Crying Suns

Overall, a fun game with a good story.

Crying Suns is a rogue-lite set in a dystopian sci-fi universe that you explore with your spaceship and crew, trying to figure out what went wrong in the Empire. It features a detailed sci-fi pixel art style and a great soundtrack.

The main gameplay involves making strategic choices similar to FTL, reading a lot of dialogue to learn about the universe you’re in, and engaging in top-down RTS combat with a pause button—which you will definitely need to use often.

The RTS combat allows for varying strategies and approaches, although you're limited by the squadrons, weapons, crew members, and augments you find in each run. The only thing you can choose at the start is a ship class with its associated starting squadrons, weapons, and augments. Everything else is left up to RNG.
The game's story is split into six chapters, with each run starting at the beginning of a chapter and ending at the end of it. Your equipment resets at the start of each new chapter. If you fail, you restart at the beginning of the current chapter.

The events you encounter are varied and interesting, although you will start to notice repeating events more frequently after playing for a while.

I find it a bit disappointing that certain dialogues remain unchanged, even after your character has learned information that should alter his reactions (see spoiler examples below).

Overall, I’m happy I bought this game. It is well-made, and you can tell the creators cared about making a quality experience.

Warning: Major Spoilers
For example, after you meet Oberon and kill him, you can still get into random conversations with Kaliban and ask him how it feels to have a RUBICON or what he thinks of Oberon. He may also still ask you what you think of Oberon, and the dialogue hasn’t changed.

A great roguelite game with a story that will keep you going back for more runs. The gameplay mixes RPG, strategy, and roguelite elements in a sci fi atmosphere that has hints of Foundation, Dune, and more mixed in. The events are random and can occasionally be repetitive after your first play through, but the story and gameplay were enough to keep me coming back and play it more. I originally beat this in 2023 but picked it back up and have been playing it regularly with the updates that came out last year adding new elements and challenges. Well worth your time if you enjoy any of the game types I mentioned.

It's FTL, but far worse. Fewer weapon types, fewer enemy types, fewer ship modules. The visuals are okay, but the gameplay is insanely boring

It's pretty good. Very similar to FTL, but you fight instead by skirmishing with fighters between your ships. It's full roguelike (no progression from run to run except unlocks of new starting options) but the story takes place over multiple chapters. Each chapter is a separate run in a unique area.

If you like FTL and want another similar game you will probably like it.

If it's good enough for admiral Idaho, it's good enough for you.

Buy the game

The game has a somewhat interesting narrative, nice art style, and fun combat. Whether you like the combat or not will depend on if you like RTS with strategic pause. I personally found it to work pretty well for this game. My main strategy was overwhelming enemy battleships with swarms of drones which made things a bit chaotic, but there are a number of ways to tackle each system you encounter.

There are some aspects that may be unappealing to some (such as the RNG used in planetary expeditions and random event encounters), but I found these aspects to be a bit of a break from the battleship combat. I thought this was nice but it may not be what some are looking for. All-in-all, I would recommend it.

It's FTL, but far better.

i bought this hoping to get back into the tactical style genre, and found it uncompelling. i played it once and gave it a couple hours to draw me in, and it never did. the story didn't catch me and after only 2 hours i was already bored with the gameplay. given that it's a roguelike, i find it unlikely the gameplay will change in any major way.

i am disappointed because i was hoping to find something special in this, and feel like i did not.

It had a very interesting story!

It's a pretty good roguelite. It does a good job of providing the atmosphere of commanding a spaceship and provides a decent real-time combat system.

One of the best games I've ever played

peak beyond peak
don't play this for roguelike elements, if you die just decrease difficulty
ending didn't fully meet sky high expectations set by the writing in the first three chapters

Thronefall
OVERALL - Fairly good roguelite with a fairly compelling narrative. Basically a slightly more complicated FTL with a much better story

STORY/SETTING - 4/5
This is probably the best narrative I’ve seen in a roguelite game. Not a real high bar, most roguelites have only a basic structure with no real characterization. I enjoyed the story and it was compelling enough to keep me going. I also enjoyed how the story worked into the roguelite aspect of the game. To complete the story requires you to do 6 separate runs of the game. But the runs also vary enough in the narrative structure to feel different.

GAMEPLAY - 3/5
This game walks a fine line between making choices and not having options and just dealing with what you’re given. The obvious comparison to FTL is definitely there, but overall I think I enjoyed the gameplay in FTL better. This game is very focused on your squadrons and how they play out on a grid map. It used a basic paper rock scissors sort of system. I feel like squadrons are by far and away the best and most reliant choice in the game. Ship weapons feel almost pointless other than as a way to assist your squadrons. You certainly can’t rely on them to win a battle.

Another weird system is the “patched squadron” system. I like the basic idea, but it feels weird that you can deploy a patched squadron over and over again. I feel like it should either go away after being destroyed in the patched state or maybe it could start costing scrap. I also feel like the respawn timer should be longer. But if you were to do that it would change a lot of the current balance and difficulty and you would probably need to change the bosses to not have a ridiculously large number of squadrons.

Overall I liked the ground missions. Except for the retreat part. Honestly, I have completed the entire game, but never retreated. It seems like retreating should be encouraged, but the text reads like you lose everything anyway, so it feels like it’s not worth it. I think the system would be improved if you were told some of what was still ahead, and if retreating gave you everything you got so far. That way you could weights the risks of what is left vs what you’re capable of.

GRAPHICS/ART - 3/5
Overall I thought the graphics were fine. I thought for the most part they had enough detail to see what was going on. I did occasionally find it annoying that kalipan was alway over the weapons HUD.

UI - 3/5
Overall the UI seemed ok. I don’t think a lot of the text descriptions were all that clear though. I also wish there were some options for the text size and possibly the font.

Overall I think the game has a lot of potential, but could use some improvements.

Games I would Recommend if you like this one.
FTL (Obviously)
Halcyon 6
Star Renegades

This is an incredibly solid sci-fi rogue-like that spends a lot of time and effort building and developing it's own mythos... Imagine the best of procedural films - you start in a post-apocalyptic setting with little knowledge, and your progression not only builds your understanding of the mechanics, it slowly guides you through the history that led to your character's resurrection. You learn as they learn.

Apparently it's too hard for some? I don't understand the criticisms of the 50/50 chances... you're wandering through a post-fall empire, do you expect the game to hold your hand? As a Hail Mary throw in the fourth quarter, why would you expect that your marine's can clear a science facility without casualties? You're purposely hamstrung... all odds are against you in this final gambit.

And the art direction is fantastic, go damn.

A great game with outstanding gameplay and story.
Very good length for an indie title, solid replayability and variation between classes. All in all, an almost perfect rogue-lite in terms of gameplay. Though personally, I feel the RNG takes away from the experience. To each their own I suppose.

The buffs offered by Crew-members suffer from the fact a good 2/3 are either useless in actual action or far too niche to be usable in most builds/runs, depending instead on RNG for their usefulness.

The narrative is great and the many encounters it offers are truly interesting, for the first three or so times you see them. There are some issues once you learn the outcomes and the impact you might have from seeing the consequences of your actions truly dims when it's the fifth time seeing the exact same result.

The Boss fights are great and each chapter succeeds in making its faction stand out from the rest. Though there are strategies that simply work against anything the regular gameplay would throw your way.*

The biggest problem with the game is the ending. It's just disappointing. The final Boss fight is far too easy, especially compared to what came before it and the concluding cut-scenes are disappointing.
Another issue is I simply did not come to care for the protagonist' emotional journey to find his wife.

This game is a true example of the true reward was the journey, not the destination. Still, I recommend it. It provided a very fun experience. 8.5/10

For those FTL players looking for something new. The graphics are great, the writing is good, and the gameplay is acceptable.
The combat doesn't have the same storytelling vibe of FTL like when your last crewmember asphyxiates trying to repair a hole, or put out a fire. It does feel a bit more involved, i.e. more moving parts, though it is lacking some of the simplistic grace that makes FTL great. All strategies feel very samey.

