Starseed Pilgrim

STARSEED PILGRIM

Though I've reached an idea of what I want from video games, both as a player and a wannabe-creator, it can be hard to keep focus, ephemeral as my ideas often are. Games like Starseed Pilgrim bring me back to my notions of what games should be, what game are when they are good and what they ought to strive to become. It's as much a personal statement of the creators, like Super Meat Boy, as it is a finely crafted and subtly hand-led experience, while still being unique, I imagine, for every player. I'm not saying that it matches all I want from games. That would be like saying I'd already thought of Starseed myself. This creation belongs to Droqen. He made a space of exploration,  curiosity and discovery, where my seemingly repetitious actions quickly take on their own value and make me feel like I'm striving towards a goal of personal discovery or skill-based improvement.

"Gardening fatigue" inevitably sets in. As I grew accustomed to the secret mechanics, I discovered other, deeper secrets. It was and is interesting. New goals appeared and I suppose I sort of played myself tired. Reaching the goals is gonna be hard. At first I thought my weariness was that Starseed was growing dull. I kept going back into the levels, repeating techniques to try and uncover new possibilities. I talk a break. As I did my daily routine, my mind went back to that symphonic garden. No, I wasn't bored with Starseed just yet. Just tired from all that abstract gardening.

Saying Starseed is like a puzzle game is only because it's addictive and colored blocks are plenty. It has traits of many genres and ignores the inherent expectations of most of them. Starseed isn't in a genre of itself though, but it's playful nature in letting the player herself discover the intricacies of each mechanic and question their un-meaningful existence, finally makes me guess "adventure?".

A conclusion of some sort should be expressed now, but it doesn't seem entirely fair to me, to append such to the game. I might sound overly enthusiastic, but this is only because it doesn't make sense to me, to criticize a sound poem. Starseed is a personal experience and the price of admission is both fair, steep and generous.