The Star Named EOS review

I often find that some of the toughest games to write about are those that try to tell an emotive story, especially if it isn’t one you particularly connect with. While one person might find the relationship of the two brothers in Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, another night not really engage with their heart-warming adventures. I found myself in the latter camp while playing through A Star Named EOS, but I can’t deny the puzzles did a decent job of keeping me interested enough to see the end.

In A Star Named EOS you play as Dei, a young photographer who is trying to connect with his mum by following in her photographic footsteps. Each stage of the game opens with Dei reading a letter from his mother and looking at one of her photographs, and to move onto the next one you’ll need to recreate the photo in the room you find yourself in. This isn’t always easy, though, because crucial props you need to recreate your mother’s work tend to be hidden in various locked chests or buried underground – and only by solving some puzzles will you be able to gather them.

Don’t expect to be moving around to search for the objects you need though, because that’s not how A Star Named EOS works. The stages of the game all place you squarely in the centre of the room they are based in, and all you can do is turn on the spot to look for what you need. It’s certainly a simple way to present an almost escape room style location full of puzzles, and one that places the focus solely on the brainteasers in plain sight.

There are a variety of puzzles keeping important items out of your grasp in A Star Named EOS, and for the most part they’re a lot of fun to solve. Often you’ll need to find symbols hiding in the environment that you can use to unlock a chest, but perhaps there’ll also be sliding tile puzzles or a test of suitcase organisation standing in your way too. It’s always fun to be dropped into a new location full of little mysteries to solve, and you’ll feel like a real smarty pants when you manage it.

The most satisfying moments in all of this puzzling game though are those when you can finally arrange the photo you need to move onto the next stage. There’s something so special in framing a photograph to recreate a still image you have sat in your inventory, and although I won’t spoil any of those moments here there’s a camping photo recreation in particular that is incredibly clever.

As much as the puzzles in A Star Named EOS are enjoyable, I must admit that there were multiple times playing through the game where they frustrated me too. Getting stuck in a puzzle game is hardly something new for anyone, but with no way to get hints whatsoever I just had to bash my head against a wall and keep trying to progress. In one stage I even resorted to inputting every possible combination into a lock because I just couldn’t figure out what I was missing, and that is, frankly, not a fun activity. In a genre so full of clever hint mechanics and ways to skip things when you’re stuck, this lack of assistance feels like a shame.

If getting stuck solving puzzles wasn’t enough to grind my gears, the little sickly sweet story sections were sure to do so. Listening to Dei’s mum narrate the heartfelt stories in her letters in her breathy and overly emotive tone was just a bit too much for me, and if I wasn’t reviewing the game I’d have skipped every single one of these opening story moments and just played through the puzzles without context.

A Star Named EOS is a lovely looking puzzle game with some engaging brainteasers to solve, but the lack of a hint system lets it down. Making your way through each room to find the things you need to recreate a photo is usually really satisfying, but thanks to a lack of guidance and a story that’s just a little too sweet for my liking it just isn’t going to be for everyone.