StarVaders is deck-building meets grid-based tactics and it's basically perfect

StarVaders from developer Pengonauts is a vibrant and action-packed mixture of a deck-builder with quick grid-based tactical fight and it is a totally nice time. I’ve by no means seen one other sport so easily mix these two collectively. Disclosure: key offered by their PR workforce.

Right here you pilot a mech to battle off swarms of alien invaders throughout a rogue-lite marketing campaign, and the tight design of it shines proper on via. It is a sport that does not take you notably lengthy to blast via both at about an hour a run, which is a part of what makes it so nice. That, and simply the general fab design of it with a number of characters and many methods to construct up your decks. Even the tutorial was good on this, with it getting you proper into the motion!

The fight, whereas difficult, just isn’t overly punishing. Nevertheless, it undoubtedly is a troublesome one to get via even on the preliminary issue degree with the primary character. However, there’s tons of options and little touches that make it value pushing via. Getting hit by enemies for instance will not find yourself destroying you, indirectly anyway, as you simply construct up ineffective junk playing cards in your pile.

Your most important issues to fret about are what number of turns you have used, since most battles have a flip restrict and the way far down the grid the enemies are getting, which is the principle level of the fight. These aliens try to get nearer and nearer, shifting a step every flip and It is your job to make use of up all of your playing cards and transfer across the grid to stop that. If the invaders handle to get to the underside 3 rows you may begin to construct up Doom, in case you construct up an excessive amount of Doom it is throughout. Doom carries over between missions too, which is the place quite a lot of the problem is available in. For those who hit the flip restrict, enemies will construct up Doom regardless of the place they’re — so you have to take them out quick.

With a lot of completely different enemies which have completely different skills, strengths and weaknesses together with the boss battles which might be their very own little mini-game because of the boss creatures having their very own particular mechanics it positive does hold you in your toes.

Enemies have a giant combination of behaviours between taking pictures at you, spawning extra enemies or obstacles, shields you have to take down first (with some changing into invulnerable the flip the protect goes down), firing rockets throughout an entire space making them arduous to keep away from and so forth. There’s heaps to consider however it’s by no means overloading in your mind.

I particularly love how clear and accessible the sport is to familiarize yourself with because of the neat design. The battles are all throughout a small grid, and you’ll hover over something to get a readout on what it’s (together with enemies and their skills). On high of that, you get the possibility at a do-over too. Did you mess up spectacularly? Nicely, you possibly can spend your restricted Chrono Tokens to wind again time to the beginning of your flip and see if you are able to do higher. You can too earn again extra of those tokens throughout fight by destroying sure varieties of enemies too they usually get refreshed if you end an Act.

You begin off with one character and one mech (the Gunner) to select from. Even simply by itself, that may have been an excellent sport because of the warmth mechanics of the primary mech. Warmth is its card price system, or mana that you just may see in different deck-builders. Every card has a warmth price, and you’ve got a most quantity of warmth you possibly can construct up per flip (it resets every flip). Nevertheless, you can too go over your max warmth to overheat and nonetheless use one other card however you may dissipate that card and be unable to make use of it for the remainder of the battle. A pleasant change in comparison with different related deck-builders that permits somewhat wiggle room however with that large downside. Keep in mind these junk playing cards talked about earlier? You possibly can satisfyingly burn them as much as do away with them too.

Nevertheless, when you handle to finish a full run the sport will increase and confide in provide you with extra characters with their very own set of preliminary playing cards and uniqueness, and two different mechs that utterly change the best way you play the sport which was a big shock. So to be clear: you decide a personality with their very own set of preliminary playing cards, after which decide a mech which comes with their very own sport mechanics for the battles. These layers add tons of replay worth to the sport to maintain you going for hours.

The opposite two mechs you unlock substitute the warmth system from the Gunner with an vitality system for the Stinger and a Mana system for the Keeper. The Keeper is probably the most completely different to the opposite two, as you are not inside a mech, as an alternative you summon entities and hang-out them shifting them across the board. It is like three variations of the sport in a single.

Nevertheless, one challenge I’ve with it’s how lengthy it takes to unlock the 2 different mechs, which will be fairly some time relying on how good you’re on the sport. Nevertheless, leaning again into how accessible it’s, there’s choices to skip the development techniques completely to only play it your means with every little thing.

Like several good deck-builder, after every profitable battle you may be rewarded and right here you possibly can construct up your deck to present you new tactical choices throughout battles. There’s some actually enjoyable playing cards right here with a lot of completely different combos that change into doable, which is why taking part in via it a number of occasions stays enjoyable. A lot in the identical means that Slay the Spire had a agency grip on me, this very a lot did too.

As for the marketing campaign, it is also good and easy on the structure. You battle internationally, selecting between nodes on the map which have completely different encounters when it comes to enemy varieties and rewards. Initially you do not know precisely what shall be inside till you have performed via them to find the enemies, after which selecting between them will get somewhat simpler.

Examined on Desktop Linux (Kubuntu Linux 25.04) with the latest Proton 9.0-4 it was flawless. Valve gave it a Steam Deck Playable score noting it has small textual content and generally would not present the precise icons. I’ve performed a bunch on Steam Deck too and whereas some textual content is a bit on the small facet, it is largely wonderful. I did not discover any gamepad or icon points. It is an excellent match for the deck with gamepad controls and I actually loved taking part in it on the go too.

Total it is a completely great sport that is a significantly straightforward suggestion. The model of it’s simply great. Regardless that it is turn-based with playing cards, it someway virtually looks like an arcade sport, a minimum of somewhat. With the crunchy sound design too it is all simply implausible. Actually distinctive and creative and completely filled with content material regardless that runs are brief, I am completely hooked on it. Go and seize it.

Highlights:

Craft the last word deck from the 400+ distinctive playing cards and artifacts accessible.

Select from 3 highly effective mechs, every with utterly distinct playstyles and mechanics.

Grasp 10 numerous pilots, every including new playing cards, mechanics, and a private backstory.

Use Chrono Tokens to rewind time, undo errors, or land that good combo.

Battle via the multi-part story marketing campaign and uncover a secret finale.

Countless replayability with ascending difficulties, day by day runs, and problem modes.

Designed for readability and instinct—no lengthy tutorials, no wiki required, simply pure tactical deckbuilding.