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When I first heard the idea of “Diablo 2 in space”, my attention was immediately caught. That’s how Star Vortex was pitched to me, and it’s how the game is advertised in the very first sentence on its Steam page. The action-RPG formula has been toyed with over time in titles like Path of Exile and Torchlight, but I can’t recall many looters of this ilk that have placed their setting within the vast boundaries of space. With a ship to pilot with a trusty twin-stick configuration and hordes of enemies to take on, does this premise work within this game headed to Early Access?

While you won’t be deciding to play as a barbarian or a sorcerer in Star Vortex, you will be tricking out your spaceship with tons and tons of different loot choices. That’s right: you’ll probably be spending an equal amount of time in Star Vortex’s equipment screen as you will be in combat. Those who are keen on picking apart their hard-earned items to get the most satisfying victories in Star Vortex’s many fights will be thrilled, but others who just want to get straight to the shooting will not have the best time.

With tons of loot comes tons of upgrades in Star Vortex, as you’ll be leveling up very frequently during your runs. With three distinct skill trees and an expansive amount of options, all playstyles are accommodated, and the potential for being powerful beckons a large ceiling. This is where the handful of difficulty settings in Star Vortex swoop in to ensure you’re facing the right amount of challenge and neither making it a cakewalk nor getting demolished in every encounter. While Normal is a solid starting point, weathered ARPG fans will want to jack it up to something tougher.

Thanks to its seed-based level generation, no two runs in Star Vortex are remotely the same. Not only are the level layouts different, but the enemy types, level types, and loot earned are all factors within the randomness. While this is excellent in ensuring unique experiences, it does falter a bit in figuring out how to progress from one level to the next, as you’ll have to check the navigation tab on an extremely regular basis to know you’re moving in the right direction towards one of your selected missions. Thankfully, this is remedied with a quick jump to a previously-completed level, should you be stuck on the same path too long.

While there’s no release date for Star Vortex at the time of writing, it’s a fine action-RPG with a great amount of potential. The fast pace kept me glued to the screen for longer than anticipated, and the consistent, varied loot had me never bored with the same kit for too long. With a tentative Q2 2025 release date into Early Access, it’s in fine shape to get started and should entertain Diablo fans for quite some time, should they need a distraction from Diablo IV.

An Early Access copy of Star Vortex was provided by Hunted Cow Games for this review.

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Star Vortex

$9.99

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Seed-based Randomness
• Excellent Variety in Weaponry
• Loot, loot, loot!

Cons

• Perplexing Upgrade Tree
• Cumbersome Navigation