Ever since the release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild back in 2017, I’ve seen plenty of indie games take inspiration from it. The same stamina wheel has been implemented in countless games for climbing, attacking, gliding, and other useful mechanics. I’m not saying that they invented the concept of a stamina wheel, but I’ve seen the same exact design being used.
Other games have used the same art style. There’s something magical about the cel-shaded art style of both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Any time I see a game trailer featuring that same cel-shaded look done right, that game is instantly on my radar.
I will say that I have been burned by a couple of these indie games in the past. At times the aesthetic may look nice in a trailer, but not feel so great in your hands. Other times the gameplay and controls don’t mesh well with the pretty visuals. It’s hard to pull off such a simple art style with enough detail to make it feel modern.
Star Overdrive takes a great deal of inspiration from both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, but it also has its own identity.
Inspired By
After playing Star Overdrive for a week, it feels as if the team at Caracal Games Studio started with some ideas of those two recent The Legend of Zelda games, but forged their own path from there.
Sure, Star Overdrive consists of a big open world to explore and the map expands as you unlock new locations. There are some Mines, which are very much like shrines in the Zelda games. There’s also the cel-shaded look, although they are handled in completely different ways.
The Zelda games are bright and vibrant, but Star Overdrive gives off more of a retro and grungy tone — that also may come from the heavy rock tunes. The music is very Sammy Hagar (Van Halen), but that makes sense since your weapon of choice is an electric keytar (keyboard/guitar hybrid).
Another part that feels inspired by Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are the magic abilities. One of the first abilities you gain is basically the magic hand ability from Zelda, but the others I have unlocked thus far are new to me — missiles and bouncers.
Something Different
Even with these small similarities, Star Overdrive doesn’t feel like I’m just playing a different version of Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom. There is a distinction between a game being “inspired by” versus a “carbon copy” of another game. I have seen both, and at times a carbon copy may even beat out its inspiration becoming the more prominent game.
What really gives Star Overdrive its own identity is the way you explore the world. In Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom your best strategy — not the one I’ve used — is to unlock a few shrines in each area before moving on to new parts of the map. This gives you the ability to teleport back to a shrine near your next point of interest.
In Star Overdrive you explore on your customizable hoverboard — customizable in design and ability. You don’t teleport from spot-to-spot because the fun is riding there, in style. Performing insane tricks in the air gives you a boost across the mountainous alien frontier.
I really dig the way you customize your hoverboard in Star Overdrive. Do I want power, stability, boost, or more control? These are the questions you have to ask yourself. Instead of searching for random parts all over the map, you get to craft new upgrades using minerals you find. Special minerals can even add new abilities to your board (like riding on water).
Combat and puzzles are a large part of Star Overdrive, but my favorite part is exploration by hoverboard. In Breath of the Wild you can explore by horseback, but that would become tedious overtime since horses can only run for so long. In Star Overdrive your board has an endless supply of power, as long as you’re performing tricks to build up speed.
I guess in Tears of the Kingdom you can probably create your own hoverboard by crafting things together, I’m just not great at building in that game yet. I need to get back into it, and I think when I finish Star Overdrive it may inspire me to go back to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. For now, I will continue hoverboarding around this alien planet.
If Caracal Games Studio (creators of Star Overdrive) decided to focus on hoverboarding for their next game, I would be totally down for that. My hoverboard already is so much fun to ride, and I still have so much room for improvement — in the form of upgrades.
I also came across an insanely large sand worm (like in DUNE).
*myVGBC.com was provided an early review code for Star Overdrive by the publisher.
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