Star Wolves 2
Star Wolves 2
Game
Game2010
Star Wolves
Developer X-Bow Software
Star Wolves (Russian: Звездные волки) is a real-time, futuristic video game developed by Russian video game developer X-bow Software combining role-playing and real-time tactics gameplay. It was first published in 2004 in Russia by 1C Company, and later in 2005 and 2006 in other parts of Europe and North America, respectively. A sequel, Star Wolves 2, was published in Russia in 2006 and in North America in 2007.… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
147 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Oct 13, 2026 · last updated Oct 14, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
72
Fresh
97 positive · 37 negative
95% range 64–79%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 97 | 37 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 2 | 1 | 10 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
107 of 146 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
72% recommend · 100 yes, 38 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 138 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (393 of 468 positive).
Players praise the game's mix of strategy and RPG elements. [1][2][3] Many note the poor English voice acting and dated graphics. [4][5][6] Some report technical issues, especially on newer systems. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [7]
Basically unplayable on newer systems, probably due to legacy problems. Could not get the game to work smoothly. Framerate issues even when put in compatibility mode.
- [4]
A friend told me, long long time ago, that I would like this game. Sadly, I don't trust his video-game taste that much, so I ignored that...Until yesterday, I saw this game at 0,99€ because of a sale. Only an euro?! Dude, I get that back in two days by idling! So, did I like the game in the end? Surprisingly, IT'S GOOD! Now, hear me on this one, the game is nowhere perfect. It has issues, and as usual, I will talk …
- [6]
While a bit dated, this is one of the best space RTS/RPG's I have had the fortune of getting my ass kicked by. The voice acting is quite bad, the game itself has some bugs left and right, and the draw distance makes it seem like you are floating in empty space. However, the customisation of your units and the multiple ways to use them put this game right up there with C&C for me. In this game decisions really …
- [2]
Star Wolves is surprisingly addictive game. Sometimes you'll find yourself raging after a short skirmish with the Aliens, sometimes after defeating tons of enemy ships you'll manage to steal expensive equipment - weaponry, modules, rockets, even fighters - and your evil laughter may scare the living $**T out of your neighbours. Well at least this is my experience with Star Wolves. I really like how strategy and RPG …
- [1]
Star Wolves is a hard game to describe. It's probably best described as a space battle manager where you are managing this mercenary group, Star Wolves, in performing missions for the highest bidder (but you do get to choose). You don't control the crafts directly, but you give waypoints, and attack orders, missile launches and defenses, and so on. You can configure each fighter for different roles: missile defense …
Summarised from 34 of the 150 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 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Star Wolves sits at 72% positive across 134 opinionated reactions from 2 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Star Wolves' Metacritic score and MobyRank (two composite scores of professional video game reviews) are 61 and 73 as of January, 2009. The game got good reviews in Germany and Russia, but bad in English speaking countries due to the horribly localized voiceover.
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 147 · most liked firstA friend told me, long long time ago, that I would like this game. Sadly, I don't trust his video-game taste that much, so I ignored that...Until yesterday, I saw this game at 0,99€ because of a sale. Only an euro?! Dude, I get that back in two days by idling! So, did I like the game in the end? Surprisingly, IT'S GOOD! Now, hear me on this one, the game is nowhere perfect. It has issues, and as usual, I will talk about the bad things of the game first, to take them out of the way. The first,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Star Wolves is a hard game to describe. It's probably best described as a space battle manager where you are managing this mercenary group, Star Wolves, in performing missions for the highest bidder (but you do get to choose). You don't control the crafts directly, but you give waypoints, and attack orders, missile launches and defenses, and so on. You can configure each fighter for different roles: missile defense (jamming), support, escort, attack, and so on. The mothership is also under your…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →GREAT game, just started getting into it. Its confusing to learn the controls at first, their IS no tutorial in the first installment, but totally worth looking at, if your a fan of full control of up to 6 fighter units, and a mother ship (making it 7), and full scale squad tactics. If you've played eve online, think of it like eve, but with out the first person view point.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've had so much fun with this game. Some good mods available on the publishers website that enhance the play as well. This game represents a playstyle that has died out sadly. Check out the first two if you like this one.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you are in the game, reach the first pirate combat and frustratingly your ship bullets are stationary trailing behind them, then you have this issue. Do not panic. Simply save and exit the game, right click it from the game menu and click properties, click verify integrity of game cache and it will re-download two files that fail to verify. Click the Browse local files button, change the compatibility mode for the Starwolves.exe to run as administrator and compatibility for Windows…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →English voice acting may not have been their strong suit, in any of the games in the series. That said, I can definitely recomend Star Wolves (1). It's a bit limiting in it's budgetary balance, and like many old school RPGs between battle maps, towns are little more than an interface screen. The good aspects come from in game choices leading to different forking game paths. Having more than 1 ways to solve a puzzle etc. Fighters can be reconfigured or replaced at the space ports between…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While a bit dated, this is one of the best space RTS/RPG's I have had the fortune of getting my ass kicked by. The voice acting is quite bad, the game itself has some bugs left and right, and the draw distance makes it seem like you are floating in empty space. However, the customisation of your units and the multiple ways to use them put this game right up there with C&C for me. In this game decisions really matter, even financial ones.