StellaGale: The Trials of Faith promises a lot. It’s a complex action-adventure game with sumptuous visuals, compelling combat, an intriguing mystery-driven narrative, and a fantastic soundtrack scoring the whole experience. It would have been so easy for developers Vifth Floor and Extra life Entertaiment to have gotten any aspect of it wrong, and yet, with the brief slice of it that I thoroughly enjoyed, they have delivered on every front. As it stands, StellaGale is absolutely shaping up to be one of the most entertaining indie games of the year.
“StellaGale’s visuals are not merely superfluous, as the expertly crafted animations make the gameplay feel all the more impactful.”
What initially drew me to StellaGale was its gorgeous hand-drawn art style. Its vivid color palette, combined with its warm, dreamlike haze, makes for a Ghibli-esque aesthetic that feels instantly nostalgic yet wholly unique. While there are clear inspirations drawn from the likes of My Hero Academia and the aforementioned Ghibli films, StellaGale very much visually feels like its own entity. Its character designs are instantly iconic, especially that of Stella, who radiates a badass charm that is immediately endearing. Similarly, its environments are packed with an incredible amount of detail, making for a strikingly immersive experience that feels as alive as it does spectacular.
It helps, too, that StellaGale’s visuals are not merely superfluous, as the expertly crafted animations make the gameplay feel all the more impactful. It is evident that a considerable amount of time and effort went into ensuring that every animation feels as tight and clean as possible, from the bombastic fluidity of combat to the humorously expressive emotions of characters during dialogue.
However, even when the game is unable to rely on its fluid animations, it still manages to enrapture the player. This is best seen in its storybook-esque storytelling technique, in which still frames deliver key story moments. Despite the lack of any movement, the gorgeous artwork, coupled with the phenomenal score, creates moving and deeply emotional sequences that clearly elaborate on past and present events without the need for fully animated cutscenes.
“You’ll need to use every tool you have in order to survive each encounter, encouraging on-the-fly adapting, which is endlessly engaging.”
Fortunately, StellaGale’s combat is just as good as its visuals. This is a side-scrolling beat ’em up, where you’ll progress through arena spaces fighting waves of bad guys. You have a parry that is handy in a pinch, as well as a pistol that can temporarily stun your opponent. Comboing these together, alongside your basic attacks, feels incredibly fluid and rewarding, resulting in a dynamic combat system that is hard to master but ultimately worth it.
Enemy types are well balanced to counteract your abilities if you’re not careful, such as rats that tunnel beneath you and can only be stopped by your pistol. You’ll need to use every tool you have in order to survive each encounter, encouraging on-the-fly adapting, which is endlessly engaging. Of course, this means that combat can often get rather hectic, especially when confronted by a cavalcade of enemies. It’s not unceasingly punishing, but it can be difficult to truly get the hang of it all. I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t terribly good at the short slice of StellaGale that I got to experience, but was, nevertheless, craving more of it at all times.
However, while it can be challenging to get the hang of StellaGale, it’s not overly punishing. You have a huge pool of health, as well as access to a number of powerful special abilities. You’ll gain additional healing items from the crowd if you perform well, including acing a mini-game associated with each ability, ensuring that your health is rarely dangerously low. It’s not impossible to die, but the game is relatively forgiving to those who are still getting to grips with its controls.
“Exploration serves to further immerse you into this gorgeous fantasy world, offering an inviting space through which to spend most of your downtime.”
In the short demo that I played, there was also a brief section in which I got to explore some of the game’s hub world. This was, unsurprisingly, a visual delight, with so many intricacies peppering the delightfully detailed environments, imbuing it with a sense of wonder and life. You’ll encounter a parent punishing her child, shopkeepers sweeping the street, and passersby jauntily browsing for goods.
It isn’t exactly clear just how much this will factor into the full game, but I suspect it will act as a hub world in which to gather items and quests before venturing out into various battles. Nevertheless, it all serves to further immerse you into this gorgeous fantasy world, offering an inviting space through which to spend most of your downtime.
The only problem I encountered with StellaGale was a smattering of translation issues, which hindered my overall enjoyment of the story. While I would typically not worry about this kind of thing, especially from an indie developer, the story on offer is so intriguing that it would be a shame to lose some of it in translation. These translation issues pop up in both dialogue-heavy story sequences as well as the background banter between NPCs while you’re exploring. Should this be remedied, I suspect StellaGale will be a remarkably ambitious game that manages to deliver satisfyingly on all fronts.
“This is a phenomenal achievement from the developer and one I simply cannot wait to get my hands on when it launches later this year.”
StellaGale: The Trials of Faith is shaping up to be an exceptional video game. Its gorgeous art style, combined with a great soundtrack and intriguing narrative, serves to heighten the refined, fluid, and endlessly compelling combat. From what I have experienced so far, this is a phenomenal achievement from the developer and one I simply cannot wait to get my hands on when it launches later this year.
StellaGale: The Trials of Faith is launching on Steam in 2024. You should check out its Steam store page and wishlist it to be notified of any future updates.
Indie Spotlights are previews of indie games that have caught our eye. They’re more like a review-in-progress that allows us to cover more indie games than we might normally have time for.