Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Game
Game2018
Star Control®: Origins
Developer Stardock Entertainment
Star Control: Origins is an action-adventure game developed and published by Stardock Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, released September 20, 2018 on Steam. It is considered a part of Star Control series, despite taking place in a different time and universe. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
201 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Mastodon, Bluesky) · newest Sep 25, 2026 · last updated Oct 7, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
80
LovedLoved
148 positive · 37 negative
95% range 74–85%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 148 | 37 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
16 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
1,996 of 2,696 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 201 · most liked firstI have been yearning for this game for so long, being a fan of the SC2 and even participating in fan-made off-shoot projects (none came to fruition, unfortunately), but, alas, it is barely a shadow. Boring, repetitive, uninspired. I can enjoy occasional jokes and references (including those to the original, however week and irrelevant they may be), but there is no core, no drive, no purpose. Also, original (SC1 and SC2) battles relied heavily on 16-position orientation of the vessels - and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought this game when it first came out and recently came back to it. Apparently when starting again the game now crashes early to the desktop in the same spot after you first meet the scryve. I can't recommend a game I can't even play anymore and that perhaps will never be fixed. I'm not sure why it no longer works and all the fixes they suggested do not help. So for your $29.99 you will get about 20 minutes or less in game play. You are welcome you were warned!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I feel bad the developers wasted such a great opportunity to release a successful reboot of this series. Here is the issue with the game: it lacks engaging mechanics. It becomes very repetitive fast with no clear objective. Given how many good games are out there, even if this game was free, its just not worth your time to play. I don't understand how a "game" development company in this day and age would not understand basic game design mechanics. They basically compiled a lot of disjointed…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've been taking a break from my larger project to work on a fun little Star Control-like that you can play right now for free in your browser. Very WIP! An actual name coming someday. mrbristol.itch.io/web-game-test #screenshotsaturday #godot #indiedev #StarControl #spaceship #game
unlabelledView post →First of all, SC2 is one of the greatest games of all time. It is in my top 5. I enjoyed the sheet out of SC1 before that. So, when I was reading reviews how this game compared to SC2, plus with all that legal nonsense with Toys for Bob, I was skeptical. But, having just beaten the game I can honestly say that I am impressed! I am impressed how close they got to a genuine 'remake' of SC2. I am impressed how this version felt fresh, fun, flushed out, fairly easy to interface with,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am so mad that the fake Star Control game is actually decent. It can't touch Star Control 2 and the story makes no sense in context with the Ur-Quan stuff but as a stand-alone game, I am enjoying traveling a galaxy that I don't have memorized.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A mediocre game created by a petty man who enjoys harassing the women who work for him, trying to steal from the people who created the things that he claims to love and attempting to bury dissenters in either lawsuits or bans.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Doesn’t run good, isn’t fun to play. You see pictures, you imagine surely simply melee style gameplay is fun, but it’s not. It just doesn’t feel right- movement and collision just feels off and unexciting.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game crashes a lot. Google returns with lots of other people with the same problems with no solutions.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It plays a lot like Starflight. Yes, I am a very old gamer.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I liked it though it's basically a kinder, gentler version of Star Control 2. There is no time limit to your goals. Yes, the main enemy will expand its territory over time, but you can always take it back when you feel ready to do so. There is a random alien that attacks you like the Slylandro Probes but they aren't as aggressive and dangerous. Overall the game is not as challenging, but there are some optional fights that are pretty deadly and take you by surprise if you stumble…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am old enough to have played the original Star Control and Star Control II, which I loved. Star Control: Origins did not disappoint. It is a brilliant update on the original while keeping everything that makes me so nostalgic for it. Having the entire game voice acted is brilliant. The writing is great, very funny at times. The aliens each have their own unique character and personalities. The story is excellent with a cool swerve that I won't spoil. I would definitely recommend anyone try…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Classic Star Control but with modern graphics and a really fantastic story! What is not to love?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I always loved the Starcon series. Half of this game is watching your ship SLOWLY go through hyperspace....
