“When he shall die, take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with night and pay no worship to the garish sun.” – William Shakespeare
Overview
The Star Named EOS is the latest game from Silver Lining Studio, creators of Behind the Frame. It is a charming narrative-focused puzzle adventure that centres around photography and reminiscing.
Developer: Silver Lining Studio
Released: 23rd July 2024
Price: £11.99 – £13.49
Narrative
The Star Named EOS follows its protagonist Dei and they explore memories of their mother and create new memories of their own. The key themes are relationships, love, loss, and moving on and the narrative touches on some heavier subject matter such as war and grief. The story is delivered through a variety of techniques including letters, narrated interludes, but also the gameplay and visuals. There is a nice balance of lighter, jubilant moments alongside darker and more melancholy events and memories. The story itself is quite poignant and the storytelling is emotive and moving. This is fueled by some highly descriptive and evocative writing that is generally very sentimental in tone.
Gameplay
Players of The Star Named EOS must explore a series of memories and experiences and solve different series of puzzles in order to assemble and stage different scenes and recreate photos as well as take some new ones. The puzzles are varied and include inventory-based conundrums, coded locks, pattern-finding, and a maze amongst other tasks. These are just challenging enough to be satisfying whilst maintaining the relaxing feel of the game. There is, however, no way to reset puzzle progress if a mistake is made or the player gets confused, the only way to do this is to reload the game.
The act of taking photos is a fun and prominent aspect of the game. Players can take up to 80 photos in a playthrough which is more than sufficient to complete all the basic tasks in the game, but also leaves scope to get creative as well as complete additional achievements. The camera is simple and allows for positioning the shot as well as zooming in or out.
Styling
The Star Named EOS uses a soft illustrative art style that utilises a gently muted colour palette and warm lighting. The scenes have a nice amount of detail and maintain a delicate feel with no harsh shadows or bold outlines. The anime style is most prominent in the game’s characters, providing a mild and visually pleasing contrast against the backgrounds and other objects.
The soundtrack is varied and highly emotive, featuring a range of instruments and sounds such as gentle piano and wooden xylophones, alongside ethereal twinkling, and more dramatic strings. The overall effect is quite relaxing for the most part. The sound effects such as mechanisms moving and birds chirping are subtle and well-implemented, adding an almost imperceivable sense of of immersion. Additionally, the voice acting in the narrated interludes between gameplay is both soothing and passionate.
Summary
The Star Named EOS will take around 3-5 hours to complete and offers players stunning visuals in a soft and warm art style, an emotive and relaxing soundtrack, satisfying puzzle-based gameplay, fun photography, and a poignant and uplifting narrative with an engaging protagonist. This game will suit players looking for a more casual yet meaningful experience and I’d definitely recommend it to fans of more relaxed puzzle games.
Giveaway
Courtesy of Silver Lining Studio we have a Steam key for The Star Named EOS to giveaway. For a chance to win, simply visit our Discord server and react to the giveaway announcement. The winner will be chosen at random on Wednesday 14th August 2024.
Join us on Discord here or click the giveaway link below.
Looking for more photography games? You may also like these reviews:
TOEM: A Photo Adventure – A Wholesome and Whimsical Expedition – Flutter Away – A Short but Delightful Photography Game – Beasts of Maravilla Island: A Magical New Photography Game
