Choicest Games reviewed the 2D sandbox RPG Interstellaria:

Interstellaria is probably not one of the typical games I'd back on Kickstarter. In fact, I think I only heard about the game when it was mentioned by another one but when I read what the game was trying to achieve, I jumped at the chance to support it. As pitched on Kickstarter, Interstellaria turned out to be a 2D sim/RPG/Sandbox game "inspired heavily by games like Starflight and Star Control" (although I believe they're referring to Star Control 2 as the first one didn't have RPG elements). The Kickstarter project was a success, raising $28,805 USD on the 7 December 2013, despite the goal being only a modest $15,000 USD.

A year and a half later, the game was finally released in July 2015 but did it live up to my expectations of being a new Star Control 2?

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Score: 6/10

While I like the idea and I love the tribute to games like Star Control 2 the concept wasn't well executed. I'd still like to see Coldrice develop games in the future though but maybe the next one needs significant focus on the user interface even if it means simplifying the game as a result.

Interstellaria will be released today on Steam:

Interstellaria is a real time space-exploration sim and crew management game.

Command a fleet of vessels wandering the galaxy for adventure and profit! You’ll be forced to make tough decisions as you face hostile starships, crippling space anomalies, and intriguing aliens. When your fleet faces certain doom, should you direct your crew to make critical repairs, or report to their stations and boost your fleet?

Land your flagship on an alien world, allowing your crew to gather valuable resources for you— but be sure to equip them with powerful armor and weapons! It’s a dangerous universe out there, and although many helpful creatures will trade or share valuable information with you, many more will attack on sight!

Features:

• Tactical crew management. Direct crewmen to put out fires, or repair damaged equipment. Posting them to their station boosts your fleet's speed and combat abilities.
• Customize your ship with helpful stations. Allocate power to important systems or simply outfit your ship with lasers and put all power into weapons!
• Your crew eats, sleeps, and needs entertainment. Each one develops unique traits throughout the game that help or hurt the mission. Various outfits and weapons can be found to customize them further.
• Fleet-based combat. Instead of controlling a single ship, you control multiple ships each with their own crew.
• Fully explorable galaxy, no areas are off limits. Each region has unique ships, aliens, and mysteries to find.
• Land your ships on planets! Each world is a new experience and has special rewards for you and your crew.
• Featuring an all-original soundtrack from the incredibly popular chiptune musician Chipzel.

Trailer:

Cold Rice Games' open world planet and space exploration sim/adventure/RPG Interstellaria is coming out on July 17th.

Interstellaria is a 2d space SIM/RPG/Sandbox game created in the same vein as the engaging space exploration games of the past. Inspired heavily by games like Starflight, Interstellaria is all about allowing the player to find their own adventure. Every star has something interesting to see, and every planet has it’s own unique feel. There are a number of unique encounters and hostile enemies to find. As captain, you are tasked with building your empire through diplomacy, trade, or force.

The game was funded via Kickstarter in December 2013 and will be released on Steam for PC, Mac and Linux. Here's the launch trailer: