I liked the resource management aspect, and having to balance the input and output flow of hydrogen. Learning about the game mechanics and structures was difficult due to not know how to achieve the goal. From the instructions on the title screen, I knew that keeping the hydrogen flow rate within the white zone was "good", but I didn't know that I needed to keep it within a specific region of that white zone in order to grow the star in a meaningful manner. I did notice that the star's image in the list would glow when I'm in the right zone, but I didn't initially catch on. A tutorial process during the first stage that explains the hydrogen flow mechanic, as well as adding more distinct zones within the hydrogen flow bar to indicate what would cause stable growth/decay would help prime new players on how to grow the star to the next stage.
The UI was very informative, though it felt extremely cluttered along the right-hand side, as the build queue window and celestial bodies list are always visible. Having the option to click on a planet to select them to be actioned on in addition to clicking them on the list would be helpful, especially when having to deal with critically low/high hydrogen flow rates.
Adding to this, managing flow rates across multiple planets is hampered by having to wait a few seconds after selecting a planet. This can become a problem when experiencing under/over flow as the 10 seconds you have to adjust the flow rate is eaten up by waiting for the bars to appear for the corresponding planet and waiting to see how the adjustment has affected the flow rate. It would be nice to have the control bars for a planet's planet crackers be visible immediately after selecting them.
Outside of critical flow rates, it felt rather therapeutic when you achieve a stable rate of growth through managing each celestial body's output. With the random events, it was fun to switch from a steady pace to a frantically micromanaging structures to prevent failure. The game state did seem to stall, as I wasn't sure how to acquire antimatter to build any of the late game structures like the Star Lifter. Is antimatter acquisition tied to an event?
The music is fitting for the setting, and it was ambient enough that it didn't grate on my ears after a while.
Overall, the core concept is there, and I enjoyed what is available after figuring out how hydrogen flow works. I think needs a little more polishing up.
A resource-management game about revitalising a dying star.