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have been aware of and influenced by the Star Control games for 30+ years at this point, but I only finally completed one here in 2025. I have to say, I am sorry it took me this long, but I finally understand what I was missing (even if I realize this was not really made by any of the same people as any of the previous titles). Star Control: Origins is a series of deep and intriguing contemplations about the nature of exploration, war, friendship, motivation, religion, deception, and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wish i could give mixed reviews. I neither hate or love this game. On one hand, music is the best part of this game, the talking heads are animated extremely well, and the gameplay is serviceable, and the villains are the only faction/alien species i like. On the other hand, the dialogue is mostly awful, the humor reminds me of high on life and reddit tier garbage, the voice acting ranges from ok to awful, and there doesn't feel like there is much do to. Planet exploration is very bland,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Star Control 2 was of my favorite games back in the 386 era. Despite the controversy at this games release. It is a worthy Star Control title, I enjoyed it, and I wish there was more. It's hard for me to judge this game alone without the rear view nostalgia of the original games so take this as a biased review. It's clear Stardock respected the original game and had something to add.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ultimately, I do not recommend this game. It was overall enjoyably okay, but fell very apart by the end, and I left feeling very underwhelmed. If you REALLY like space exploration and mild humor, then buy on sale, but know it starts much better than it ends.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A really good "sequel" to star control II. Keeps a lot of what made the original great. However the space battles are worse. somehow they didn't grasp the asymmetry design of the ships from star control II. Star controls II ships are all so different with unique abilities. So far, most of the ships of Origins are samey. samey lasers. Star control II will always be replayable because of that feature. also found the power-up drops to be immersion breaking, plus they are pointless. Once…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Honestly, the story is great at first sight. But the track the gameplays takes to follow it is pretty boring. Find a planet, land on it, walk around, only a few new things, leave, repeat. The battle gameplay is interesting when you find other ships to fight for you, but overall, you just wacth. Don't recommend it if you're looking for space gampelay.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very fun game with aspects from several different games including Mass Effect, the original Star Control, and Starfleet Command among others. Oh and it has a sense of humor too!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As a teen, I spent countless sleepless nights glued to the screen playing Star Control 2. Along with games like Starflight, it sparked a love for a very specific space exploration RPG niche, a genre that felt ignored for far too long. While we did get Star Control 3 back in the day, I, like most fans, wasn't a huge fan of it. Star Control: Origins finally steps up to fill that massive gap while we all wait for Free Stars: Children of the Infinity. Because of real-world legal battles, the game…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really, really wanted to like this game. I bought it because one of my favorite writers (Chris Bucholz) was the chief writer on this game. Unfortunately, it's just not really any fun. A lot of mismatched gameplay features, many of which just aren't any fun, pile onto the wonderful script. EDIT: I gave this another go, after playing the original Star Control games (the second one is available free on Steam under the Ur-Quan Masters). It took a while to "click" - once I realized it's a fairly…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played Star Control 2 about 30 years ago and was hooked, cool precursor ship, Ur-Quan takeover, grinding for resources, finding strange new species, trying to create alliances through quests, developing melee strategies, enjoying the music and story lines with a solid dose of humor. Star Control Origins brought me back so it gets all the stars in that department. Some things are lacking i think, no quasi space, base ship could have been cooler and maybe cooler dynamics on the planets.. I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →they lied about patches and then after the game is long dead they update it? yeh you should have cared when we were actually playing it. not 6 years later.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hot garbage that I bought because I got gimmicked by paid influencer advertisements. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ if I were the actual captain of an actual starship and I asked my first officer: "Any advice on this upcoming trip were taking" And she responded "You've already forgotten how to captain a starship captain? That's not a good sign". ....I would literally jettison her right into space. This is the first interaction of the game. Why do people write such absurd & unbelievably quirky characters…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has a good sense of humor but not a very good sense of pacing. It just feels outdated, doesn't respect your time and everything just feels overly simplistic. The biggest offense being the planet exploration which reminds me a lot of Mass Effect 1's space lander sequences which were, at the time, somewhat fun albeit tedious but are completely out of place in a game from 2018.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →OK... finished the game and the Expansion. It is not like Star Control II is one of my favourite game so that's why I gave Origins a chance. Here are my critique: - Planetary exploration - becomes a chore after a while. Hate getting stuck around terrain and some atmospheric conditions makes it very difficult to see things. There is almost no point capturing aliens. - Overall, it was pretty easy which is fine but towards end game I just use one ship, combat becomes pretty boring. - Story wise.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A nice short game. To be clear, its a RPG and not a 4X or RTS game. It has a short storyline but it progresses at a nice pace. The different accents of the different races was a nice feature. Loved that the Mysterious ancient starbases were Australian! I felt there were a few missed opportunities. Apart from the first officer, none of the other crew members really played a part. Also there were so many different resources you could find, but outside of buying the logs and a few small missions,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a clear love letter to Star Control II, with heavy inspirations from the original story line. Star Control II is still one the best games ever made, so the fact that this is a modern version of it, makes it worth the play by default. The alien encounters are polished and are equally funny and entertaining as the original. Fighting alien space ships still gives the thrill and excitement, especially since your vessel is slowly upgraded during your quests, allowing more effective weapons,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's essentially a remake of Star Control 2 with modern usability. IMHO, the story is less compelling than Star Control 2, but the usability is a definite improvement. It's also funnier.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you're into space exploration and adventure while exploring different planets and meeting, befriending, and/or fighting all sorts of aliens then this is the game for you.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like this game, but would appreciate a follow up to the 2nd one.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →what SC3 should have been.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →gotta love it! good sense of humour combined with some space adventures and blowin up some bad guys :D
