The Star Named EOS Review: A Striking Narrative Puzzle Adventure (PS5)

I’m attracted to games such as Botany Manor and Inner Ashes, first-person puzzle games with some narrative added in for good measure. I also quite like games with photography gameplay, such as Alba: A Wildlife Adventure and The Good Life. Perhaps this is why I was drawn to The Star Named EOS, a newly-released narrative puzzle game. With these previous games to compare to, how does The Star Named EOS do? Let’s explore in this review.

The Star Named EOS is now available on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X | S, and Nintendo Switch for $14.99.

Story – Following in Mother’s Footsteps

As mentioned, The Star Named EOS is a narrative puzzle game. For this review, it makes sense then to start by talking about the story. You play as Dei, literally through his eyes, as this is a first-person game. He reads letters from his mother, as well as receiving photographs, and he wants to trace her by following what’s in the photos. He hopes that this will lead to the truth about her disappearance.

The story of The Star Named EOS is part of the driving force of this game, as well as the gameplay. You set about solving tricky puzzles and painstakingly recreating photos for a purpose. As puzzles are solved and photos are successfully taken, you get one step closer to learning the truth about Dei’s mother. I’m not a spoiler person, so I won’t give away what happens, but from the get-go, I was compelled about the story, wondering where it would take me. It ended up taking me on a journey I wasn’t expecting, some things that took me aback. In summary, the story was not a disappointment.

Gameplay – Puzzles, Photography, and Stars

We’ve got the story covered, now let’s review the gameplay of The Star Named EOS. Don’t be mistaken in thinking that because this is a narrative driven game, it is more-or-less a point-and-click adventure. It isn’t. The Star Named EOS has plenty of puzzles for you to solve, some that are harder to figure out than others. The key is to take a good look around at your surroundings and spot little details that will help you progress forward. 

Puzzles to Puzzle Over

The Star Named EOS is a puzzle game, and it certainly contains a generous amount of puzzles for you to be getting on with. You’ll need to switch your brain on as you play this game. Some of these puzzles are quite tricky and require you to think hard. Not just that, but you need to pay attention to your surroundings. Each level you find yourself in may not be the biggest, but it’s easy to miss crucial stuff if you’re not paying attention.

A key to solving puzzles is by taking a good look around, spotting little clues that can easily be overlooked.

Admittedly, some of the puzzles took me a while to get past, but it sure it satisfying when you solve them and get one step nearer to finishing the level. There are lots of different puzzles in The Star Named EOS. You might have to piece something together to make a complete picture. There’s also a sliding puzzle that was quite good fun to do. There are plenty of those find-the-combination puzzles that requires you to scout around looking for the code to open a box or cupboard. Some puzzles are straightforward, while others are much more complex and take several steps to solve. The Star Named EOS isn’t a long game, by any means, but getting stuck on puzzles might lengthen your playtime.

I was generally impressed by the puzzles. There were a few cases where I was completely stumped, either because I’d missed something or the clues I needed weren’t always obvious. I blame this on user error though, not the game!

For this puzzle, you have to move the crockery aside to get to something at the bottom. It’s not quite that straightforward though.

Photography

A big part of The Star Named EOS that makes it stand out a little more from other narrative puzzle games is its photography gameplay. In the first level, you find a camera, which you then use to recreate photos left to Dei by his mother. Usually, the goal of each level is to as accurately as possible recreate the photos. Believe me when I say that the game wants you to leave no stone unturned, no detail left out. It took me ages to figure out how to do the first photo, then eventually, the pieces came together, and after that, the photo element became clear. The Star Named EOS isn’t what I’d call easy-peasy, but neither is it so ridiculously difficult that you want to rage quit.

Photographs hold the key to unlocking memories and solving the mystery of The Star Named EOS.

Controls

I thought since I’m writing this review of The Star Named EOS, I should discuss what the controls are like. They’re not bad, by any means, but I think it could be easier to navigate and play on PC. Playing this game via the PS5, the controls generally were pretty good. It’s easy to look around the world and interact with it, as well as accessing the inventory and camera. This game does incorporate some point-and-click gameplay though, and on a PS5, it can sometimes be a little tricky. One example was doing the slider puzzle. You have to manually hold and slide each individual square, and you can only move it in one direction at a time. While this isn’t exactly tedious, I imagine doing something like this on a PC would be easier. In the context of this review, it’s something to keep in mind if you’re undecided on what platform to get it on. I think each platform has its own advantages with the controls.

Another aspect I wanted to talk about with controls was controlling the character Dei. The Star Named EOS has quite an interesting approach to navigation. It is essentially point-and-click, but instead of moving your character around like in Botany Manor, you’re routed to the spot, usually in the middle of the level, and can only move by standing and looking around. Everything you need to get to is accessible from the spot you’re in. You can click on a point of interest to investigate and it’ll zoom in closer for your convenience. 

The controls aren’t too complicated in The Star Named EOS, but different platforms have different advantages in certain gameplay.

Graphics & Audio – Beautifully Presented

The Star Named EOS didn’t fail in either the graphics or the audio departments. This game is visually and audibly impressive. The environment has a realistic yet also dreamlike feel to them. It gives off that feeling that you’re reflecting on memories during the present day. The painterly look emphasizes this stylistic theme. Another thing I will praise about The Star Named EOS is the readability of its UI. All the text was clear to read, including the subtitles and controls display.

Each level had its own soundtrack to listen to while you’re exploring and solving puzzles, making them stand out from one another, further giving them separate identities, while connecting each other to one story. It felt a bit like I was watching a movie.

The Star Named EOS was reviewed on PS5.