App Army Assemble: Dexter Stardust: Adventures in Outer Space - "Should you join this sci-fi journey?"

Dexter Stardust: Adventures in Outer Space is a sci-fi point-and-click adventure that follows the titular character through five episodes. It sports a lovely aesthetic that feels simultaneously new and retro. But, of course, looks aren't everything. How good is the game itself? We handed it over to our App Army to see what they thought.

Here's what they said:

Eduard Pandele

Do you like Lucas Arts' old-school point-and-click adventures, Futurama and retro sci-fi movies? Do you want to get away from the current climate apocalypse for at least a few hours? Well, then, I guess you'll love this. Unless you want your puzzles hard as nails - because pretty much the only thing I disliked in this game was that the puzzles were more on the easy side, and the difficulty came more from squinting at the screen to find the items you needed in an inventory that becomes quite crowded.

The interface is perfect for mobile (tap onscreen; if that area/item is interactive, you'll see the options you have). The humour was good, too (although the obsession with Mexican food was a little grating after a while). Overall, a fun, funny and refreshing game that's (amazingly) made by a single guy. Labour of love? Yes, and it shows. Go play this now and maybe we'll get to go through more space adventures

Oksana Ryan

This is one of the best puzzle/point-and-click games I’ve played in a while. It has a good storyline, though I thought the chapters were a little short, and the simple mechanics of the game made it easy to play. The gameplay is straight forward and it took no time to get used to it. The graphics are colourful and imaginative, with a comic book look to them and together with the good voice actors, they make the game very enjoyable. The puzzles are typical point and click and although not overly difficult, they offer enough of a challenge to keep me entertained. All in all a game I’d definitely recommend.

Mark Abukoff

A really refreshing point-and-click sci-fi adventure/romp. Interesting and quirky characters. Lots of taco love. Dashboard hula girl. Lots of fun sci-fi locations. Fun and not too difficult puzzles. The graphics look good. The music reminded me of Pulp Fiction, which is always a winner for me. Voice acting was appealing. The controls are simple and work just fine. There’s a fresh spirit and sense of fun that sets this apart from lots of others in the genre. Plus plenty of gameplay to look forward to. Happily recommend.

Bruno Ramalho

Well, I thought the smaller screen would be a problem, but no worries there, everything point and clicked just perfectly. I’m a fan of point-and-click adventures, since The Secret of Monkey Island times, and Dexter is quite nice I must say. Good cheeky humour, some breaking of the fourth wall on some jokes and the puzzles are enjoyable and not very difficult. There’s a lot of walking back and forth to get all the items/answers that we need to go forward, but it’s all in good fun.

The voices are quite nice, especially Dexter, and only found a strangeness to the girl's voice, but it grows on you. A sci-fi story is always a nice touch, and one gets curious to know what comes next. The touch controls work very well and had no problems finding things to interact with in each scene. I even liked the first episode, which is very short and works like a tutorial for people that aren’t familiar with point-and-clicks. Nice touch overall. I really enjoyed this one. Just like watching an animated movie, Bravo!

Adam Plur Cook

Dexter Stardust graphically is an absolute beauty to behold! This is a very well-animated game that flows along really nicely. With smooth transitions from cutscene to gameplay, Dexter stardust takes you on a logic-filled journey through space, with an immersive story and the simplest controls we’ve come to expect from a good point-and-click game.

I have to say this is one of my more favoured games of the genre in recent years! How playable is it you wonder? I couldn’t help but play through all 5 episodes (including bonus episode #0) in just 2 sittings. Overall the game was a hit with fun little puzzles and great comic relief. 8/10 would recommend it, if you’re someone who wants a point-and-click game with old-school feeling but with new-school graphics then this is the game for you!

Jim Linford

I’m really liking this game overall. It has a nice atmosphere to it. A kind of 1950 space adventure style game mixed with Star Wars, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Futurama. The voice acting is a bit ropey but it works. While I love the idea of these games in theory, sooner or later the internal logic of the game throws me for a loop.

There have been a few times where this has happened to me. But I think it’s just my lack of experience in these types of games I admit I’m not a point-and-click vet. But it’s not frustrating. Also, the logic to the puzzles is just logical. The controls work nicely.

Move your finger around and any items/people you can interact with will show a menu with four different ways you can interact with them. Each screen is small enough so you can pick up on what you need to collect or interact with. Music is good for the game and I can tell a lot of love and effort has gone into this.

The story is good with the world-building and the cutscenes they have. I’m really loving it. As a fan of sci-fi, I don’t know how complex or simple the game's difficulty is overall as I am not a point-and-click expert. I’m still early into it. But it definitely has hooked me in. I’d give this a recommendation.

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