‘Starseed Pilgrim’ – A Walkthrough Guide And Tips For The Lost And Weary

There are a lot of players out there who would argue that the best part of Starseed Pilgrim is the fact that you have to literally learn the game, before you can even start progressing. Without knowing what the heck you’re doing, players are forced into a trial-and-error dance that some find extremely rewarding…and I can completely understand why. However, if you’re like me, and gaming time is limited, you don’t really want to spend the hour-plus it tales (took me a little over an hour, and I don’t mean to brag but, I’m pretty damn smart) to figure out the game mechanics, before the game actually becomes “fun”. Trial-and-error enthusiast, note the quotation marks, —save the hate.

The first half of this article is spoiler-free, and is just a handful of tips for time-limited gamers, looking to get into the actual game that Starseed Pilgrim is built around. The second half functions as a walkthrough to get the Pilgrim-weary on their feet, providing them with a firm grasp of the game’s mechanics. Quite honestly, telling someone how to play the game shouldn’t even be considered a spoiler…but the game as a whole (as of 3ish hours in) is simplistic enough that actually learning the controls have been about a quarter of the full experience. So bear that in mind as you continue on reading.

Some Spoiler-Free Tips For Starseed Pilgrim –

• You take no fall damage. However, if you fall off of the screen, you will die even if there is a platform somewhere below you. Essentially, if it’s not on the screen, it doesn’t exist . There are two ways around this: 1.) The screen adjusts a bit as you move in any general direction, so if there is a lower ledge nearby try to get to that so the screen will drop down a bit and potentially reveal the lower area you are trying to reach, and 2.) If you are in the “shadow void” and have an extra seed to spare, holding “Spacebar” will bubble the little dude, allowing him to slowly float down, safely.
• There are no penalties for dying, besides simply wasting your time and having to start again.
• Each seed/block has their own purpose. Some help you expand and others provide utilities. Experiment, and have a notepad handy to help keep track of what you find out.
• Just getting to the stars will trap you, and you’ll have to reset by holding the “h” key. Make sure you grow a path that allows you to escape.
• Keep in mind that some plants leave helpful remnants when the “shadow void” is triggered. A smart player will carefully place these plants, to be along the exit route.

Time-Saving Starseed Pilgrim Beginner’s Walkthrough –

Ok, so essentially the premise of Starseed Pilgrim is to collect seeds inside each “level” and then escape the level to return to the main-hub area to plant the seeds and expand to the other levels scattered randomly throughout the endless white background. The “levels” in the main-hub are on gray, floating platforms. To enter each level the player simply walks to the entrance (a uniquely marked tile), hits the down arrow, and they drop into the level.

Once you drop into the level, you’ll immediately notice an ominous looking void at the bottom of the platform you’re on top of. This void slowly gnaws away at the tiles, so you have to act relatively quickly, to plant the seeds and expand in search of a star. Pressing Spacebar will drop a seed into the tile your character is standing ontop of, and depending on what kind of seed it is, a number of things will happen:

Pink seeds grow pink heart cubes, which slowly grow up. These cubes can be destroyed and will drop a random type of seed.

Green seeds grow green plant-like cubes which occasionally contain small heart-fruit. These fruit come in handy a bit later, I’ll come back to them.

Orange seeds sprout fast growing shoots that grow either left, up, or right, depending on where they are placed. If planted next to an edge, they will grow out the side, if planted into a tile that is sandwiched between two other tiles, the shoot will grow upwards.

Snot-Green seeds grow sticky vines that will grow horizontally and drape off ledges, forming upside-down crosses where they freely hang. The vines are sticky, so when standing on them, your jump ability is limited.

Light Blue seeds are quick-growing ice-crystal things, that simple pop up into a “+” shape.

Dark Blue seeds grow a dark blue block that when standing on, greatly increases the character’s jumping ability.

Purple seeds grow in like a castle wall-shape and have the ability to temporarily slow down the encroaching void.

Players must simply plant the seeds they are given, and construct a pathway to a star cube. The star cubes are randomly placed, so players must branch outward and explore. When a star cube is found, take care not to jump into it or touch it, as it will trigger the shadow void and invert the level’s platforms (your plants become empty space, and the white space turns to solid black space for the player to walk on. So in short, players plant a path, and then activate the shadow void, grab the star (which turns into a key) and then make it to the exit.

When the void mode is engaged, all of the heart fruit spawned from the green plants, will turn into heart seeds, that the player can collect on their way out of the level. Upon exiting the void mode, players are dropped back into the hub world, where they are then free to plant the seeds they just collected, and attempt to spread out to other levels. Each level features a different starseed pilgrim (at least that’s what I call them), that offers a different ability or a slight mechanic tweak.

Starseed Pilgrim takes patience to learn, but once you figure out what is to be done…it is a pretty challenging pick-up-and-play game. Expect a full review, soon.

Starseed Pilgrim is now available on Steam.