These days, when there’s so many games coming out that I feel like an overwhelmed dog with free reign in a butcher’s, there’s no sweeter sentence to me than “this game will take you no longer than two hours.” I know for some people length is everything (don’t), but personally I love a short, good time (seriously, leave it out). So the second I saw Formless Star, an eclectic little creature cataloguing game, and read that it was one to two hours long, I was immediately in.
Here’s the low down: you are Anemo, a researcher sent on a mission in a spaceship to a planet called the Formless Star to collect data on the many animals that live there. There’s around 60 for you to find and learn about, all of them weirder than the next. You might find Flodeboller, a marshmallow-looking creature that hangs out in hot areas even though it’s very uncomfortable with the heat, but just forgets it could leave any time it wants. There’s Boy, who is a boy! Or Sylvia, an animal that evolved from a crashed spacecraft (you should definitely hang out with Sylvia, I would die for them).
Formless Star is out now!
Travel to a mysterious ever-changing planet and gather data on the animals that live there.
There’s 60 different creatures to find, all with unique behaviours and descriptions!
Get the game for free (or pay what you want) here!
splendidland.itch.io/formless-star[image or embed]
— splendidland🌱 (@splendid.land) May 16, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Gameplay is pretty simple, you just kind of go up to each of these animals and interact with them, and then you get a Pokedex-esque entry that’ll likely be a quirky goof. The world itself is randomly generated, changing itself every time you step out, different animals appearing on a fresh generation.
It is primarily a game about vibes, those vibes being a funny, oddball, Game Boy Advance looking game with a, I want to say, healing soundtrack. It’s just a lovely place to hang out for an hour or two, simplistic or not. Think of it almost like a walking simulator, but in 2D.
Perhaps most impressive of all is how unique each of the animals feel. Something I often feel let down by in non-Pokemon creature collectors is how uninspired the designs are. I understand that that might come down to not having the resources, but the range of designs in Formless Star, a game predominantly made by a single person, splendidland, does kind of show that when it comes to this type of design work, you just need to get weird with it.
On top of all that, it’s pay what you want over on Itch.io! Meaning you can just download it for free if you like, or you can chip in a bit of dosh to support the dev. Which you should do, because it’s a delightful little gem that has a nice simple message to it.
