Drifter Star: Evolution
- Sha
- Dec 24, 2025
- 3 min read
Factors | Rating | Description |
🎮Gameplay | 6.5 | The gameplay is quite basic- dodge some objects, and collect the rest, with a bit of a room for collisions as well. |
📷Graphics | 7 | Static background but animations are good. |
🎧Narration | 6.5 | Alright soundtrack. |
😮Variety | 6 | The gameplay stays the same throughout- but it does get intense after each phase. |
🎰Re-playability | 5 | Only for the achievements. |
💲Price | 6 | Wait for a sale. |
🎮 Gameplay Mechanics
🔶 Drifter Star: Evolution takes you through the journey of a space body slowly turning into a black hole. The game is very simple, with collision being the only main mechanic. You start as a meteorite and move around space, collecting small rocks while avoiding heavier objects and bodies with strong gravity. Once you collect enough rocks, shown by a progress bar, you evolve into the next stage, such as an asteroid. Each time you evolve, the game lets you choose upgrades for your space body. These upgrades include things like collecting more resources or dealing more damage. In this game, resources refer to rocks or other space bodies you can absorb, depending on your current stage. For example, as a black hole, you can collect almost everything except larger black holes. Damage refers to how much a space body breaks apart when you collide with it.
🔷 When you collide with a smaller body, part of your own body breaks, but the other object completely shatters. You can then collect all the fragments, which increases your total resources. If you collide with a body of similar mass, both bodies take heavy damage but usually survive. However, colliding with a larger body instantly ends the game. The evolution stages progress in this order- Meteorite, Asteroid, Dwarf Planet, Rocky Planet, Gas Giant, Gas Planet, Dwarf Star, Star, Giant Star, Supergiant Star, Neutron Star, and finally, Black Hole. The game balances things by only placing space bodies that are within two stages above or below your current form.
🔶 Furthermore, I’d like to talk about the upgrades again. Most upgrades only last for the phase in which they are offered, unless the game clearly says otherwise. You also have the option to not pick any upgrade, which removes any extra powers for that phase.
Only read the next part if you want to know about achievements
If you’re trying to collect all achievements, finishing the game without choosing any upgrades is one of them. When I tried this, a giant black hole suddenly appeared and swallowed my gas giant. I’m not sure if this happens randomly or if it’s triggered by skipping upgrades. After finishing the game five times, I didn’t really feel like testing it further. Either way, there’s an achievement for getting devoured, so it still counts. My guess is that I moved too far in one direction, which caused the black hole to spawn. So if you’re achievement hunting, try this method and also try finishing the game without selecting evolution upgrades. The remaining achievements are easy- two are earned by picking different final evolution options, and the last one unlocks when you fail for the first time.🔷 There’s also a feature that lets you pull other bodies into orbit using gravity, which you can then smash into other objects. Personally, I didn’t find this very useful, since directly colliding and collecting resources felt faster. Still, having the option doesn’t hurt.
🔶 Overall, my thoughts on the gameplay are positive, but the game lacks content. I would have liked to see difficulty settings or different scenarios to add variety. Right now, it’s mostly about moving through empty space with the WASD keys while avoiding other space bodies and their gravity.
📷 Visuals and Audio
🔷 There isn’t much happening visually, since the game uses a static background. However, the design and animations of the space bodies and their collisions look quite good. In my opinion, the visuals work perfectly fine- the visibility is clear, and the game doesn’t really need a busy background. As for the audio, there’s a single space-themed soundtrack that plays throughout the game, and that’s the only sound element present.
📝Main Pros and Cons
Pros-
Easy to understand gameplay.
Visibility and animations are decent.
Unique upgrades are available for each phase.
Cons-
Content offered is quite low, that is the only major issue.
😇 Honest Rating
🔶 It’s a decent game that works well and does exactly what it sets out to do, but it clearly lacks content. While the price isn’t very high, I’d still recommend buying it on sale since the amount of content doesn’t really justify the base price. That said, it’s a nice game to relax with, especially if you play your own music in the background.
Rating: 6/10
F = GMm/r²
