A month back, I covered developer Pengonauts and publishers Joystick Ventures and Playworks’ up ‘n coming grid-based deckbuilding roguelike title ‘StarVaders’. And to keep myself from treading over the same points I’ve made in that post, let me be frank: StarVaders helped me keep my sanity in check as I bounced about a number of multi-hour role-playing games. It’s super creative, has a sheer number of ways for players to claim victory across runs, varied boss and enemy types, and all the while featuring a beautiful visual style and rocking soundtrack.
Seriously, it’s just that good of a roguelike. StarVaders basically ran in the background of everything I played these last weeks and will continue to do so—and for that, let me indulge you on this deckbuilder and why it should eat up your precious resources, too.
StarVaders has players take on the role of various “pilots” as they charge ahead against the alien invasion that threatens mankind. You’ll operate between three Mech types which feature different pilots, which in turn open up as the player advances through the game’s available content. Each Mech has different mechanics, and each pilot has varying abilities and passives that aid in the procurement of cards that you’ll be collecting over the course of a run. Your job is to beat the Acts in a given difficulty, fighting off bosses and enemies that slowly encroach onto your territory. The enemy’s goal is to generate Doom, your game-ending health bar that will fill up either if enemy’s claim territory at the end of a turn or through other conditionals.
As you advance in difficulty and move onto the next Act in a given run, the map grows bigger, the baddies become meaner, and your cards will be your make-it-or-break-it moment. Your starting deck is influenced by a number of factors, but you’ll be picking up cards as you play (which in turn, are also influenced by the pilot you’ve chosen). Said cards range from simple bullets to ricochets, laser, fists, you name it. The underlying mechanics of StarVaders’ grid-based tactics means that you have a lot of ways to tackle enemies—say, for example, a row of baddies are lined up perfectly in place and you have a card that can push the frontmost row into the rear. Fire that card off and by bumping the front row of baddies into the back, you’ll do significant damage to the enemy. Enemies, too, can harm one another and with the right cards, you can watch the board clear itself in friendly fire shame.
Artifacts also come into play, which can impact how many repeats a card gets or if it stays in your hand if you fire it off. Cards can also be impacted, positively or negatively, by additional playing effects that can be introduced into your run through level selection and by enemies. Paying attention to what you deploy is incredibly important as one wrong move can fill your Doom gauge significantly and/or fill your deck with junk. See, when the player’s Mech gets hit, rather than losing life points, you’ll receive a “Junk” card that can find its way into your hand after a turn. Not only that, each turn, you’re limited to a few cards based on their “Heat” levels. Your Heat gauge will fill as you use cards and, if you overheat, the last card you used will burn up and become unplayable.
And I haven’t even brought up the enemies or bosses that will push you and your decks to the test. StarVaders has a sheer number of fights that you’ll encounter as you complete and fail runs. Winning a run unlocks new enemy types in previous difficulties and the like, meaning that even if you find yourself struggling to win on a higher difficulty, it doesn’t hurt to fall back and increase your Mechs level and throw cash at Min’s workshop. As long as you’re able to progress somewhat, StarVaders will always give back to you.
Beat the runs and learn more about the alien menace. Lose and, well, you can learn a bit more about the pilot of your choosing. A run doesn’t last long, so even if you do get bonked: restarting is a quick endeavour. And there is a “turn reset” button you can use an upwards of three times in a run to potentially save yourself from a bad turn, but admittedly my luck is rotten and that’s only worked for me a handful of times—bummer!
StarVaders is a wonderfully addicting game, one I didn’t expect to be a highlight of mine this month. The underlying mechanics present can make or break a run in a multitude of ways, the bosses are frenetic and can really pose a challenge, the runs don’t overstay their welcome, and it’s got the visuals and music to boot. This one gets a wholehearted recommendation from me. ∎
StarVaders
Played on
Windows 11 PC
PROS
- Great visuals and music.
- Super fun grid-based tactics meshed with deckbuilding gameplay.
- Solid enemy and stage variety.
- Plenty of pilots, Mechs, and difficulties to run through.
CONS
- Being one click away from a total loss has left me miffed at times.
