Ubisoft Charge Real Money For Continues In Starlink: Battle For Atlas

Though it's at risk of being buried by other high-profile releases like SoulCalibur VI and the mighty Red Dead Redemption 2, Starlink: Battle for Atlas is Ubisoft's attempt to roll together No Man's Sky's space exploration and planet-scanning with Destiny-style combat and a Saturday morning cartoon story.

So far, so phenomenal, and the game itself plays supremely well indeed.

However, there's a nefarious business practice at the heart of this toys-to-life experience, and I found out first hand just how money-hungry Ubisoft are being with this particular release.

So, the game comes in three versions: a physical £70 Starter Edition comprising a real-life spaceship toy to clip onto your controller, 3 weapons and 1 pilot. The Digital Edition though, houses 4 ships, 6 pilots and 12 weapons, also for £70 (seeing where I'm going with this?), and the £90 Digital Deluxe Edition gets you all 5 ships, 9 pilots and 15 weapons. These prices are for PS4 and Xbox One, but they remain the same on Switch, except you get Star Fox and his Arwing ship for no extra cost.

The difference between the versions is immediate, and besides the fact additional weapons for the physical edition run for £10 for another two (yes, really), here's where it gets really weird:

In Starlink, a continue or "life" is tied to your ship. If you die in combat or at any point in a mission, you're asked to connect another spaceship to respawn and keep going. In the Starter Edition on PS4 and Xbox One though... you only have the one ship.

Additional ships are sold separately, either in-game or for another £25 to keep your real-world collection going.

It's rather insulting.

If you're on PS4 or Xbox One, you get one life per mission, boss battle or anything else, and on Switch you get two (the starter ship, plus Star Fox's Arwing).

Now, upon a character's death, you can "choose" to respawn back out in space, and re-approach the mission marker to start everything over, but it's a far, FAR less palatable option than just hitting "continue" and trying again.

You have that option if you bought the Digital Edition or splashed out on additional ships, physical or otherwise, but if you only bought the Starter kit? That's one life for the entire game, and only three weapons to use over and over for its duration.

All of this is so bizarre too, because Starlink is such a blast to play. The sad thing is I can't help but think someone cooking the books at Ubisoft realised they could segment the various parts of the game - the weapons, the lives - across physical accessories, as well as a pay-to-win microtransaction store. Parents who haven't done the research will likely get suckered into buying a huge amount of gear, just to facilitate a more palatable experience.

In an example scenario, once a child (or anyone) has bought the Starter Pack, the additional weapons, pilots and continues are a given necessity, just to have a better time with the game. Yes, you CAN get through on one life and three weapons, but it's a manufactured slog, designed to usher you into paying the problem away.

At least, it is if you go physical - which is the whole hook of the game.

For now, it's ludicrous how much better value for money the Digital Editions are (though even then, the full suite of weapons is only available for a stupid £90), so consider this article a warning if you were in any way inclined to play.

I've ended up going with the mid-tier Digital Edition, but it's certainly not for everyone.