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Bottom line? A good strategy space game. If you dont like strategy nor space, then maybe you should pass. So far, I've had a really good time playing Space Wolves. There is a decent amount of ship customization, and basic character building elements change how your character plays. There is a decent variety of ships available, mixing things up. The missions arent boring and you stay engaged while playing. There are some tough choices to make occasionally, so you feel like your have a say in…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Well I was really impressed with this game. I never really enjoyed Homeworld but I really enjoyed Star Wolves. The gameplay sort of reminds me of Mechcommander 2 as far as RTS combat goes, I like being able to pause and give orders to my units. Most of the lower level weapons are useless, and there is no point keeping lower tier fighters around in your mother ship, but these faults are minor. The campaign is fairly long and the game is just plain fun, which is the way games are supposed to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Star Wolves is surprisingly addictive game. Sometimes you'll find yourself raging after a short skirmish with the Aliens, sometimes after defeating tons of enemy ships you'll manage to steal expensive equipment - weaponry, modules, rockets, even fighters - and your evil laughter may scare the living $**T out of your neighbours. Well at least this is my experience with Star Wolves. I really like how strategy and RPG are mixed in this game. It gives you opportunity to build your squadron to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is the game of my childhood. Playing this game helped me to learn english, gave me a lot of good memories and made me love Sci-Fi games. This game is amazing with it's simple graphics and i truely enjoyed playing this game <3
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A fun single-player space sim where you lead a team of mercernaries and travel throughout the universe in your mothership taking up contracts to protect, transport or destroy items pertaining to one of the other 6-7 factions in the game. Your ship can hold up to 6 team members and an unlimited amount of cargo. Each character earns xp from missions and kills, which can be applied to their own particular skill tree. You can shop for and configure parts on your mothership and fighters to match…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought it for $0.99 on sale expecting low quality. ABSOLUTELY NOT! On 24" screen I do not see a single pixel standing out. Beautiful graphics! Well organised UI tacked in 4 corners of the screen makes it a perfect view of the deep space. Well thought mouse commands, and many keyboard shortcuts. Do NOT look at pictures uploaded on Steam Store. They must be made at 640 resolution. The game is way better. Story line is interesting and game play helps to read it like a book. Start it on Easy…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Probably the better one of the 2 real games ,(Dont mind star wovles 2 , thats just a joke)its a RPG RTS and can be quite hard for a new player actualy.I remember when I got owned by the aliens and bersekrs, and it can make you rage some times , losing fighters and always getting beaten.But thats the poin!To have fun!:D
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the best space RTS with influence of RPG.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An interesting game, for many reasons. Probably best described as a diamond in the rough, this game's strengths are not immediately visible. The initial impression might be rather unfavourable - the user interface and menus could use some work, only two resolutions are supported, controls take a bit to get used to, and the most annoying one: it's painfully evident the script-writer's English wasn't his forte (same for voice actors). Still, once past all that the game uses a good-looking…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The 3 Star Wolves are quite the hidden gems. Each of them are the same game with a different campaign and new content. Its a mixture between an RPG and Homeworld and I must say it works well and entertains well.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Basically unplayable on newer systems, probably due to legacy problems. Could not get the game to work smoothly. Framerate issues even when put in compatibility mode.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is unfortunately unplayable currently, not entirely clear why. The visual appearance is that of about 5fps despite the fact that it's actually well over 100fps. Inputs also act stuttery, so it's impossbile to control the game (difficult to even navigate the menus it's so bad), and visually it makes you ill very fast. Best guess at this time is it simply can't deal with newer hardware. It's not OS based, compatibility mode doesn't help. Plenty of people report it runs fine under…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a space trading/mercenary RPG/RTS. You will earn experience on missions to level up your characters perks after choosen tech tree. There is in total 4 tech tree's to choose from with different type of perks. And this is cool as you will do this on all your fighter pilots as well. Want to be better gunner just put points there or better in flying avoiding missiles put some there as well. Or boost to experience earned on missions. There is a 4 main tech trees to choose when you start a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Suprisingly good and addicting game, English voice acting is a little "interesting" or comical at times but game play more than makes up for it. Overall a very enjoyable waste of time well spent.