I had no idea that I would be digging up some Mechwarrior vibes from the 90s with a game, but here we are with Bounty Star.
Developer DINOGOD and publisher Annapurna Interactive released Bounty Star a couple of weeks back and brought with it some good and bad gameplay elements, with the former outweighing the latter. The good elements start with the story and creating a deep and rewarding world led by lawdogs and mechs. To make the experience even richer, the game features a customization and crafting option to build out a homestead, while taking on the occasional bounty (small/large) when more resources are needed.
The bad is purely the middle-of-the-road gameplay that is not as intense or magical as the above setup should make it. While only a minor piece to the entertainment, the slow-moving action doesn’t motivate as much as the need to customize a homestead or mech. At the very least, it does have its moments of fun.
So, sit back, kick your boots up, and let’s discuss Bounty Star.
Story that leads the way
The story for Bounty Star revolves around an anti-hero named Clem, who has lost so much due to past mistakes, and who can’t seem to shake her guilt. Drowning in drink and sorrow, Clem is pulled back into the fray by her friend Jake, who wants to help her get her life back together, while also dousing her in a decent dose of redemption.
The story is impactful; it doesn’t pull its punches on Clem’s failures. It also casts a net of empathy with Clem’s scenario, as it’s understandable why she mentally beats herself up, which only stands to make the story better when she pulls herself back to her senses. On a narrative construct, it’s one of the better stories to be told in 2025.
Now, to help with unraveling Clem’s personal journey toward redemption, the actors who play Clem and Jake, and everyone else, sell their roles well. They bring a good understanding of the narrative and convey that through emotion, as well as how their characters would act in the above situation. They and the story keep this game from teetering on the edge of not being great. They hold down the fort and make the experience very worthwhile.
If players are looking for a good story to connect with in the gaming world, then they should take a hard look at this one.
Gameplay
Bounty Star wears a lot of hats, which make up its gameplay style. First and foremost, it’s a third-person action game, which is why players will more than likely find it on their consoles. Anytime you can throw in a customizable mech fighting game that is backed with a good story, well, that is just a good time waiting for you.
The mech action in Bounty Star begins with customization of the player’s mech. This harkens back to the old Mechwarrior days, where you go on missions, collect bounties, and then upgrade your mech to make it more entertaining in future fights. Bounty Star takes that same path, as it uses customization of the mech to motivate the player to continue playing the missions, which vary in size and stature. We’ll get to that gameplay element in a minute, but for now, the customization is broken into weapons, defense, and various other goodies that the mech can acquire and wear. Each piece and part can help dictate how a mission is handled, which means players will continually visit this option prior to each bounty they accept. The gameplay element in this category goes deep and does create a sizable amount of motivation to play missions repeatedly.
Now, the missions in the game are a bit mundane. While the game does its best to make the bounties interesting, providing small backstories about the criminals Clem takes down, while introducing new faces to Clem’s new life, the actual gameplay is slow and methodical at times. Moving the mech around can be a slog, which, I mean, if you’re dealing with giant hunks of metal, that’s understandable. The slog comes with the actual battle elements of the game, where players are thrown into confined bounty areas to take on drones, useless humans on the ground, and massive mechs. The latter of which is what makes the battles challenging, but doesn’t last long enough to feel like a complete meal.
My biggest issue with the missions in this game, main or side, is that it feels like enemies don’t take long to bring down. Outside of a main quest, the sides are short drops that take longer to prepare for than to fight. And those side quests can feel very repetitive at times, which can make the game a bit blah at times. The main missions are different, as they drive the story, but the sides are throwaways most of the time and are just a means to an end, with earning money.
Anyhoo, after each mission, players are rated on bounty requirements/options, such as killing or capturing criminals, and how much they put into the mission versus what they got out of it. In addition, missions also have side-goals to them, which could be as simple as a time limit to complete or the destruction of objects that don’t matter too much to the story. The side missions vary, but also add money to the total reward by the end.
While the fighting is interesting, the story still takes a front seat in the journey, as well as Clem’s home and mech customization. The customization aspect of this game is deep and slightly more motivating than completing missions. For example, the game begins with Clem putting together a workbench. That workbench requires material that can be purchased through the open market in her world. You can only get those materials by working through bounties and earning money. It’s all connected.
Once materials are gathered, Clem can then use them to build a workbench. Once that workbench is completed, Clem can then purchase other blueprints for weapons, mech goodies, or even a griddle for food to create on that workbench. The game pushes customization hard from the get-go and doesn’t let up throughout the gameplay journey, which will certainly keep players hooked and make them forgive the repetitiveness of the missions.
I enjoyed the crafting and customization portion of this game more than I thought I might. I feel like the game is built on this backbone, even though it masquerades as a mech fighting game. It relies on the bounties and fighting to push this agenda forward, which can hook a player’s attention quite easily and have them put together a customized mech and homestead for Clem as she goes through her redemption arc. It’s a lasting gameplay element that is designed and executed quite well. It’s almost a dark, cozy game in that respect.
Anyway, customization and crafting are the core elements, outside of the overall story, that make Bounty Star a very solid gameplay experience. At the very least, it will keep players glued to the game and addicted to its effort/reward system without realizing the hum-drum fighting going on.
All the above said, Bounty Star is worth your time and effort. It’s yet another narrative-driven game that you won’t soon forget from publisher Annapurna Interactive. They know what a good story looks like, and Bounty Star prominently features that element.
On that sweet note, let’s wrap up this review.
Conclusion
Bounty Star from developer DINOGOD and publisher Annapurna Interactive is a lot of different things. It’s a narrative-driven game that features a heavy amount of customization and crafting. All of which goes through mech fighting, which might be the weakest part of the entire package.
