Expert level guide – Steam Solo

Overview

This guide will NOT be about the basic game mechanics, for which there already exist numerous guides here on Steam and elsewhere, but it will provide techniques and stategies required for the “endgame phase” of Starseed Pilgrim.As this obviously implies massive spoilers, I recommend to NOT READ THIS GUIDE BEFORE YOU HAVEN’T EXPLORED THE WHOLE INGAME WORLD YET!What I mean by “endgame phase”: The 10 different three-key door challenges. Note that I will focus on how to even reach these challenges with each of the 10 different pilgrims, because that is the most difficult part in my opinion. The challenges themselves are quite self-explanatory and should mostly be accomplished within not more than 3 attempts.

The pilgrims

Let’s first discuss the properties of the 10 different pilgrims and how we can employ these properties to advantage. They are ordered by easy to hard (in my personal opinion):

Pilgrim

Property

Advantage

Pink

We can harvest a whole connected structure of pink columns by digging into it once. We can only foresee a single seed (instead of 3). (Thanks to Mr. n in the comments.)

By digging sideways into a (possibly very high) pink column we can harvest it completely even if we are not able to jump onto it. This way we can harvest a massive amount of seeds, especially if we plant pink seeds at a safe place where they are not reached immediately by the void!

Black

We can jump onto “black blocks” (the void) without being swallowed by them. We can only enter the void by being trapped (e.g. with a “red bomb”).

The black void surrounding the stars is much broader in this level which makes it easier to build a network between three keys and a three-key door.

Olive green

We can only jump 2 blocks high on each type of block.

We can also jump 2 blocks high on the olive-green block (instead of 1), which means that we can at least jump onto a block that is 1 block higher than our current level! (This is normally not possible on the olive-green block.)

Green

Green blocks have several “sprouts” (instead of just one), which sprout concurrently and lead to much more green blocks. Moreover, we can foresee 5 (instead of 3) seeds.

Since there are much more green blocks, there are also much more hearts. After entering the void, we can harvest lots of seeds (provided that we planted a decent amount of green seeds).

Dark cyan (the initial pilgrim)

Blocks as well as the void are expanding very slowly.

We have more time to plan our next actions.

Blue

We can jump 6 instead of 4 blocks high.

We can wait longer until harvesting pink columns and are in general more flexible concerning heights.

Light blue

All connected blocks of one color turn into light-blue blocks after planting a light-blue seed into one of them. Moreover, we can only foresee two seeds.

We can slightly slow down expansion of the void if we plant a light-blue seed into red/orange blocks. Note that light-blue blocks are never fully swallowed by the void, so one could build “indestructible bridges” this way.

Purple

We cannot dig into blocks of any color except pink. We can’t even trigger red blocks without planting another seed into them (or waiting until they are swallowed by the void).

The black void is expanding very slowly.

Red

We dig two blocks deep and one block to the side (relative to the first digged block).

Orange

Blocks as well as the void are expanding very fast.

? (We have less time to plan our actions and must react much faster -> more of a disadvantage; we also cannot use an orange seed as “elevator” and expanding orange blocks “destroy” stars, instead of stopping before them)

I want to point out that the orange level was by far the hardest for me in terms of reaching the three-key door challenge, much harder than any other level.
If you noticed any (further) advantages of a certain seed, please let me know in the comments, I will consider to add them in this table.

General techniques and strategies

1. BUILD PURPLE WALLS: Purple blocks are swallowed very slowly by the void. Leverage this property by building “walls” with purple blocks, thus creating kind of “separate” areas. Make sure that the purple walls are not bypassed by blocks of another color or “grey” matter (which remains from digged blocks). Try to plant pink seeds only in the “new” area and “abandon” the “old” area which will be swallowed first by the void.
2. RED BLOCKS: When planting red blocks, try to avoid that they destroy purple walls and green blocks with hearts when “exploding”. Remember that a triggered red block will expand 3 blocks to each side and 2 blocks diagonally. You can also use this property for time-delayed exploration of stars and three-key doors: Compute how far the red block has to be placed away from a star/door, so that the star is not “swallowed” by the explosion, but there will be a direct connection after the explosion. Then go on with exploring other stars/doors and let the black void do the rest for you. This way, you can avoid a “new” area from being “infected” by the black void emerging from this star/door.
3. PRESERVE ACCESSIBILITY OF YOUR EXPLORATION POINT: When going back from your last exploration point in order to harvest a pink column, for example, make sure that you will be able to jump back to it afterwards. By default you can jump 4 blocks high (i.e. overcome a column of 3 blocks). You may have to dig some blocks away in order to ensure that there is no column higher than 3 blocks relative to each jumping point.
4. EXPLORING DOWNWARDS: I find it much harder to explore downwards than upwards or sideways in Starseed Pilgrim, but it might be necessary sometimes, because there is the only three-key door in sight. The only seeds which really help you to explore downwards, appear to be the red seed and, of course, the olive-green seed. The red block can be used by digging downwards into it after having triggered the explosion. The best way to go downwards is by jumping onto the “cross” that is built by the olive-green blocks when expanding downwards. However, make sure that your future seeds make it possible to explore further. (Example: If your next seed is a blue one and the seed after is again an olive-green seed, then you are doomed, because the blue seed will change into an olive-green seed and one cannot plant olive-green seeds into olive-green blocks!)
5. GATHER AS MANY SEEDS AS POSSIBLE BEFORE ENTERING THE VOID AND THE THREE-KEY DOOR CHALLENGES: This is a pretty obvious advice. Remember that in (most) three-key door challenges, there is no way to gain seeds, so you have to beat them with the seeds you gathered before entering. Some challenges require specific seeds, so if you do not want to rely on luck, you should at least enter with more than 10, better more than 20 seeds. Note that you can gather seeds by harvesting pink columns before entering the void, as well as by gathering hearts from green blocks inside the void.

With these techniques it depends much less on luck when reaching for three-key door challenges. If you miss something, please let me know in the comments!

The three-key door challenges & final remark

As I mentioned in the overview of this guide, I do not consider the challenges themselves as much of a problem, so I also don’t want to talk about them. The hardest part is even reaching them under the circumstances of each level. Moreover, I consider the challenges as the “highlights” in Starseed Pilgrim, you should not spoil them for yourself by reading a guide like this. Just as a rule of thumb: Avoid the void (no pun intended ^^) and if the void is chasing you, explore as fast as you can by planting the next seed (regardless of what color) as soon as the previous one is fully expanded.

One last advice: Starseed Pilgrim requires a lot of patience. Ultimately it reveals its puzzle game character. If you lost your patience, have a break. I can speak from experience that a break helps a lot. 😉

In case you wonder: There will be the possibility for a “game end” after you have beaten all challenges. (You may want to backup your savegame before triggering this game end!) Now, go get it! 🙂

Starseed Pilgrim Guide

Overview

The pilgrims

General techniques and strategies

The three-key door challenges & final remark