The Star Named Eos Review – A Thousand Pictures

A phrase that I have heard often in my life is that a picture is worth a thousand words. Cliché, I know. However, growing older, I’ve found that looking back at pictures that I have of either myself or family is something that is important to me. The Star Named EOS takes this idea to the extreme in an adventure that is truly worth every photo.

I Miss You So

The Star Named EOS follows Dei, a young boy as he recreates photos that his mom has sent him over the years of her travels. He follows her footsteps by recreating her photos the best he can hoping to understand her better.

My hands are tied because there is so much that happens in the story that talking about it would spoil the experience for everyone who has any interest in the game. However, playing through the game elicited a lot of emotions especially about familial connections. It’s clear that there is a lot of emotions at play in the creation of this game that it’s hard not to be swept into it.

This is the first game in a long time that I felt was worth every minute I had played into it and its use of narration and hand drawn animation to tell a story is eye-catching. The Star Named EOS is memorable in the best ways possible that, somehow, words and even photos may not be enough to capture the emotions put into this title.

Picture Perfect

As a point and click puzzle game, The Star Named EOS will have players looking around an environment and interacting with it. Mostly by clicking around and using items to unlock further items to use. The end goal of each stage is to recreate a picture that Dei’s mom has sent him in a letter.

That being said, the gameplay is simple enough and actually works well on controller if not sometimes a little stiff. For instance, using an item requires players to drag the itme from their inventory to the item that they want to use it on. This drag feels slow on controller that might drag down the experience slightly for some players.

The puzzles themselves are pretty easy to figure out, though they can be a tad obtuse at times, as they usually require a previous puzzle to be solved before moving onto the next one. Personally, I was never stuck for longer than ten minutes with the only issue being that sometimes it is hard to tell what objects are interactable with.

This issue can be frustrating as when I finally stumbled upon on an object that I could interact with that happened to be the solution for the puzzle, I would groan. This is exaggerated as there are a few puzzles that end up being clear on what the solution is but unclear at how I exactly arrived at the solution.

Still, The Star Named EOS has more than enough charm to make up for these slight frustrations that the title throws at the the player. That I personally don’t mind it once I went through the title a couple of times.

Re-experience the Experience

There are a few things that players may want to go back for if they are wanting the full experience. The main story is short and sweet but playing through it again will reveal some items that the players never noticed before.

Additionally, many trophies have a lot of extra items per stage that doesn’t require the player to do but can be a cute addition to the story. However, a single play through will be more than enough to experience the game in it’s entirety and leave most players satisfied.

So, honestly outside of achievement hunting there is no reason to play through the game again besides to hear the story from the beginning again.

The visual style of The Star Named EOS is it’s greatest strength many moving characters look to be 2D animated reminiscent of an anime style. This at times made me forget that I was playing a game and instead watching a movie. In fact, this feels like an interactive anime with a clear story line.

Which makes the idea of going through the title again easy for those who approach it like a movie. Watching their friends experience the title or sharing it with those that they love.

Take a Step Back

The Star Named EOS is in many ways like a movie with how it presents the story and pacing of it. For those who approach it like a game the experience can be a bit lacking but after thinking of it as an interactive anime.

This is a title that I would like to experience again at a later date and share with my friends. In fact, this is an easy recommendation for anybody who is looking for a heartfelt story about the past and moving forward.