StarVaders, the mech-powered, grid-based, roguelike deckbuilder developed by StarVaders Studio, has joined forces with publisher Joystick Ventures as revealed during Guerrilla Collective. Watch a new gameplay trailer below and join a Closed Playtest via Discord, before the invasion begins in the first half of 2025. Catch an additional trailer on Saturday, June 8 as part of Future Games Show.
StarVaders combines the emergent growth and fleet-footed thinking of deckbuilders with the positional and tactical considerations of grid-based strategy games. Pilot a mech and fend off the alien invasion of Earth by not just playing cards to attack, but by preventing the enemies from advancing too close in the atmosphere, lest the doom meter fill and damn humanity!
All action takes place on a grid where the space invaders steadily descend each turn. Movement, attacks, and special abilities all require Heat, an energy source that determines how many actions the mech can take. However, strategic use of overheating allows for one extra move, at the cost of burning the card for the rest of the round.
With the extra dimension of the grid, each card plays an ever-more important role. Tanking attacks doesn’t drain health, but instead adds a junk card to the deck that may hinder crucial future turns. Keep enemy tactics in mind and end them before the doom meter fills. Get dealt a bad hand? Use a Chrono Token to rewind the turn and draw a new hand. Commandeer mechs with different pilots, each possessing special game-changing abilities and individual card pools that require different approaches.
“The reception to the game has been tremendous so far, and we really feel like we’ve made something that combines two of our favorite genres into something fresh,” says Eddie Cai, Lead Designer at StarVaders Studio. “Even when I myself play the game, I STILL find new insane build archetypes and combos almost every time I play!”
StarVaders gears up to defend Earth in the first half of 2025 on PC via Steam. Join the official StarVaders Discord to sign up for the Closed Playtest.
To gather more intel on StarVaders, check out StarVaders Studio’s official website and follow @starvaders_game and publisher @JoystickVenture on social media.
