Common Sense Media Review
By Marc Saltzman
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Stellar sci-fi VR shooter blasts off with fast-paced action.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
Videos and Photos
From Other Suns
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's It About?
FROM OTHER SUNS is an action space game that focuses on a crew of people who recently tested an experimental "folding drive" to travel beyond the fringes of explored space. The plan was to return safely, receive a big payout, and retire happily ever after on a small colony. As you might expect, this isn't to be, as something malevolent has followed you back on the return trip. Your goal is to make it back to Earth before an ancient alien wipes out everything in its way. Much of the first-person action is handled by combat against a slew of enemies -- including aliens, pirates, and robots -- using stockpiled weapons, along with the ability to customize these arms. You'll also be tasked with collecting scrap (the currency in the game) and fuel, upgrading your guns (with more than 2,000 variations), negotiating with merchants, servicing your ship (which you need to do in real-time, often while battling!), engaging in ship-to-ship battles, and keeping your non-player character (NPC) crew alive. Along with the single-player game, From Other Suns features cooperative ("co-op") gameplay, built for three-player drop-in action.
Is It Any Good?
This is a fun and challenging first-person action game and spaceship simulation rolled into one that Oculus Rift owners really need to add to their collection. As you'll soon find out, if you run out of NPC crew members, it's game over. This will happen a lot, and there's no way to adjust the difficulty level, but be aware that a running tally of achievements allows you to work toward unlocking powerful weapons and better ships, which helps you progress on each subsequent playthrough. What's more, starting over won't feel like déjà vu, because From Other Suns features a randomized universe, so no two games are the same. Also, captains that are having a bit of trouble in space can discover that they might live longer if they hop into multiplayer and choose some skilled teammates to battle alongside them. This is particularly important because combat is fast and frenetic, so if your aim isn't the best, you might want someone backing you up in battle.
While this little gem is well worth the price of admission ($39), there are a few small issues, like getting stuck in environmental objects, AI-based crew members that get mowed down too easily at times, and some inventory management challenges. Also, locations tend to seem flat and don't have the amount of detail and interactivity as those in other games (e.g., there are objects you can see but can't touch). But overall, From Other Suns is super fun -- especially with friends -- and highly recommended for teenage Oculus Rift owners.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about violence in video games. Is violence in a sci-fi game more acceptable because it's clearly fantasy? Is a virtual reality game with combat worse because it's that much more realistic?
Talk about space exploration. Do you think we'll manage to explore the stars, or is that really something that's just based in science fiction? Why or why not?
Game Details
- Platform : Oculus Rift
- Pricing structure : Paid
- Available online? : Available online
- Publisher : Gunfire Games
- Release date : November 16, 2017
- Genre : Action/Adventure
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic ) , Adventures , Pirates , Robots , STEM
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
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