Manor Lords
Manor Lords
Game
Game2019
Crying Suns
Developer Alt Shift
Crying Suns is a 2019 roguelike strategy video game developed by Montpellier-based developer Alt Shift and published by Humble Bundle. The protagonist, space admiral Ellys Idaho, awakes in a cloning facility decades after the interstellar empire he fought for has collapsed, and travels the empire's galaxy in a battleship in search of answers why. The game is split into six chapters, with three sectors each; Idaho… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
240 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon, Lemmy) · newest Oct 31, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
79
LovedLoved
150 positive · 40 negative
95% range 73–84%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 150 | 40 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 12 | 2 | 25 |
| Mastodon * | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 4 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
2,514 of 2,968 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
80% recommend · 151 yes, 37 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 188 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (3,913 of 4,560 positive).
Players praise the story as engaging and well-written. [1][2][3] The art and audio design are widely acclaimed. [1][4][5] Some find the gameplay loop repetitive after many hours. [6][7][8]
Liked
Representative posts
- [9]
RNG is the worst thing to happen to games, it ruins what would otherwise be great games. It's like the developer thought to themselves, "Hey we got a really fun game here, now how do we make it as frustrating as possible to play?" If you like playing rigged slot machines, rolling snake eyes, loosing in general, and find life isn't hard enough, then this games for you.
- [1]
This game gets a lot of things right for me, but it also has some weird mechanics that I disliked, alongside systems that I really enjoyed. What I like: - The story is well written and engaging, and it was ultimately the main reason I kept coming back to the game. For the final chapter, I turned down the difficulty to “easy” because I wanted to see how the story ends without having to redo multiple runs. - The …
- [4]
It is truly a masterpiece. I like everything about this game:s ● Setting about technological singularity inspired by Azimov/Herbert Jr. books ● A truly intriguing script, masterful character development and narrative design ● Cool combat mechanics: Real-Time with Pause + classic Rock-Paper-Scissors Balance ● Wonderful design of characters, ships and huds in pixel art style ● A decent replay value: big variaty of …
- [7]
Awesome game with a super intriguing story. Game play gives Ender's Game vibes as you direct your ships across the battle grid in real time to take down the enemy flagship. The only criticism I have is that after ~20 hours you start to notice a lot of repeat events. If they had tripled the amount of random events in the game I'd have no issue saying this game was as good as FTL. As it stands its still one of the …
- [2]
One of the best scifi games I've ever played. The story is magnificent and really hooks you. The gameplay is also great and i recommend this to anyone even at full price. This game should win awards for what it was able to achieve. Thank you for making this!
Summarised from 34 of the 236 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 10, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
80% of the 188 Steam reviewers we collected recommend Crying Suns. The complaint that keeps coming up: gameplay loop gets repetitive after many hours. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Crying Suns received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregator Metacritic. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received strong approval, being recommended by 62% of critics. Reviewers compared the game to FTL: Faster Than Light, praising its story, graphics, and tactical complexity in combat, while some criticized the repetitiveness of random events. Dann Sullivan of Pocket Gamer asserted that the "post-societal" science fiction setting keeps the player engaged throughout the game's chapters, while Kotaku's Ian Walker praised the game's worldbuilding. Steve Messner of PC Gamer claimed that the story used many science fiction tropes but described…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 240 · most liked firstSorry, but this product is not available for purchase in this country. Your product key has not been redeemed.. Darksiders Genesis - QG6CQ-6LERH-AFJVK Darksiders III - H7HBK-YZN9W-0IBBI Aven Colony - MNMCM-6QYW6-9L9BQ Main Assembly - M68KH-VPHFN-WHQN0 Popup Dungeon - 5YZHR-MWHMP-XKFBI Ageless - 98HCM-VC32W-I2NCC Outward - H63QL-JC004-RQN5Y One Step from Eden - LA5PC-TEHDK-FYH6Z Crying Suns - LBVRA-VK5VT-M9Q2E
neutral · AI labelView post →Crying Suns is 5! A neat roguelike tactical game. Good news: this team is working on an "ambitious title that shares many elements of the Crying Suns DNA but is set in a different universe that will surely surprise players." 👀
neutral · AI labelView post →Oh my, it's actually the next game from the team who made the excellent Crying Suns 🤩 Day one, then 🫡
positive · AI labelView post →For those living near Montpellier, there’s an event the day after tomorrow centered on Crying Suns —the cool 2019 space roguelike strategy game from the creators of the recent Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes. I also have the rare artbook, and it’s good.
positive · AI labelView post →This game gets a lot of things right for me, but it also has some weird mechanics that I disliked, alongside systems that I really enjoyed. What I like: - The story is well written and engaging, and it was ultimately the main reason I kept coming back to the game. For the final chapter, I turned down the difficulty to “easy” because I wanted to see how the story ends without having to redo multiple runs. - The visual and audio design is excellent. - I like the pause and fast-forward mechanics…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →RNG is the worst thing to happen to games, it ruins what would otherwise be great games. It's like the developer thought to themselves, "Hey we got a really fun game here, now how do we make it as frustrating as possible to play?" If you like playing rigged slot machines, rolling snake eyes, loosing in general, and find life isn't hard enough, then this games for you.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Clearly inspired by 'FTL' it struggles to create a grand universe, by shamelessly stealing ideas from Dune and other Sci-fi classics. Repetitive, frustrating, randomly cruel with the player. Some events are absurd, leaving a sensation of a narrator that just want to punish you. The idea to continuously reset from 'level 0' is original, and bad; you never feel empowered. The dialogues are boring and predictable - you will soon find yourself skipping them. The nail on the coffin are the land…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the best scifi games I've ever played. The story is magnificent and really hooks you. The gameplay is also great and i recommend this to anyone even at full price. This game should win awards for what it was able to achieve. Thank you for making this!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🎂Our game Crying Suns just turned 7, and ironically, it’s becoming more relevant than ever. (I can almost hear Kaliban gloating about the latest news about AI development and “the risks of misalignment.” "Boo!") As for updates: new languages are coming soon! store.steampowered.com/app/873940/C...
neutral · AI labelView post →It is truly a masterpiece. I like everything about this game:s ● Setting about technological singularity inspired by Azimov/Herbert Jr. books ● A truly intriguing script, masterful character development and narrative design ● Cool combat mechanics: Real-Time with Pause + classic Rock-Paper-Scissors Balance ● Wonderful design of characters, ships and huds in pixel art style ● A decent replay value: big variaty of ships to try ● Perfect for feeding your ADHD while watching a movie Also if you are…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If I could give the game a "meh" review I would. Really enjoyed the worldbuilding, story, and universe, but the fighter combat leaves something to be desired... replayability in terms of having many "styles" is great but the boomer ships end up being pretty much the best. The core gameplay loop gets tedious and a bit boring
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →its a good game but the gameplay loop gets repetitive really fast i got multiple endings because i was invested in the story, it was not worth it, not because its bad, but because theres so little of it
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →FTL with macro management. Mini Total War in space. But with ships. I wish there was a bit more depth when it comes to pilots and spaceships, however. With couple of updates or additions it could have been turned into a masterpiece. Yet banger of a game. I didn't know how much I needed it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I’m playing this game for the second time, both times on hard difficulty — and it’s still just as engaging. The story is incredible. It’s one of those rare games where I actually read every line of dialogue instead of skipping — the writing really pulls you in. The combat system is also very satisfying and well-designed. What I especially like is how accessible the game is. It’s lightweight, runs smoothly, and doesn’t require a high-end setup. The gameplay is easy to get into, which makes…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →New on Player32: ▸ Crying Suns ▸ Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes ▸ CLeM ▸ SUSHI CHESS Trailers, demos and deals for every game → https://player32.com/ #PCGaming #gamedev
neutral · AI labelView post →I got over a thousand hours of gameplay out of this, so it's fair to say I think it's more than worth it for the price.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Even after over a dozen times playing it through, this is still by far my favourite game out of all I've played. The story is amazing, the gameplay is simple yet fun and the pace of the game itself is perfect. It's hard to say too much more about the game without spoiling it, but if your looking for a mix of on board unit control with tough moral choices and deep lore and story then this is the perfect game for you