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played this years ago and played it again now some 20 years later and I have to say it's even better than I remember. Yes there are some bugs and stuff but overall it's a great game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Star Wolves is a sci-fi/space opera themed 3D rendered RTS/RPG hybrid where you give orders to your space mercenaries and participate in tactical fleet battles. It's a great idea aping the tremendous success of games like Homeworld with an RPG twist, but the implementation is too dated. There's no widescreen or even HD support. It's simply too old and clunky to recommend. Another great game that could use a remaster.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Perfectly cut to size space rpg-lite, with core mechanic that of real time tactics with active pause. It is not arcade piloting, you give commands by pointing and clicking, your units will act on their own, too, if things get hot. You're a leader of Star Wolves, mercenary unit, sporting a mothership and a squadron of fighers (up to six pilots; you start with just you and the co-founder, Ace, and pick up others along the way). The storyline is a multiway charlie foxtrot on a galactic scale,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →great real time strategy, wish someone could upscale it to modern systems
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is like an unpolished gem. It has it strengths, it has its weaknesses, depending on what someone expects it can be a very interesting game. + RPG Part Skill/Perk system is not very complex but functional, various paths can be used for skilling the characters. The different paths lead to a slightly different gameplay approach. Could be more complex, but works nice and is motivating. + Fighters and Equipment During the campaign you will slowly move up the tier-ladder with your…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i cant seem to be able to hit anything with my guns, i can hit with my missiles, but my machine guns seem to never hit a thing at all. if that was fixed this game would be perfect.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Surprisingly underrated RPG/strategy game where you command a spaceship and up to 6 fighters through ~15h story. As you progress through the game you'll be able to upgrade your ships, buy new fighters and train your pilots with new skills. Most missions(quests?) can be completed in multiple ways, each resulting in different outcome. The game has full 3D movement system similar to that in Homeworld series and active pause for better management during combat. Worth noting that the game came…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The original star wolves. Been a fan of this series for a while and after coming back to it still as good as I remember.I have done 2 playthroughs after picking it up. Would easily recommend this strange blend of RPG and space strategy similar to homeworld. Pros: - 20+ hour playtime for single playthrough - Has some replay value due to mission variation based on choices - The combat which takes up most of the game's focus is usually pretty satisfying and aged fairly well - The instant into the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very solid space strategy with a bit of rpg. Highly recommended for Homeworld and Firefly fans. Nice story about space mercenaries with an epic ending. It's quite hard at higher difficulty. Missions fit nicely with story and are not similar to each other. Overall a very good and addictive game! :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a classic. It is a squad-style RTS, but not in the sense of regular RTS, you can pause the gameplay and issue specific orders and there is no resource upkeep and unit production to worry about. I found it very enjoyable and I don't like RTS for the most part. Good story, fun gameplay, good RTS like progression, lots of tactics and stuff to try, never ran dry. Also I got it to run on 1080 resolution by simply editing the config file in the directory. Very basic. In the entire…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really like the way you can make this sort of turnbased by clever use of auto pause. This strategy rpg has a fine story but very bad voiceavting. I love the skill development. The 6 max for characters is a bit annoying and it is hard to know which will be good additions to the team before they have been part so har decisions which to me is both a plus and a minus.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Heya folks, here's a short taken from the intro to Star Wolves 2 by X-Bow Software and Fulqrum Publishing. Truth be told, this game is my least favorite game in the Star Wolves series. I couldn't get past the terrible voice acting lol. #starwolves2 #videogames #retrogaming #shorts #intro
negative · AI labelView post →No longer supported on Windows 10. Good bye Star Wolves.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Star wolves 1 was alright. A number of bugs got in the way at times, but it was a fun play through regardless. Think of it as a squad based homeworld. SW3 is fantastic as well, worth looking at. Stay far away from star wolves 2 though. It's got nothing to do with 1 and 3, so it makes it much easier to forget it existed. I suggest keeping it that way.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Poor game. Limited and Repetitive gameplay. Short sighted project. and very boring.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I gotta start with the fact the I consider this game to be a classic one; I remember playing it a long time ago in a distant galaxy. Now that that's over with => Any CONS that this game might have? As much as I like it the game is not perfect albeit far from it: - the AI and pathing are horrible(or close to horrible?) Not only will your enthusiastic pilots fly too close to a station but sometimes will fly right through it(uhhm, kboom anyone?) - Voice acting (two worlds anyone?), it would be…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Homeworld-esque combat but with even worse controls and terrible production values.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very good game for not very publiced game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Voice Acting in English is top tier. Top Tier if you think B-Rated Movies are top tier. Almost Asylum Studio Levels of Good! Certainly worth the 0,79$ i paid for.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An old but good game. Tactical squad RTS, in space, where your squad is ships. Not bad story, terrible voice acting, good game play. The units some times act a bit weird, a characteristic of out RTS games, but all in all a good game. Especially for just over £3.