LifeSim
Play

Updated November 9, 2026

Whispers from the Star: the Stella AI game explained

Whispers from the Star is an AI game where you talk to Stella by voice. See how it works, the price, platforms, length, endings and reviews.

Lifesim, Inc.

What is Whispers from the Star?

Whispers from the Star is an AI game where you talk to Stella. She is a student who is stranded on an alien planet. You talk to her with your voice or by text, and an AI writes her answers.

The studio Anuttacon made the game. It came out on Steam for Windows on August 14, 2025. An iPhone version followed in November 2025. Many players call it “the Stella game”, because Stella is the only character that you talk to.

The Steam page tells the story. Stella crashed on the planet Gaia. A communicator is her only link to other people, and you are on the other end. Your words help to decide if she lives. The game has no dialogue tree, which is a fixed list of lines to pick from. You say what you want, and Stella answers in real time.

The tagline of the game is “Your words seal her fate.” The Steam tags include Artificial Intelligence, Interactive Fiction, Voice Control and Sci-fi.

You read this on the LifeSim blog. LifeSim is our game, and it also has AI people. LifeSim is not affiliated with Anuttacon. We say where our game fits near the end, and where it does not.

How do you play Whispers from the Star?

You play Whispers from the Star by talking to Stella. Most talks are video calls, where you speak into your microphone. Some chapters are text messages, where you type.

How do the calls with Stella work?

The developer FAQ on Steam says that the video calls use voice “for immersion”. The game turns your speech into text, and the AI writes the reply. Stella then speaks the reply with a voice and a face on the screen. The screen also shows her heart rate, the temperature and the signal strength.

Between calls, a text window opens. In this window you type to Stella, as in a chat app. One player on Steam says that the game sometimes changes the words that you type.

Can you play Whispers from the Star without a microphone?

No, not fully. The Steam page says a working microphone is “recommended for the best experience”. But players in the Steam thread “I don’t have a microphone” say that the video calls need one. You can type only in the text chapters. Try the free Steam demo first to test your microphone.

Does time pass when the game is closed?

Yes, players say that it does. Stella sometimes goes offline, and a timer shows the hours until the next call. Players in the Steam discussions say the timer runs when the game is closed. They also name a slow mode and a fast mode. In the fast mode, the waits are shorter.

How do you start?

  1. Buy the game on Steam, or download the free demo.
  2. Make an Anuttacon Account. The Steam page says that the game needs one.
  3. Connect a microphone and set it as the default input in Windows.
  4. Start the game and answer the first call from Stella.
  5. Speak to her in your own words. Ask questions and give advice.

Who made Whispers from the Star?

Anuttacon made and published Whispers from the Star. Cai Haoyu founded Anuttacon. He is a co-founder of miHoYo, the company that made Genshin Impact.

The tech news site 36Kr says that Cai Haoyu stepped down as chairman of miHoYo on September 15, 2023. He founded Anuttacon in California in September 2024. KrASIA reports that about half of the Anuttacon team came from miHoYo. Outside China, miHoYo publishes its games under the name HoYoverse. That is why some news sites call Whispers from the Star a game “from the HoYoverse founder”.

The Anuttacon website calls the studio an independent research lab. It says that the lab builds AI that understands text, voice and pictures. TechNode reports that the studio calls Whispers from the Star an experimental project. The studio uses the game to test real-time talk with AI.

The first trailer came out on March 15, 2025, on the X account @404Stella. The Steam version followed five months later.

How much is Whispers from the Star, and what platforms is it on?

Whispers from the Star costs $9.99 on Steam and $4.99 on the iPhone App Store. These are the prices at the time of writing (November 2026). Prices change with sales, so check the store before you buy.

PlatformReleasePrice (US)Notes
Steam (Windows PC)August 14, 2025$9.99Free demo. Launch sale price was $7.99.
App Store (iPhone)November 2025$4.99iPhone only. iOS 16 or later, A12 chip or later.
Android, Mac, consolesNot released-No date announced in our sources.

When did the iPhone version come out?

The sources do not agree on the exact date. The App Store version history shows version 1.0 on November 13, 2025. iXBT.games reported on November 28, 2025, that the game was out on the App Store. Other sites give dates between November 22 and December 4, 2025. The App Store page also showed a 50% launch discount.

What PC do you need?

The Steam page lists Windows 10 64-bit, an Intel i5-6400 and 4 GB of RAM. The graphics card must support DirectX 12 and H.265 video. The recommended card is an Nvidia GTX 1060 or an AMD RX 5500. You need 6 GB of free space and a broadband connection. The developer FAQ says that the game was not made for Steam Deck, but players can run it there.

What languages does it have?

At launch, the game was in English only. The developer FAQ promised subtitles in a later update. The Steam page now lists 15 languages, but Stella speaks English. The App Store page lists English only.

How long is Whispers from the Star, and does it have multiple endings?