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It pains me to review games negatively and I don't do it often - almost never with indie developers. I gave this game a fair shot, as I've played almost 10 hours and arrived at the boss of chapter 2. However, sadly, this is the list of the pros and cons and the latter are far too many. What's good: The pixel art is very well done. The Atmosphere and the overall presentation and interface of the game are pleasant. What's average: The dialogues are not terrible although pretty repetitive. Same…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fine, I'll bite. Indie game checkpoint. Beautifully drawn pixel art outside of combat. Detailed 3D art during hex-grid combat. Haunting soundtrack. Poignant storytelling. Gameplay that goes above and beyond a regular roguelike. Crying Suns, by the wonderful people at @altshiftgames.bsky.social
positive · AI labelView post →Great game. story is nice mix of ideas inspired by classic sci-fi books such as Dune, Foundation, Hyperion Cantos, Enders Game and etc. while ship variety is not as great as in FTL or Void War, its still variety that significantly change up how you battle other ships. Boss battles are challenging but not to insane degree as aforementioned Void War or FTL. People often compare this game to FTL, but while in FTL you control one ship that's at best, frigate in size, in Crying Suns you feel like…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Basically no meta progression, so a lot of the time losses feel pointless and punishing with no forward momentum. In fact, specialist officers (special crew with more skills and expertise) are put on cool down after death which makes it feel even worse. You also don't have any lasting affect on the world when you die, even though the narrative framing is that you're a bunch of clones going to the same place over and over. It'd be nice if runs were easier to start because you'd cleared…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like the idea of Crying Suns and I've had a few hours of fun for sure. I do wish there was an option for a neutral review, but the negatives are just too loud in every playthrough so I must thumb this down to make people aware of them. Positives: +A roguelite with solid fundamentals. You go from system to system, gather allies and upgrades for your ship, destroy enemies, and resolve small story events. +A fresh RTS hexagonal-grid form of combat. +Pixel art with well made shaders.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →- Overall Impression/TLDR Edit: Not gonna bother updating the review fully, cuz upon finishing the game my opinion hasn't really changed at all. Ending was anti-climatic, and did nothing to address my complaints that this game is ideologically vague and seems agnostic on the morality of fascism which is weird, tho unfortunately common in gaming. Once again I find myself wishing Steam had a "Neutral" review. In this case it's a not recommend for me at this stage, but I may feel different…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →absolutely trash game. YOU have zero control over how the game is going. it is fully decided by the RNG (i.e. it's random). all THE PLAYER can do is act like a complete idiot, i.e. ignore blatantly obvious things like get the fuel or not send down commandos into certain death. I stopped playing when the game sent me to a situation with the classic non-gamer "choices matter" way of designing things: suddenly a fire breaks out. why? no idea. how fires can just break out like 2000 years into…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I’ve been enjoying Crying Suns for quite a while now, and it remains one of the most memorable science-fiction games I’ve played. Its visual presentation is superb. I especially love the way the game makes you feel like the actual captain of a massive starship rather than just a player looking at menus. Seeing the captain standing on the bridge as the ship prepares to jump, addressing the officers and crew directly, supervising planetary expeditions, and responding to unfolding crises gives…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Punishes the player for restarting by locking them out of meta-progression unlocks.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The graphics and art design are excellent. I've played a lot of FTL and still stink. This I've played a lot less of, and I feel like I'm making progress. It probably is reductive to compare it to FTL, but it does feel like it. Maybe AFTL, Advanced FTL. Advanced doesn't mean better necessarily, it didn't for D&D. One thing this game does do better than FTL is telegraph what your choices will do. Is that hand holdy and a bad thing or just "good design". I don't know. It probably is a better…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Clair Obscur does such a good job of having a deeply sad world without the game itself being a bummer. I think the only other game I've played that pulled that off was Crying Suns.
