrieve a specific item, but to do so while keeping a low profile. During the mission, you meet some other characters who attempt to persuade you in taking a “less subtle” approach. The choice you make here, as well as multiple other times during your journey, will determine how characters interact with Hilda. The wrong decision will see Hilda get chastised, while the correct one will reap praise. Don’t worry though, as curious players can head over to New Game + in order to test out any decisions they didn’t get to make the first time around. Non-completed side quests can also be taken on.

The voice acting I can only describe as pure and genuine. At no point did it feel forced, and the actors showed true emotional attachment to the characters. There is a reason that very few games are on God/Gears of War’s level when it comes to voice acting, but Asterigos is sneaking up on them. The quality really added to the immersion and attachment to the story.

The combat in Asterigos is truly fluid and one of the most open-ended I’ve seen in an action RPG. Hilda utilizes six different weapons: sword and shield, spear, staff, hammer, daggers and enchanted bracelets. Two of these can be equipped at any one time, and Hilda can swap back and forth during combat for what seems like an infinite number of combinations considering the wide variety of enemies. I chose to ride with the staff and daggers in order to have both up close and ranged attacks. The enemies are geared toward certain weapons, and it’s this that lets players truly make Asterigos the game they want it to be. You may want to back off and fire a staff ranged attack at a projectile enemy. You may, however, be better off blocking with your shield as you methodically move in for a strike. When you throw in the game’s environmental deaths and three difficulty levels, there truly is a style for all players. Word to the wise, the game’s hardest “challenge” difficulty truly is one of the hardest I played. No achievements are tied to difficulty, so don’t feel pressured to go for it. I went through on the hardest level, and I wouldn’t recommend it despite the feeling of accomplishment once it was over.

Asterigos features a Dark Souls-like death metric with a twist that I found greatly refreshing. Dying will see you lose 10% of your currency but none of your XP. All enemies will respawn and you will be sent back to the last conduit (save location) you visited. While 10% loss doesn’t sound that huge, it’s bigger than you’d expect. The currency counts toward purchases of items as well as upgrades so it’s a double hit. You can also save at any point, including during combat. If you die, all you have to do is load a save file and you can spare yourself the 10% lost currency. Loading any saved file will still start you at the last conduit rather than where you were when you saved the game. So, you’ll still need to run back past where you were, but the enemies will no longer be there. It’s a good strategy to use during boss fights as it saves you a lot of time and costly potions while you’re attempting to make your way back.

A HUD does not exist in the game. While Asterigos is not open world, Hilda can explore in a semi-linear format. Check out alleyways, roof tops, prison cells, abandoned buildings and more to acquire new items and crafting materials for Hilda. The absence of a HUD had me constantly wondering if I was going the way I needed for a quest or simply exploring. I’m a side quest whore and always need to search everywhere. Asterigos allowed me to feel as every decision mattered as I never knew if a choice would lead me to a mystery item or boss cut scene.

Hilda will see no shortage of upgrade options either. Each of the six weapons has both passive and active abilities you can unlock whenever you level up. Attribute points earned can be used toward health, attack power or skill power. Talent points go toward your weapon skills. Depending on your play style, adding an extra attack to your staff or decreasing the stamina lost while shield blocking becomes a rather large decision. Approximately 35-40 hours of gameplay can see a careless decision negatively domino effect Hilda.

Asterigos also features bright and vibrant environments that are fully “voiced” as well. You hear the crackling of the fire from a torch, the running of water, footsteps, etc. All of the backgrounds were luxurious and detailed. There were a few hiccups with pop-ins as turning the camera back and forth would make certain objects appear and disappear, but nothing too crazy. The in game camera during combat was difficult to manage at times. I play with the option to have the camera automatically switch to the next enemy upon death. Often times, the camera would switch to the largest enemy on screen rather than the closest one. Playing mostly with a staff, I would be forced to lure the ads away from the larger, slower boss. I took a lot of unnecessary damage as the camera would spin around completely, forcing me to turn off enemy lock while trying to dodge roll out of the way like a maniac to avoid damage while resetting my plan of attack.

A few minor inconveniences aside, Asterigos: Curse of the Stars truly shines as one of the best games in its class. The overall completeness sets it up to be the next franchise worthy story, and I’m excited to see where it goes from here. Asterigos: Curse of the Stars is available now on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.