Ghost Signal: A Stellaris Game Review – Best 2023 VR Game?

Stellaris in VR or something else? Ghost Signal: A Stellaris Game Review

First, I must say that I have been waiting impatiently for some good VR games in recent years. PSVR2 with its great titles like Horizon or Resident Evil: Village are great games, but not everyone has money to pour into a VR headset for more than 500$, and even worse than that if they don’t have PS5. That’s why I want to review Ghost Signal: A Stellaris game – one of the best games I played this year speaking of VR.

Let’s start with some details. The Ghost Signal: A Stellaris Game, is a rogue-lite space strategy game that offers a thrilling experience. The game let the player take on the role of a spacecraft commander in the third-person.

The game offers a unique perspective on the space genre as it allows players to move their ship not from first-person, as many could expect, but as I said – from the third-person. This means that players can watch all fights and analyze them from afar, this way players can plan their strategies.

But is it like a Stellaris, a true VR port of the greatest space strategy game of all time? Absolutely not. Don’t take this wrong – The game doesn’t want to be a Stellaris port, it wants to be something different, more of a spin-off than what many would expect. But you shouldn’t be disappointed, the title is not clickbait. Ghost Signal: A Stellaris Game is aspiring to be one of the best VR games in 2023, and in this review, I will show you why.

What is this game all about?

The player starts their way to the game with information about a far-destinated signal in space. You see the signal, get curious, and then you with your AI assistant go on the journey to investigate this weird anomaly. Soon after that, the player, will discover that after the death both of you are teleported to the start with all the knowledge you gained along the journey.

As I said earlier, the game is a rogue-lite game, which can be described as dying, exploring, fighting, and dying. The player will move along the map by a level system, not by free traveling. That’s something I understand, although something that I would really want in VR games. But the game needs to be running on Quest hardware, it is just not possible to make a game with vast open world. With level-based traveling, you start at your first battle, just within the first system you visit.

Speaking of battles, the game’s combat system is designed to be dynamic and unpredictable. Players have to think on their feet and come up with creative strategies to defeat their opponents. This keeps battles exciting and intense.

As an example, during the epic fight in the middle of the game, you could face off against a barrage of flagship vessels firing off a swarm of missiles and spewing out a host of ships to launch a close-quarters assault, all while a spaceship comes barreling your way at top speed!

The game is quite challenging, but in a good way – with each death, you will be rewarded with knowledge points, which you can use to upgrade your ship permanently throughout the entire game.

Players can explore the map, which is studded with question marks indicating unique encounters, friendly offerings, and even planets to explore. There are also systems with creatures, which can present giant foes or leviathans that yield substantial rewards if the player can survive the battle.

The visuals in this game are good, nothing more to expect from Quest game. But The sound effects are superbly immersive – If you’re a Stellaris fan or just love space journey soundtracks, this game is your dream come true! With an amazing soundscape to accompany your adventures, you’ll be fully engaged as you fight your way to victory!

All in all, battles in the game are incredibly engaging. The dynamic combat system, unique encounters and perks, and stunning sound tracks alongside with decent graphics all come together to create an exciting and immersive experience.

Repeatability Problem

The Games have 3 bosses that are really good; each of them has different abilities and difficulty levels, which I really like. The Problem arises when you reach the seventh stage and face the last boss, which is designed impressively. After defeating it, you are exposed to the source of the weird Signal. That’s not all though – I won’t say anymore, but after defeating the final boss, you find yourself back at the beginning.

I’m all for the concept, so don’t get me wrong; however, I’m still not a fan of the game’s repeatability. Despite the randomly generated levels and various encounters, you’ll still wind up facing the same enemies and bosses again and again. It’s exciting the first few times, but after a while, it gets really tedious.

A straightforward answer to this issue would be to add enemies and bosses into the game, which is likely to happen in the upcoming months as it is an enjoyable game for many users, which will still be playing this game, even after months.

Mediocre Hand Tracking

Despite being heavily advertised, the hand-tracking implementation of the game was highly unintuitive and rife with flaws and glitches. When I attempted to move my hand to move myself in the game while holding the space, it threw me up and down which wasn’t a decent experience. Ultimately this may be an issue with headset’s software and hardware, because Quest’s hand tracking is still not ideal, despite many improvements. It appears that this problem may be resolved with the release of Meta Quest 3 – based on the leaks, the newest Quest models will bring a lot better hand tracking

I personally think, that hand tracking could be implemented a lot better to the game. With controllers, the game is really good, but fans of playing with their own hands instead of controllers could be a little bit disappointed.

Conclusion

Ghost Signal: A Stellaris Game is excellent for the game space genre. It offers a fresh perspective on space exploration. The game’s combat is challenging, and players must use their skills and strategy to succeed. With decent Quest-like graphics and Stellaris Soundtrack, the game is a must-play for all VR enthusiasts, despite its flaws with repeatability or mediocre hand-tracking.

The game offers an immersive experience with stunningly rendered graphics, an engaging story, and an expansive world to explore. You can purchase the game on the Meta Quest Store for just 20$, a great value for the hours of entertainment it provides. With a range of missions and challenges, as well as an impressive array of weapons, tools, and abilities to master, this is one of the best VR games on Quest available and worth the investment.