Initially, series creators Ford and Reiche had promoted "Star Control 3" as a "visually rich" and "captivating sequel". Years later, the duo cautioned against focusing too much on questions from the previous games, concluding that a "smattering of that is fun, but the whole point is to extend the mystery". Reiche also felt that the new character design lost the charm of Star Control 2's digital paintings. Kurt Kalata describes the efforts of Legend Entertainment, that it's "obvious the designers of "Star Control III" had great reverence for the older games, it still can’t help but feel like fan fiction. That feeling, that everything is slightly off, is what harms "Star Control 3" the most".