You are badly penalized for restarting a chapter.
Another game that punishes players and doesn't respect their time.

cool game

Enjoyed learning the combat and story. Very similar to FTL; blue options are good, some combats will kick your ship in the teeth. The big difference is the story. Where FTL has the same story every run thats better for replayability, this game has a more detailed story with chapters and detailed characters. If you have read Dune or Foundation (which this game is inspired by), the inspiration is extremely clear. Overall pretty good experience 8/10. I'd say its worth full price, catch it on a sale and its a steal.

If you are looking for an FTL like game with this art style, I'm sure you will find this fun. So I will give it a thumb's up. For me, it fell completely flat, but I think I just don't grok this style of game. Its not you, Crying Suns, its me.

game that makes you think about life. 10 dead AI's out of 10.

It took a couple of hours for the mechanics to click in, but once they did it became a very rewarding rogue-lite experience. The art is lovely, the mechanics are fun and the story is engaging (if you stand reading lots of text). The UX is sometimes clunky, but overall a very enjoyable experience.

The setting and story are quite good... the gameplay is most decidedly not.

Imagine Ftl if the Battles were way(and I do mean way) more simple and 90% of events were pure coinflips you can't influence (and make no sense at all in the Narrative ''Oh hey, this random civilian in his ship that is barley capable of movement screwed us over, what a pity there is literally nothing we in our state-of-the-art Battleship can do about it'').

It's a good game, but man that ending is super unsatisfying no matter which route you go with. At least Mass Effect 3 had a kinda "good" ending. This game it's just all bad choices and you really feel like crap at the end with no closure at all. Still worth playing, just frustrating.

I liked this game a lot with some small details I do not like.
I liked how they combined the roguelite formula with a story that is very interesting. I can actually say that the way they tell the story is what hooked me up to this game.
I liked the tactical gameplay with crews, maps & ships

however...
It can be very repetitive, even the dialog.
it can feel unfair due to the randomness of certain events it is almost as betting
I do not like the ending. (without spoiling to much; a program will always have a user.... it is not alive)

Addictive, with a cool backgroud story and fantastic tactical combat.

The fun part about roguelite games is feeling like you have some influence or effectiveness despite the RNG. This game royally mucks that up the farther you advance and on higher difficulties. It is neither fun, nor enjoyable, relying on RNG to save your run, especially if you are doing quite well early on. If I could refund, I would.

First, the good. The story seems interesting as far as I have gotten. 2 or 3 sectors so haven't finished. Influenced by classic scifi like The foundation series by Asimov. Visuals are good,its pretty. Sound design is good. Combat is decent so far.

Now for why I can't recommend the game despite a lot going for it. 75-80% of the stuff that happens just happens. It works like a slot machine; your only decision is whether or not to pull the lever then whatever happens happens. I hate slot machines, and I think casinos should be illegal. But I digress. There is no skill with a slot machine. It isn't really a game in my opinion. A game lets you at least try to use skill to navigate through a bad roll and get a neutral outcome. A slot machine is just a fancy and psychologically manipulative spin on rolling dice. Its very passive overall, since you don't actually do anything but pull the lever. Too much of this game is effectively a slot machine you passively observe to see what happens. That isn't fun. Its annoying. If these rolls included minigames you could with practice use to overcome bad rolls it would be different. Too little of this game is actually a game.

nihilistic ending.
You suck, devs.
If I wanted to see nihilism, I'd turn on the news.

Really fun game with a story that really made me want to keep playing so I could learn more about all the weird interesting things going on in this world.

Ftl with little stellaris, with some nice combat. Love it, please make more

I like the story and gameplay elements, but whether or not you are successful in a run is completely random. I've made it two sectors deep to be helplessly crushed by the final boss as I had no opportunities to pick up new squadrons effective against their ships (which also instantly deal 20%-40% damage, and have +60% speed). Failed multiple runs in a row on regular difficulty because I simply can't find the right squadrons before the final boss.

slight doubts, but the demo was so gripping I immediately bought in. Liked the Dune reference in the first chapter. Lots of lore, but u can skip past all of that if it's not your thing. Good designs, music, very high quality presentation frankly.

