Starlink’s Toys Are Finished, But The Game Is Getting Bigger Next Week

Free and paid updates are coming to Ubisoft’s uneven sci-fi game Starlink on April 30, just in time to deliver on the promise of a big update this month.

The update, called Crimson Moon, was detailed yesterday in a trailer that shows signs of life for the young Ubisoft game that just recently had its accompanying toy line discontinued.

The free part of the update will add racing challenges, a combat arena, some sort of enemy hunt and new weekly challenges. That’ll all be available on the PS4, Xbox One, Switch and newly announced PC version, the last of which is also coming out on April 30.

The paid part of the update will let players buy some new pilots and ships. Switch players will also be able to pay for the chance to play the game as Star Fox characters Peppy, Slippy and Falco and go on new missions to hunt down franchise enemies Pigma, Leon and Andrew. Australian pricing hasn’t yet been revealed, but in the US it will cost $US12 ($17).

That price and even the fact that there is paid DLC is a surprise, given that the announcement of the new content during a recent Nintendo Direct only described it as being part of the game’s April “update”. It’s unclear how robust the mission content will be and, therefore, what that money really gets players.

Starlink was a frustrating mix when it launched last year.

It looked great and offered a sort of hand-crafted take on the No Man’s Sky experience of flying a spaceship seamlessly from the surface of one planet out into space and then onto another wild planet. It was full of enemies to fight both on land and in outer space, but its combat and discovery loops weren’t varied enough and burnt out many players, including our reviewer, before completion.

A free update in December added a few more enemy types and challenges but failed to free the game of its grindy nature.

The April update is another chance for Ubisoft to make Starlink as sensational as it seemed like it could be in its stronger moments.

The Star Fox content is also worth being cautiously optimistic about, as the sprinkling of Star Fox missions in the main game, during which players controlled Fox but could summon Peppy, Falco and Slippy as allies, were fun and consistent with a franchise Nintendo has otherwise done little with.

Overall, the Star Fox elements of Starlink were some of the best parts of the game.

We’ll have impressions of the April update as soon as we can play it.