Astra Bestiary Steam: Pixel Monster Taming RPG From Eggs

Astra Bestiary (Steam). Hover for a Voidge draft sketch inspired by the header key art.

Astra Bestiary is a 2D monster taming RPG on Steam where every partner starts life as an egg. You hatch it, feed it, train it and watch it grow into a Champion, then you climb on its back and ride it across a ruined, non linear world. It is a creature collector with real attachment built in, and the pixel art is honestly gorgeous.

It is made by Bicho Feo, a solo developer who self published the game. Astra Bestiary launched on November 3, 2026, App ID 3529090, on Windows, macOS and Linux. It costs US$19.99. When I checked on the morning of November 14 (BRT), Steam showed 95% of 20 user reviews as positive, a Positive rating, and the dev shared on X that the game passed 1000 copies sold two days after launch.

What Astra Bestiary actually is

The setup is a lost civilization called Yselion. You fill a bestiary, a tome of forgotten lore about the creatures that once lived alongside its people, and every entry pulls you closer to the truth behind a fallen empire and the Beasts now roaming its ruins. The Steam page promises over 150 fully animated Beasts, a vast, untamed open world and the legendary Star Trials as the big test.

The store tags tell you the flavor fast: Creature Collector, JRPG, Turn Based Combat, Open World, Pixel Graphics and Perma Death. That last one matters, and I will get to it. One creator on X called it nostalgic for Digimon World fans, which tracks: raising, caring and evolving is the main loop, and fights are where you prove the raising paid off.

Astra Bestiary (Steam). Hover for a Voidge draft sketch inspired by the egg hatching screenshot.

From egg to Champion

Raising is the heart of it. Each Beast follows its own path shaped by your choices and care, and the store asks the fun question: will your companion grow into a ruthless Tyrant, a noble Monarch or a cunning Archon? The bestiary screenshots show that branching as a little family tree, a Whelp growing into a Drake and then splitting into Tyrant, Monarch and Archon, with question marks hiding the forms you have not found yet.

Stats are named with personality: Ferocity, Tenacity, Cunning, Agility and Stamina, and a level up card lists new skills and new traits. Achievements like All Grown Up, Unlikely Evolution and Living Legend hint at how deep the evolution chase goes. There is also a camp with an idle mode where you can just watch your Beasts chill, which is the cutest way to take a break I have seen in a while.

Ride every adult Beast

Here is the hook that sold me. Every adult Beast can be ridden. The screenshots show your tamer on the overworld with prompts to Mount and Dismount, plus field skills on the bottom bar like Torch, Freeze, Bolt, Acid and Soar. So evolving a partner is not only a stat bump, it changes how you explore: light up a dark cave, freeze a path, fly over the map.

The world is open and the store is upfront that one wrong step can put you in front of something far more dangerous than you expected. A quest journal with a map tells you where to go next, and a little calendar in the corner tracks month and year, which fits a game about generations.

Astra Bestiary (Steam). Hover for a Voidge draft sketch inspired by the battle screenshot.

Fast tactical battles

Fights are fast paced and tactical. Your Beasts protect you, and you pick the right skill at the right time. The battle menu lives inside an open parchment book with Fight, Beast Eyes, Items and Escape, and the screenshots show squads of three facing wild Beasts or whole trainer teams. Star Trials run as challenge rounds against named opponents like a Veteran Ranger and a Treasure Hunter. Battle and camp both have speed options, so grinding never has to drag.

If you liked the tile battles and bug collecting in Insectile, this is the bigger, darker cousin, with mounts and a whole life cycle.

Death is not the end

The most interesting idea is the cycle. Beasts pass away, and the power they earned lives on inside mysterious orbs that other Beasts can absorb. The store calls it an endless flow of hearts and souls, and the next generation grows stronger. There is an achievement literally called Inheritance. It turns losing a partner from a fail state into a story beat, and honestly that is a brave choice for a cute looking game.

The pixel art up close

Okay, the look. This is hand drawn pixel art with real weight. The Beasts have chunky silhouettes, spikes, crests and shells that read in one glance, and the animation sells every hit. The palette does a lot of work: battle backdrops shift from blue canyons to burning red skies to icy caves, while the UI is all warm parchment and gold trim, like you are reading the bestiary as you play. The egg and evolution scenes float in a deep teal starfield, which gives the raising moments a quiet, almost cosmic mood. If crisp pixel work is your thing, our look at Okko The Exiled is a nice pairing on the action side.

What our clip shows

Three takes cut from the official Release Trailer, with its own audio. First, a tamer riding a Beast across a pink and teal overworld by the water. Second, a Star Trials arena where Agnyvern takes on two Magnaraske and absorbs the power of another Beast. Third, a stone arena duel that ends in a big red and gold special attack. No logo cards, just the game.

Open the clip on X if the embed does not load. Cut from the official Astra Bestiary release trailer.

Price, platforms and what to know

Astra Bestiary costs US$19.99. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, with full controller support (DualShock and DualSense listed), Steam Cloud, 30 Steam Achievements and Family Sharing. The developer lists it as Steam Deck compatible; Valve had not posted its own Deck rating at check time. Extras include character customization, toggleable key hints and 3 save slots. Languages: English, Spanish (Spain and Latin America), French, Italian, German and Portuguese (Brazil).

The Steam page carries no content descriptors and no AI content disclosure. To be upfront, the purple hover sketches on this page are Voidge drafts made with AI image generation, not art from the game.

Who makes Astra Bestiary?

Bicho Feo is a solo developer, and the game appeared on November lists of new Spanish indie releases. On X, @AstraBestiary (around 1.4k followers) celebrates milestones, thanks players for reviews and reposts the creators and streamers covering the game.

Bottom line: if you want a creature collector where raising actually means something, Astra Bestiary is a strong pick. Hatch the egg, ride the dragon, then let it go and carry its power forward. That cycle stuck with me.

Image credits & rights

Images on this page are hotlinks from the official Steam page, used with respect for their copyright.

• Astra Bestiary on Steam
• Bicho Feo (@AstraBestiary) on X
• Header key art and screenshots by Bicho Feo. Sources remain on the Steam CDN for app 3529090. Voidge hosts only purple draft sketches for hover and fallback, plus the short blog clip.