positive · AI labelView post →Awesome game with a super intriguing story. Game play gives Ender's Game vibes as you direct your ships across the battle grid in real time to take down the enemy flagship. The only criticism I have is that after ~20 hours you start to notice a lot of repeat events. If they had tripled the amount of random events in the game I'd have no issue saying this game was as good as FTL. As it stands its still one of the best space roguelites out there and deserves more recognition.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I disliked the ending.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Anybody who is a big fan of the roguelite genre knows how tedious it can be to play a bad FTL-copycat with less than interesting combat and progression. This game chose to be a glorified Visual Novel that uses a bad FTL-copycat as the interlude between the lore dumps and discussions. Just from this premise, you know it will not be a good mix because the FTL gameplay requires to be able to play fast and restart fast, because you can die at any time from taking a bad route. Does the narrative…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A fun premise and seemingly interesting game loop. Unfortunately, you are given the illusion of choice rather than real ones; events quickly become repetitive(saw the same event two systems back to back), you are given choices that railroad into combat, and while the plot is interesting at first it really fell off at the end.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun game, love the graphics, intriguing story.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sometimes you're just craving something specific or need something a bit smaller scale instead of a massive AAA. After finishing Cyberpunk 2077, I bounced around from God of War to Assassin's Creed Origins to Spiderman, and on and on, all great titles but just stopped after a few hours... the game that finally grabbed me was an indie from a few years ago called Crying Suns. If you want a small game with killer mechanics and that you won't feel like you're abandoning after a few hours, try…
neutral · AI labelView post →it's FTL-like, but not FTL good. More lore, more conversations where intel is drip fed painfully. Pro writer tip..."Show. don't tell" What's worse is the game knows that it's doing this. You have a NPC guide who in every conversation has options "remind me what the mcguffin is?" But that's fluff, at the core this game has a broken main gameplay loop. Because the maingame play loop is NOT hex-based tactical rock-paper-scissors combat...no the main gameplay loop is skipping conversation…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I want to like this game, I really do... but the mechanics baffle me. The enemy, especially bosses, can send out endless waves of squadrons, endlessly, without them ever dying. You kill them over and over again, and they just send them out again. Your squadrons, on the other hand, if they die twice, they're perma-dead. Having a ship weapon seems fairly useless since it takes forever to fire, does no damage (and I am not talking about the support weapons that do no damage, I'm talking about the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I literally took off with it! next thing i'm Blazin' through the Galaxy with a crew of five i think inc Joe Rogan's Mother!......Then we all Die!.......and it was 4' am so i went to bed!. Note>(No save button for you softies out there)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game with very nice art and style and a stunning story. Liked it very much and 100% play again.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A beautiful game, well made, beautiful visually and in storytelling. The gameplay feels good and unique. I strongly recommend it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sexy art style and theme, good story that is written just alright (a lot of people seemed to miss the points it tried to make or where some parts of narration come from, so it could be better for sure), very repetetive but fun nonetheless gameplay, which is still probably the worst part of the game somehow The "deeper" messages that are said through main story and some of the events are simple and easy to find, but given how people act and can't comprehend how easy it is to loose everything we…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Worth it on sale, but not otherwise. Gameplay loop gets very repetitive, with almost no variation after the first few hours of play. Still worth checking out as a FTL-like, but I would recommend Void War over this if you are only going to buy one new game. There's also two things where I feel like the dev is not respecting the player's time: 1. Can't skip through the mission sequences. You can alt-tab them in the background, but player input is needed to progress at least once. 2. The screen…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Overall i believe the game is okay, artistically fantastic, however the gameplay suffers from core flaws that are here to stay since the game no longer receives updates This is from a standpoint of playing the Hard difficulty which i understand most people dont play, if the achievements are anything to go by, only 0.7% finished the game on hard, but these flaws are still applied to the other difficulties, its just that the Hard difficulty makes the game flaws absurdly enhanced and very obvious…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[iOS] [Weekly game deals post - Little Big Workshop, Riptide GP: Renegade, Crying Suns, Hyper Light Drifter, Potion Permit, Candleman, Classic SEGA games (Streets of Rage 1 & 2, Crazy Taxi, Shining F.
