Auralux: Constellations

The first Auralux stayed on my phone forever. It's one of the best strategy games for the iPhone because of the deceiving simplicity of the concept. I say deceiving because there's nothing simple about the strategies you have to come up with in order to beat the game. It scratches the same itch as chess or Starcraft. This second installment of the Auralux game series is better because the "DLC" style levels that you can purchase introduce new game dynamics that have been sparingly yet thoughtfully worked into level design. I dropped $10 to unlock them all and have not regretted it for an instant. I've been playing these levels exclusively for over a week, and I've barely made a dent in playing through all the content.

Now I don’t know if it’s just me but I’m logged into Game Center and this game refuses to keep progress, resetting every time when I close the app to preserve battery. This loss of progress is absolutely heartbreaking since I’ve completed every level in the Pegasus constellation over nine times total(not including replay before reset). And I’ve managed to reach top 10 in the leaderboards on several occasions but I reset and I lose that progress. Again, I don’t know if it’s just me or if other people are having this problem but it’s hurting the excitement of completing a constellation when you know you’ll just have to do it again. There aren’t any in-game bugs I’ve experienced when it comes to actual game play and I’m perfectly fine with it since this is a continuation of Auralux, one of my favorite strategy games on mobile that doesn’t require constant log-ins and base building(specifically looking at you Clash of Clans) and it’s because of that freedom to do whatever, whenever that I love both of these games and the creators. Thanks to everyone who’s helped build these games, I’ve lost countless hours having fun because of you!

Great game but you only get 1.5 constellations free and then have to buy each individual one after that. Make the game free and put adds on the bottom or something where they wouldn’t be bothersome or in the way. I think people would be fine with that. Even make the game cost $2 up front but the way you have to buy each level is a bad set up. Other than that this game is truly a masterpiece. Simple and beautiful. Full of strategy and planning. Many upgrades and improvements compared to the first version which was also fantastic btw. Great job just please change the way the payments are set up or make it free with ads. Honestly idk if I’d pay for it (I know a lot of people would tho, that’s just me) but I think you might make more off of ads cuz more people are willing to do that then pay for a game. I would make the first two constellations ad free and then incorporate them w/ constellations 3+ but offer an ad free version for $1-$2. One of my favorite games tho, plenty of replay value.

I really enjoy this game, but I have to say I'm rather frustrated at the pricing. I'm not sure who thought it would be a good idea to charge per constellation, but it completely feels like you're milking me for every nickel you can get. I would have happily bought this game at $5, as I imagine many would, but as it's priced, it's either $10 or $20 if you buy each constellation individually. No. I'm sorry, no. Know your market. This is not a $10 game, it is certainly not a $20 game. Whoever is proving this doesn't seem to understand basic economics. You are going to get FAR more people purchasing this at $5, then what you would ever generate at your current price points. I would love to purchase the game in full, I've already bought 2 constellations, but I won't on principle, until the price is dropped. If you can by a game on steam with 5,000 hours of development for $10, one has to wonder who came up with this insane pricing structure. Again, great game, terrible price.

I was a fan of the original, and was reminded of it when I saw someone else playing on the subway. When installed Constellations, initially I was disappointed that it seems to be just a visual upgrade to the original, with an online mode. Then I realized that each of the constellations had its own new element, which change strategies dramatically. It's a huge upgrade to the original with a lot of interesting gameplay. Unfortunately it seems the online mode isn't broadly used, possibly because people are scared away by the high price for the full game ($10 at time of review). The price is high for this game and I would encourage the developers to make this a $5 game which would (I think) more than double the number of sales and increase the number of people using the online mode.