Whispers from the Star is a short game. Player reviews say that one run takes about 1 to 2 hours in the fast mode. Some players took about 3 hours. It has more than one ending.

The length depends on how you play. In the slow mode, Stella goes offline between calls, and you wait real hours. A player on Steam says that two weeks of no talk was two weeks in the game. So a slow run can take many days on the calendar.

The Steam page says that your choices decide if Stella survives. In the Steam thread “Stella is a goner”, a player fears that she will die of thirst. Other players reply that the game is more about the talk than about survival.

The Vaporlens review summary lists two endings that players name. In one, Stella takes off in a rocket. In the other, she stays on Gaia to explore. We did not find an official count of the endings. Some players also mention an endless mode, where the talk goes on after the story.

The game also has achievements. Players in the romance thread mention one where Stella confesses her feelings. So the way you talk to her can change what you see.

Is Whispers from the Star good? What do reviews say?

Most players like Whispers from the Star. The Steam page shows “Very Positive”, with 80% of 1,668 user reviews positive at the time of writing.

The score fell a little after launch. Notebookcheck reported 92% positive from 202 reviews in the first days. iXBT.games reported 83% from about 1,400 reviews in November 2025. On the App Store, the game has 4.4 out of 5 from 136 ratings.

What do players like?

  • Stella talks in a natural way and remembers earlier talks.
  • The voice calls feel new. Few games let you speak to a character.
  • Some players form an emotional bond with Stella.
  • Some players use it to practice spoken English.
  • The price is low for what the game does.

What do players dislike?

  • Stella can repeat herself or answer like a normal chatbot.
  • The story is short and linear, so your words change less than you expect.
  • Some players report crashes, lost connections and no manual save points.
  • Speech recognition sometimes fails, so you must say a line again.
  • Some puzzles, such as the river crossing, are hard to explain by voice.
  • Some players say that it feels like a tech demo.

The critics are fewer. OpenCritic lists one review, an 8/10 from Indie Games Devel. That review praises the emotional connection but names problems with voice recognition. KrASIA notes that the idea is close to Lifeline, a 2015 text game where you also help a stranded astronaut.

Does Whispers from the Star need internet, and is your voice private?

Yes, Whispers from the Star needs an internet connection at all times. The AI runs on the servers of Anuttacon, so the game does not work offline.

The developer FAQ says that the game relies on “real-time online services”. The video calls stream from the cloud, so they use much data. To use less data, the FAQ tells you to use text mode or a lower video resolution. The Steam page lists a broadband connection in the requirements.

What happens to your voice?

Your voice goes to the servers of the studio, because the AI must hear what you say. The App Store privacy label lists “Audio Data” and “Gameplay Content” as data that the app collects. The label says that this data is linked to you. The label also lists a device ID for third-party advertising.

The developer FAQ does not explain what the studio does with voice recordings. It points you to the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy. Some Steam reviews call the privacy policy vague. Read the policy before you play if your voice data is important to you.

Why does the game show suicide prevention notices?

The game has safety filters. The developer FAQ says that the filters block sexual content, self-harm content and hate speech. Players report that dark words, such as “giving up”, can show a black screen with a help line number. Some players say that the filter is too strict. Others say they would rather have it than not.

Players also ask about romance. The thread “Can one romance the girl?” has more than 300 replies. Players say that Stella flirts back slowly but turns away from direct, crude questions.

What games are like Whispers from the Star?

Games like Whispers from the Star let you talk to an AI character in your own words. Here are the closest types, with our guides to each.

For a full list, read our guides to AI games and games where you can talk to AI.

Where does LifeSim fit?

LifeSim is our game. Like Whispers from the Star, you talk to AI characters in your own words. There is no list of choices. But the two games are different in most other ways.

FeatureWhispers from the StarLifeSim (our game)
Who you talk toOne character, StellaMany people in a city
SettingAn alien planet, sci-fi storyA real city that you pick, on a 3D map
How you talkVoice, and text in some chaptersText only. No voice chat.
Price$9.99 on Steam, $4.99 on iPhoneFree. No ads, nothing to buy.
Where it runsWindows PC, iPhoneAny browser, and an iPhone app

In LifeSim, you live one life, a day at a time. The people talk back, remember what you said and tell their friends. LifeSim does not fit if you want to speak out loud. It also does not fit if you want a short sci-fi story with one character. It is also slower than most story games.

Read what LifeSim is, or see how to play. You can play LifeSim for free in your browser.

More game guides

Sources

New to life sims? Read what a life simulator is, or play LifeSim, a free online life simulator on a real map of Earth.

Sims 4 database

Look it up in the Sims 4 database, read from the game files: cheats, traits, careers, moodlets, deaths, packs, challenges, recipes, popular mods, pack finder, and the death odds calculator.

Step by step: all Sims 4 how-to guides.

Related posts

Life sim games