Con: Information OVERLOAD the first time u start ur first run, like holy shit. Tutorial does just enough to get u started, but it honestly expects a bit of pre-knowledge of the genre and such on Normal. Things like capturable structures, terrain, etc glossed over.

Unit rock paper scissors is fun and stressful (in the good way). Can I retreat in time? What will I deploy instead? Wins did not feel free, it gets dicey fast.

Cute game, nice when you're in need of a brain-relaxer.

This game has an interesting premise and a decent amount of worldbuilding, but it’s bogged down by having way too many systems and being VERY random at the same time. You’ll often have runs that are basically doomed after an hour because of bad luck: random fuel amounts, not finding enough good ships/weapons, or not knowing the weaknesses of this cluster boss etc.

Some people might find it fun to lose due to luck or lack of information, but for me at least, it quickly becomes frustrating and boring.

Get the demo first! Dont actually buy the game and then figure out that it sucks and a big waste of time and money.

If you like FTL then you will like this. But no one likes FTL. I see tons of reviews of people who like FTL but Ive never met one in real life. Its like they only exist on the internet. Or they dont exist at all...

Just get the demo and youll see what i mean. In an age of tons of well produced and fun games that are very cheap... this game falls flat. Its a bad game.

To scratch your sci-fi space ship game itch, I recommend Creeper World 3. Does waaayy more with a lot less. And its super engaging and replayable. Creeper World franchise has a few games so check them out.

Best game about Suns that are crying

Addictive

This Game really does it for me. I play it when I need something light going and fun.
Really worth the money.

This game taught me that slavery always will be better than good morale

Good roguelike, no notes.

Fun enough strategy game with a good enough story to be worth a $15-20 price tag. Decent writing and pacing. The 2nd ship is OP af lol.

I tried to play it, every time I am bored to death.

Honestly a fun game. Unsurprisingly, and despite the pixel art style, pretty dark. The story is good, though it gets a little weird towards the end. They do a food job at feeding you the narrative/state of the world in bits and different perspectives, allowing you to learn what the world was and is like over time instead of smacking you in the face with it all at once. It's a game that is definitely worth your time.

7/10 - GOOD

A very solid rogue-like with a cool, dark, sci-fi story. The end of days setting and the apocalypse atmosphere goes kind of hard here. Some gameplay mechanics are a bit simple and the gameplay loop can become boring in little while, but the story holds you over till the end of the game for the first play through (~15-20 hr.). It's up to you if you want to challenge yourself with other ship designs and hard difficulty setting and play the game some more.

If you've played Faster Than Light, you'll be familiar with this game.
It has different mechanics and puts more emphasis on squadrons (ships and drones) to beat the enemy.
Overall, their take on the FTL formula is worse.

What they do better is story and immersion.
There is a story.
You will feel immersed.
The story seems promising...

It's not; it sucks.
The mystery has you going for awhile, but the reveal is terrible and unguessable.
The story is full of typical liberal garbage: futurism, nihilism, anti-humanism, and anti-religious themes.
If you enjoy huffing the farts of "humans bad, science good" style writing, then you will enjoy this tripe.

Crying Suns takes some of the best ideas of FTL and adds deeper story elements that keep you guessing. Combat is surprisingly deep and new runs feel fresh with how much variety is at play between ship type, crew choice, ship systems and fighter complements. RNG keeps you on a knifes edge without feeling unfair and losing isn't frustrating.

Good Gaem

This is a predecessor of Breachway with pixel graphics but with more interesting elements such as planetary events and how squadrons also plays important roles in the spaceship battle.
great game overall

The game lore is very grim, mysterious and deep. Feels like a clone of Isaac Asimov himself wrote it. I can recommend the game to anyone how loves space SciFi genre.

The Game Mechanics have a lot of good "inspirations" from the FTL. But feels, like it took them to the next level. Hexagrid feels very "board-game"-like. Amount of different officers, weapons, squadrons and events ensures the unique run every time. I played this game on iOS, but didn't like phone controls (which are done incredibly well, but can't compete with keyboard+mouse). So I bought the game second time in order to dive in the lore with more comfort :)

But also, every run you discover something new about the universe, which make me want to play it again.

TL;DR:
Perfect FTL "sequel", amazing lore.