neutral · AI labelView post →Great game! The gameplay loop is ok, but story and atmosphere are really amazing. Soundtrack is peak, too!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Excellent game, very worth your time
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Steeped in the same juices as the Dune and Foundations series, Crying Suns is drip-drying with elegance, replayability, and just a skosh of pizzaz. If you loved FTL, you'll love Crying Suns even more.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game itseft is decent, but i found it far too repetitive. Most events are reused constantly, and even though the different ships provide some variety, the overall gameplay loop remains very similar. 100% steam achievements Time : 117.9H Completion Difficulty : 8/10 Playthroughs : 16 + additional run for specific achievement Missables : None DLC Required : Yes Guide Recommended : Yes - strongly Notable requirements : Complete the game with all ships on highest difficulty, including DLC…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's like FTL, except that FTL combat is fun. The ship combat in this game was just plain annoying to me.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hey ... who gave this game mixed reviews? That's nonsense, this game is astonishing. It's like FTL, in a way, if FTL had more of a story. If you don't love it, you're doing it wrong :p =)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →well written scifi, fun gameplay
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Get ready to rediscover the Battlestar Galactica universe through a fresh and innovative approach – an indie take by Alt Shift, the studio behind Crying Suns! Wishlist the game now: store.steampowered.com/app/2535950/...
neutral · AI labelView post →Happy to announce that Crying Suns ("kickstarted" in 2018!) will be part of the "Backed by Backers Steam Festival", focused on games shaped by their players. If you want to jump in, we will have a 70% (game & DLC) discount during the event. Starts April 14, 10 AM PST #BackedByBackers #SteamFestival
neutral · AI labelView post →The ending(s) disappoint. The narrative is great, the story is well delivered and you're hungry for more. But all 3 endings are abrupt, short, pseudo-cliff-hanger-open-question. Is the game good? Yes. Is it 6 chapters long for 16 hours good? No. It over extends itself, and that's even in one single playthrough. This game should have been cheaper, more condensed and offer at least a decent ending or two. No need to be a happy ending (spoiler alert: they're not happy endings) but at least…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[42 minutes of playtime, because I played it more on IOS and just bought the PC version to support the devs] The game is awesome. It has elements of FTL style games in that you choose a path through a variety of systems, making your way through the game universe. It has Roguelike gameplay so you build up to new equipment, ships, crew and therefore playstyles. There's a fair amount of dialogue and story, something that similar games often lack. Often I just skip the half-arsed stories that…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm pretty sure I got this gamer for free during an event. However, even at full price I would have nothing significant to complain about. An engaging story wrapped up neatly in an excellent little roguelike package with neat artistic flair. I truly wish my steam gameplay hours were more accurate to my actual playtime so I could gauge the amount of time it took to complete and come up with a good entertainment value assessment so I could list a price point where this goes from a good deal to a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A delightful spiritual successor to Faster Than Light. Much bigger and quite polished too.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Art train to reintroduce yourself Hi, I'm FoG, Game Artist for 10+ years, worked on games like Crying Suns, Rayman, Deadcells, Legend Of Keepers, Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes Skills: 2D, low poly 3D, pixel art, animation. I love indie dev, DIY, FOSS & sharing knowledge. Nice to meet you
neutral · AI labelView post →I like to think of this game as a combination of FTL & Out There with 'hex grid' combat zones to have you ships duke it out using Fighters etc and finally some "push your luck" mechanics. I very much enjoy the game. it has a interesting story and. if You were (or still are) on the fence about buying it, wait for a sale or try the demo first.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Crying Suns is a great game, and what it does with the interactive medium is, to me, nothing short of amazing. While the gameplay may not be the most engaging or innovative, the way it becomes a crucial part of the story is incredible, and it manages to elevate it to such heights that I will be thinking about it for the rest of my life. You just can’t do that stuff in a book or a movie, and that’s why Crying Suns is worth your time Watch my full review here!…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So I was excited for this game, especially when the trailer recreated the intro to the show, but now that I've discovered it's from the same devs who did Crying Suns (one of my favorite indie games) just confirms this is going to be incredible. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPwa...
positive · AI labelView post →
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