A mysterious space-opera themed indie masterpiece | Full Review - Crying Suns

Crying Suns is a tactical rogue-lite strategy game with heavy narrative elements and a focus on exploration. It was originally released on PCs but has now since been ported to the Mobile platform. For this article I will be playing the mobile version.

🟩Pros

+Immersive role playing elements

+Dynamic storytelling

+Excellent writing as a sci-fi story

+High degree of replayability

🟥Cons

-Small UI elements and text for mobile phones

-Combat can get repetitive

Crying Suns’ narrative themes are boasted as having been inspired by Dune and Foundation, in which for any hardcore sci-fi fans, know that this is probably two of the best source materials a story could be inspired by.

An intriguing premise to spur our curiosity

The main story premise is that the game's protagonist, Admiral Ellys Idaho, or rather a clone of him, is awoken by the last surviving OMNI named Kaliban— AIs originally built to enable mankind to run a galactic empire. They both soon find out that Kaliban is the last of his kind and that the Empire has collapsed and is in shambles, prompting the duo to embark on a journey to find out what happened.

From the moment players start the game, they are drawn into a richly detailed world that is full of mystery and intrigue. The gripping story unfolds slowly, with each new sector of space revealing more about the events that led to the empire's collapse. The writing is excellent, with a cast of memorable characters and a deep lore that rewards exploration and attention to detail.

As said previously, the story is very intriguing from the very start, the introduction scenes and the simplistic pixel art but fluidly animated sequences really helped sell the premise and gave its game an indie charm. However, I found the dialogue and UI texts with its tiny fonts to be a bit cumbersome to read, especially on a mobile phone.

Gameplay Analysis

The gameplay in Crying Suns revolves around managing a fleet of ships through various sectors of space, upgrading them, and engaging in tactical battles against enemy fleets. The mobile version of the game has kept the gameplay mechanics intact, and players will still have to make strategic decisions about how to allocate their resources and which battles to engage in, now with just touchscreen controls.

Crying Suns’ gameplay is split into two core components: exploration and combat. In the exploration phase, you navigate your fleet through a series of sectors, each containing a number of nodes and featuring a role-playing aspect with randomized events and decision-making. This is a highly immersive experience and really involves the player and makes them feel like they are part of an emerging dynamic storyline.  I really felt like I was a captain on my ship sending a science team down to the planet’s surface.

It feels like turn-based but its in real-time

In the combat phase, you engage in real-time but pauseable battles with enemy fleets. Combat takes place on a grid-based map, with the ships occupying one or more hex tiles. Now this is a highly tactical experience that will challenge players as to how to utilize their units, and their different strengths and weaknesses. It’s not overly complex, and can get a bit repetitive at times, but it’s overall a fun element to experience when coupled with the amazing dynamic storytelling.

Immersive exploration

In exploration, each node can be a planet, a ship, a distress signal, or other types of events. The sector is randomly generated for each playthrough, adding to the game's replayability. At each node, players will encounter a text-based event that can have a variety of outcomes, depending on the choices they make. They may encounter friendly ships that offer to join the fleet, hostile ships that attack immediately, or neutral events that give players resources or information. Some events may also have branching paths, leading to different outcomes or rewards.

Additionally, Players must use the fleet's resources, including fuel, supplies, and scrap. Fuel and supplies are necessary to travel between nodes and repair damaged ships, respectively. Scrap can be used to upgrade ships or purchase new equipment.

In combat, each ship has a set of abilities and weapons, such as lasers, missiles, or drones, that can be used to damage enemy ships or provide support to allied ships. At any time, players select a ship and choose its action, such as moving to a different tile, attacking an enemy ship, or using an ability. There are three systems to manage: Squadron, Weapon and Hull, and players can assign officers each with their own special abilities and bonuses.

Touchscreen adaptation

The mobile version of Crying Suns has been designed with touch controls in mind. Players can swipe to move between screens, tap and hold on icons to access menus, and pinch to zoom in and out. The controls are generally intuitive, but I can’t help but notice many of the UI elements are too small to accurately click on mobile phones.

Rogue-lite elements

As a rogue-lite game, Crying Suns offers a high level of challenge and replayability. Each playthrough is different, with randomly generated sectors and encounters keeping the gameplay fresh and exciting. There are multiple chapters in it and progress is saved after each one, so no need to fully restart the game like a true rogue-like. The game also features multiple endings, each with its own set of conditions and requirements, adding to the game's replay value.

Conclusion:

The mobile version of Crying Suns is an impressive adaptation of the PC game. Featuring a stellar tactical gameplay and a gripping dynamic narrative experience. The gameplay, graphics, and sound have all been ported successfully to smaller screens, and the touch controls are generally intuitive. There are some font size and UI problems, but it’s a minor inconvenience to what is essentially an space-opera themed indie masterpiece, for just $9.