Stela

"Whilst the story that surrounds Stella went over my head, the world it built combined with an outstanding soundtrack still managed to touch me in ways I didn&s;t consent to."

"A platformer that sets a sombre tone and elicits an emotional response, that missed a few story opportunities that really could have set it apart from the pack"

"When it comes to indie horror games, very few illustrate a living nightmare as well as Stela does."

"Stela is an ok game, a snack while you&s;re waiting for more consistent meals.If you&s;re a fan of the platforming &a; puzzle combo, you should give it a try."

"Stela hopes you’ll look at it with the same reverence everyone had for Inside. The problem is that Stela needs to do a lot more than just copying Playdead’s formula."

"Stela clearly wants to be as unnerving and fascinating as its contemporaries but the end product is merely an empty imitation. There is no element of surprise or wonder here, nothing to make players consider the game at a deeper …"

"If you&s;re into games for the experience more than the narrative, Stela might work for you. A few of the puzzles took more brute force than smarts to solve, but nothing was impossibly difficult. The idea of plane-jumping is good, …"

"Stela is a platform-puzzler that&s;s quite clearly been made in Inside&s;s (and indeed Limbo’s) image. It&s;s a serviceable approximation of Playdead&s;s work, with a beautifully strange world and even a couple of neat ideas of its own. But it fails …"

"Including all unavoidable failures and retries, it only takes two hours to play Stela through. In that sense, the asking price of twenty bucks is a bit too steep. However, the game is well done and the gameplay focuses only …"

"There&s;s no doubt that among the many influential indie games made over time Limbo is pretty high up there..."

"The cinematic beauty of Stela can&s;t be understated and I wholeheartedly hope that Skybox Labs expands on Stela because this beautiful and challenging world is one I need more of."

"Stela is a beautiful atmospheric puzzle-platformer; however, it seems to emphasize style over substance. The musical score, however, is phenomenal, making almost mundane actions feel grandiose or anxiety-inducing. The first playthrough only takes a couple of hours, and once you …"

"A look inside this polished me-too platformer reveals quality nuances often stuck in limbo."

"Stela will be a familiar experience for those who&s;ve played Limbo and Inside. That doesn&s;t mean it lacks its own merits, though it does try to imitate those Playdead classics a bit too much."

"Stela is the sort of dark and moody platformer you’ll want to play after being saturated by colorful traps in Super Mario Maker 2. It does nothing new, and don’t expect to walk away from the experience with a new …"

"The only thing that could affect the beautiful art, the incredible music and the simple gameplay of Stela is the fact that it ends much sooner than it should."

"Stela is similarly brief but also a fleeting experience that doesn’t make much of an impact while you’re playing or linger once you complete it mostly due to its hollow world."

"Stella takes a risk in story-telling and guiding players through the story of a beautifully complex ancient world. Don’t blame me when you find yourself lost in this gorgeous and mysterious world, wondering where the day went."

"Giving the gamer flexibility to come to their own conclusions is part of the beauty of it. Does this hit the height of Limbo and Inside? Certainly not, but it does have a very good go. Anyone who is a …"

"If you love Inside and Limbo, play Stela. If you love platformers, play Stela. If you love puzzle games, play Stela. It may not always feel original when compared to those other games, but how many games do feel completely …"

"Overall though, even with how short it is, Stela is worth a playthrough if for only the visual and the musical presentation. It won’t take long to go through, but this is definitely something that should have the sound system …"

"Stela is good but unspectacular."

"Stela is a visually striking, atmospheric 2.5D platformer that closely follows in the footsteps of Playdead’s Limbo and Inside. Developed by SkyBox Labs, the game presents a wordless, cinematic journey through haunting landscapes filled with light puzzles and subtle threats. …"

"When it all clicks together, Stela makes for some beautiful platformer moments. When it doesn&s;t, it&s;s frustrating and obtuse."

"You won’t be disappointed in any way shape or form with this as a complete product."

"As a fan of cinematic platformers, I rather enjoyed playing Stela from start to finish. Be that as it may, it didn&s;t take me long at all, hence one of my leading (but not my only) concerns. At under three …"

"Stela feels like a golem, crafted from the bones and sinew of better titles. Sometimes, this can be a successful experiment: Darksiders, for example, may not contain a single unique gameplay concept but manages to forge its own path through …"

"A beautiful atmosphere paired with a lacklustre narrative and light gameplay make Stela feel like a mixture of great ideas that never reaches its potential."