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I only played for 10 minutes, but the frame rates were jumpy and gameplay was clunky and choppy. Not really playable for me.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Star Wolves Review Star Wolves is a bit lacking in the story department but it makes up for it with its solid strategic gameplay. Story and Setting Star Wolves’ story follows a team of mercenaries who go by the same name. The character you “create” acts as the head of the Star Wolves team. The game begins with only two characters, yours and Ace. As the game progresses, you’ll be able to recruit new characters to your team but you can only have a maximum of 6 characters in your party at any…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's not easy. Leave space bar bound to 'Pause' and play it like a turn-based tactics game, even though it flows in real-time. Consider it a "pause-action tactics" game. Save often, save many. Get in as many fights as you can, focus your character development on fundamentals before gimmicks. Save your money, (((as you would))), and spend wisely.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →On one of the greatest space old-style RTS with an interesting gameplay, an unusual combination of a ship base and fighter jets, each of which has a number of important properties and skills. What a pity that the game did not get and is unlikely to get a decent continuation :(
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Excellent though very unforgiving mix of strategy and RPG elements. The voice acting and translations aren't very good, but it does not affect the gameplay. Completed the drm free edition some years back, but picked up a Steam copy due to the cheap price and the fact I have the other two games on here. Do yourself a favour though - skip #2 and move straight onto #3!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Excellent pausable RTS/RPG hybrid in space, especially for a price. Ability to design ships fitting skill tree of pilots is interesting, ou really feel progress in your fight performance. Game is well balanced. Even as I usually dont play RTS games, I thoroughly enjoyed this one.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I would recomend Star Wolves as a niche game, meaning if you like Turned/Real time strategy(you can pause and issue orders), like spacesship games, like RPG elements(skill tree), lack of resource gathering - OOPS sorry the main thing to grab is money, why, because in this game you and your comrades are merceneraries with a touch of good or bad - Good = money. There is no telling what the developers were thinking when creating this game or could be rather mundane in its delivery. I am pretty…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you can get past the aged graphics and bad (very, very bad) voice acting, this game can be really fun. Playing through on normal is challenging, but not impossible. The limited resources make you choose between equipment and skills, and time the use of your abilities - which are limited in the number of times they can be used each mission. While the game play isn't entirely story-driven, there is a story here, and it's interesting to be in the role of a supporting character/group rather…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Confusing, fiddly and pretty rough around the edges. Control of your units is difficult, keeping them in view can be hard too. Missions are varied somewhat, but when you engage other units, it can be difficult to see who's attacking whom, and issuing commands is not easy and susceptible to a bizarre glitch where Windows 7 and 8 suffer from involuntary pacifism: the units just will not fire when commanded to. Difficulty spikes, messy interface, dorky character designs and other lack of attention…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The good thing about these type of games is that your spending most of your time looking at a tactical map, so dated graphics aren't a problem. Once it starts rolling it's fun and engaging.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you're into spacegame with a twist of rpg mixed in? Starwolves is a great game. Although a bit old I guarantee a few dozan hour of enjoyment for those into the whole genre. 1c company truly is a great (underappreciated) gamehouse that should make a lot more of these type of games They clearly got it down to a science.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really nice game, a lot better than I expected for the price. Can't wait to play 2 and 3.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For an older, version 1 title, I really enjoyed this game. Sure, there are issues with translations in the conversations but that added a quirky flair to the gameplay. It was all about the missions anyway. Overall, the story is fairly weak. Everything else was a very enjoyable play experience though. Looks like it took me almost 30 hours to finish it. There are some missions I didn't go on though and there are a couple of path choices along the way. Nothing too deep. Not sure I would play…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Couldn't get it to work on my pc with win 8. Think it's a bit too old. Start Wolves 2 works fine.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →11/10 like skyrim with guns
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Speaking of those 6/10 games, things I would definitely put there: Star Wolves (space fighter tactics with physical simulation, ignore 2nd game, 1 and 3 are good) Original War (low scale RTS with persistent unit progression) 7.62 (JA inspired game with real ballistics and real-time combat)
neutral · AI labelView post →First published in 2004. A cheap knockoff of the "Homeworld" franchise. Extremely dated by today's standards. It's not even worth $1 in a sale, because you can get the entire "Homeworld Remastered Collection" for $4 in a 90% off sale.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm enjoying it and the very Eastern European English throughout. That being said, though, so far the progression is fine and the plot is kinda shaky, but pulling an Ender's Game where you control the capital ships largely, and the targets/abilities of the pilots is the most fun. For $4 (or less on sale), I've gotten my money's worth out of it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For 2004 it was not so bad.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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