Part 2 (May 2024) · #1 of 7 in that tierWatch the moment (2:20:42)
Star of Providence
- Developed by
- Team D-13
- Published by
- Team D-13, Bigmode
$14.99
Star of Providence is a top down action shooter with procedurally generated elements. Explore a large, abandoned facility in search of incredible power, fighting dangerous foes and gaining new weapons and upgrades as you progress.
Consensus
A79.4/100
Steam players96.9% positiveOverwhelmingly Positive3,375 reviews
Metacritic ↗84/100Users: 8.5/10
VG Insights estimate ↗≈57.4K copies · ≈$458K gross
What creators say
Ranked Apr 2024 · #4 of 21 in that tierListen to the episode
Scored 8.04/10 · tier derived from the score
Ranked Feb 2026 · #5 of 9 in that tierListen to the episode
What players say
A top-down twin-stick bullet-hell shooter with roguelite runs through a procedurally generated abandoned facility, by Team D-13 (originally released in 2017 as Monolith, now published with Bigmode).
Steam players rate it Overwhelmingly Positive (about 97% of ~3,375 reviews), and the recent reviews I read are almost uniformly glowing, with many describing it as a sleeper that got a second life after videogamedunkey's Bigmode picked it up. Critics were positive but few: Metacritic lists 6 reviews (Metascore 84) mostly from 2017 plus one 2025 review, and the Metacritic user score is 8.5 from only 37 ratings. The praise centres on tight game feel, huge boss and enemy variety, and deep post-game challenge layers; the complaints centre on steep skill-check difficulty and on weak or unexciting roguelite upgrades and meta-progression. It is not early access; it has been substantially expanded since launch, and the large Relics of the Past expansion is now included free on Steam.
Players love
- Extremely responsive, polished controls and game feel; many reviewers call it one of the most satisfying shooters they have played
- Huge amount of content for a tiny install size, with many bosses and lots of enemy variety and new attack patterns still appearing deep into endgame runs
- Skill-based progression: players improve by learning patterns rather than by finding broken builds, which they find more rewarding
- Layers of optional post-game challenge (difficulty levels, looping, trials, secret superbosses and multiple 'final' bosses) give very long replayability; several reviewers logged 100-270 hours
- Soundtrack (chiptune) and pixel art praised as charming and well made
- Unlockable ships such as the sword ship change how a run plays and are described as making it feel like a different game
- Helpful accessibility options, such as a hitbox marker setting, and hitboxes some players find forgiving
- Weapon variety (13+ weapon types with 50+ modifiers per the store page) and an exploration-and-secrets feel reminiscent of older shooters
- The large Relics of the Past expansion is now bundled free, and reviewers say it is what makes the game shine, with secrets and discovery driving them to keep pushing
Common complaints
- Roguelite upgrades and perks are seen as bland: mostly small percentage boosts to damage or reload that do not change playstyle
- Meta-progression between runs feels thin or slow to some players
- Weapons have very limited ammo and swap often, so players rarely get to enjoy the interesting guns
- Dash gives no invincibility frames, which some find a poor design choice in a dodge-heavy game
- Many mechanics are unintuitive and must be learned by dying repeatedly
- Difficulty ramps very hard for some players, especially trials and boss gauntlets with low damage output, and base difficulty feels too high to them
- Technical nitpicks in recent reviews: a blue-tinted black shader that prevents true OLED blacks, and fullscreen stutter reported by one player
Can feel tedious
- Dying repeatedly to learn unexplained mechanics, which some find frustrating rather than fun
- Forced weapon swapping with scarce ammo
- Losing uncollected drops if you accidentally leave a room while dodging leftover bullets
- Slow upgrade pace and unlock grind that leaves some players feeling their time is wasted after a single hit ends a run
- Boss-heavy sections that feel punishing rather than exciting for some players
What's unique
- Hybrid of shmup/bullet hell and twin-stick dungeon crawler with roguelite runs, often compared to Enter the Gungeon but with much more shmup-style dodging and skill expression
- Lots of hidden depth: secret bosses, multiple final bosses, looping difficulty and trials buried under the main game
- Exploration element compared by one reviewer to Guardian Legend, plus a surprisingly involved narrative and lore
- Ships and characters that substantially change playstyle (for example the sword ship)
- Small file size but very dense content; publisher Bigmode is co-founded by videogamedunkey, who helped bring it new attention
Players want
- Make perks and drops more impactful so runs can feel powerful or distinctive rather than just incrementally stronger
- Add ways to extend weapon life, such as ammo min-maxing or reroll options, to reduce forced weapon swapping
- Speed up or deepen meta-progression and unlocks, which some find slow
- Better onboarding and explanation of mechanics so players do not have to learn everything by dying
- Add a setting to disable the black-level shader for OLED displays
- Community requests on Steam include arcade stick controls, better game-over screen detail, aspect-ratio options and workshop or modding support
Summarised from Steam reviews and community discussion.
Steam tags
Rogue-liteBullet HellAction RoguelikeShoot 'Em UpIndiePixel GraphicsActionRogue-likeDifficult2D
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Tier list Part 2 (2024)
Star of Providence is a fast-paced top-down bullet-hell shooter where you pilot a small spaceship room to room killing enemies. PepperHead was excited going in but came away disappointed, mainly by the gameplay itself. The tiny screen and high speed make it feel like trial and error, especially on later bosses, and he found it unfair and punishing from the start. He still appreciates its content, secrets and charming pixel art, and may keep playing.
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