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very nice exploratory game. I love the design. I played start control II being my first game and when I looked for more, I came across this game on steam. Totally worth every penny.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I could write volumes comparing/contrasting this to SC2 and the direction they took this vs SC3 and where Children Of Infinity seems to be headed... But not sure anyone wants to read that. Especially this far after release. Tl;dr: a well polished and faithful adaptation of SC2. Captures alot of the spirit of exploration and adventure of SC2 (not quite all), and has some good remixes of classic music. The world-building isn't as good. It feels more simple and silly than SC2... like SC2 is to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Would love to recommend this game but the constant crashes ruin it. Can't do the final boss fight as the cut scenes leading up to it always cause a crash.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an excellent "throw-back" to the fantastic StarControl II that I so loved playing as a child, but with beautiful graphics and also sporting a rich immersive story line with loads of small side quests to keep you engaged along with the main-quest story. A great adventure game with nicely thought through and polished game play. Excellent!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Happy days and jubilation! The classic game series formerly known as #StarControl just got a new name: #FreeStars! The Ur-Quan Masters will be getting a Steam release, and a title for the official sequel has been announced: Children of Infinity! I am looking forward to seeing some of my favorite devs back on one of my favorite series, and embracing open source - UQM has been for a while, and the new game is being made with #Godot!…
unlabelledView post →This is a thumbs up, but a very weak one. Never played the originals. There's just not enough meat in core gameplay to sustain 20+ hours. Game gets very repetetive. Also the credits soon lose any meaning as theres not enough money sinks, I got over 300k by the end. The various bizzare aliens you meet are often hillarious (including the voice acting) and there is a lot of various alien ships that join your fleet, to try in combat. No bugs or technical problems were encountered worthy of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i wholeheartedly reccomend this game, it was a bit pricey sure but it was the first star control game i ever played and reinforced my love for sci-fi, even if the game is a little goofy
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't have anything inherently negative to say about this, I'm generally speaking a sucker for adventure games, I specifically tend to lean more sci-fi. Huge fan of Mass Effect, if this was more serious and had a darker theme I'd be heavily invested. Though as it stands it may take me a hot minute before I get around to revisiting it, for whatever it's worth though? I did enjoy it, the experience was moderately positive, I'd probably give this game a solid 6/10 as an honest point of view.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Star Control: Origins is an action-adventure space exploration game developed and published by Stardock Entertainment. Released in 2018, it serves as a modern revival of the classic Star Control series while presenting a completely new storyline and universe. Rather than acting as a direct sequel to earlier titles, the game reimagines the core formula that made the original games memorable: open-ended exploration, encounters with strange alien civilizations, resource gathering, and one-on-one…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love this game. It's so funny. I want it to continue development and implement the full Galaxy and add some diplomatic options. I want to keep playing and to be able to coerce the Scryves into renouncing oppression. I want to visit the center. I want to meet more species. I want to ally myself with the Phamysht. I want to grow the Federation and exterminate the fish. I want more Menkmack tomfoolery. I want to see the Mowlings develop. I want more use for the resources. I want more upgrades. I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Never heard about the series and couldn't even remember when I got the game. But what a pleasant surprise it was! Gameplay-wise it is very simple. Sometimes I even get a feeling that not everybody knew exactly what they were doing, but they surely had a great fun working on the game. For example, there is little variety in exploration. You fly for a bit, then you land your hovercraft, go to some point and activate it. Or collect some resource. That's it. Combat is much more varied. There are…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A worthy successor to Star Control ][. Contains similar humor, exploration, and thoughtful/epic stories, just on a smaller scale. I enjoyed it a bit less than SC ][ but far more than SC 3.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The travel, the exploration, the look and feel of SCO is smooth and shiny! Really liked where this one turned out, the DLC Earth Rising is also good! We need more episodes of this!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Almost immediately, you get to a point where the main story cannot progress because you need to retrieve a resource from a nearby moon, but that moon has inferno temperatures and destroys your lander immediately. No clues provided on how to deal with this.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Recommended for fans of space exploration and adventure. It is fairly unique in its blend of storytelling and combination galaxy and planet explorations as well as ship duels. I could also recommend you look into Rebel Galaxy, Mass Effect, or Galaxy on Fire 2. +Visuals +Music +Story +Variety of unique races, ships +Exploration +Some meaningful choices +Options, key rebinding +Fully voiced +Writing/humor +Variety of ship parts/upgrades -Resource collection can be tedious…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Serious bug that game crashes after first alien encounter. Others have reported the bug on the internet. Still problem. Waste of money!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love how campy and silly the aliens can be and still tell a very good and serious story
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While its no Star Control 2, it comes the closest of any game to scratching that itch, I like all the new alien races and the gameplay loop is addicting. My only real complaint is the lack of consistent quality of the side content and DLC.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Much better than I expected... great classic sci with geniunely funny bits of dialogue.... ZERO DEI nonsense detected 5 hours in.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Random words that do not make any sense. 100 year old machine translation. So the game is unplayable as you have no idea what some buttons mean or you do not even get the meaning of some things because the translation is unusable. Best part... you can not even change the language. So: maybe for some people who are lucky enough to play that in the original language a nice game - for the majority: not able to even try or tell because they did not want to spend 5 bucks to use a modern translation…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An excellent recreation of Star Control 2. A Trip down memory lane in the best possible way
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →God that was a great joy to play!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Redoing these older games is great. I don't now how hard it is, but they should do StarFlight 2 as well :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A real delight, great if you like story line, space exploration, meet lots of interesting aliens.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's fun. 7/10. Completed the game 3 years ago. Been waiting patiently for a sequel that may never come. For a modern game, it really isn't that much better than the original Star Control II, it's not as charming a game. If they launch a sequel, I will replay this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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