Review: StarVaders Mixes Deckbuilding With Mech Tactics

The roguelike genre’s gotten crowded over the last few years, which means I’m always delighted when a title comes up that feels like it does tread new ground. While StarVaders does feel a bit familiar, given we’re once again building a deck, taking turns on a grid to strategically wipe out enemies, and hopefully surviving an alien apocalypse, its welcoming nature, variety, and wealth of options for wiping out enemies mean it’s quite a promising prospect.

Aliens are attacking earth. Things begin with Roxy fixing up a Gunner mech right as the assault begins. She vows to protect her loved ones and everyone else she can, now that she has a suit that lets her do it. But she’s only one of multiple pilots with units standing by. Each person and their mech, be it Gunner, Stinger, or Keeper, employs different tactics and uses different types of artifacts and cards to push back against invading enemies. 

StarVader feels like it mixes up a lot of different types of genres, but in action I would say it reminds me most of a hybrid of Into the Breach and Mega Man Battle Network. There is a grid ahead of you with advancing aliens. If they get too close to the bottom of the grid (or certain criteria are met in some circumstances), they can start generating Doom. If you reach five Doom in a run, you’re all done. Success is tied to knowing which missions to take from the map, based on the assessments and potential rewards, building up your deck of cards showing the types of actions and movements to perform, and knowing when it is an acceptable time to basically overheat.

When a turn starts in StarVader, five cards will be dealt to you from your deck. These can include ones that shoot, fire bombs, deal damage, allow you to move, provide buffs, summon a support, or involve an array of different types of tactical actions. You will be able to see the areas where enemy attacks will hit on their turn. It is up to you to immediately mitigate that damage by moving or defeating the foe that would hit you, while also taking out as many advancing enemies as you can before their turn. While foes will typically wait to act until their turn, there will be some enemies that respond and move whenever you move, so you need to take that into account as well. 

Image via Pengonauts

Now, here’s when Heat comes into play. All of these characters are in mechs. Every action you perform generates an amount of Heat. So a simple movement or fire card will cause one Heat to be added to your gauge, but more advanced or upgraded actions could increase it by more than that. (Likewise, you will occasionally get cards that give you an edge for a turn by causing ones in a certain category, like with “Fire” in the name, to generate no Heat.) If you Overheat by performing an action when that gauge is full, you can still perform that move and have your turn automatically end after! However, for the rest of that match the card will be Burned and inaccessible.

A thing I really appreciated about this design direction is that StarVaders uses a risk/reward system to help frame gameplay, rather than leaving a person concerned about a mech and pilot’s health. Overheating can be advantageous in certain situations and, as long as you don’t go through your deck and need to reshuffle the discards back in, you don’t need to worry about the Burned cards. Getting hit by an enemy attack adds Junk cards to the discard, which are essentially blanks that take up space and do nothing. So you’re really able to focus on tearing through the increasingly numerous hordes of invaders and challenging bosses and prioritize the Doom they generate. Even if a situation gets sticky, being willing to push yourself could mean you’ll still brute force your way through a bad situation. I honestly felt it helped mitigate an occasional issue I’d have with RNG in roguelikes and sometimes a string of bad luck in options and deals ruining a run. Especially since you can reset three times in a match if the problem came down to human error.

Images via Pengonauts

This isn’t to say that won’t happen. I did have one string of bad luck. But StarVaders seems like a pretty fair tactical roguelike. Especially since it grows with you. Winning means more enemies, new pilots, and opportunities to boost levels. Losing means more knowledge, more opportunities to strengthen yourself, and again more to do. I really felt a sense of growth as I played, so much so that by the time I did hit the difficulties and runs that would provide more of a challenge, I developed enough knowledge of the game and experience with card and mech types I liked to brainstorm possible approaches. In fact, I think the fact that it did involve factoring in different sorts of “classes” with bullet types, ranges, and the Heat gauge meant I was more likely to play differently each time, adding more replay value.

Also, I just generally love the ambiance around StarVaders. Yes, there is the same type of end of the world feeling as games like Into the Breach and Kaiju Wars. However, it also has the same sort of anime-esque flavor as something like Megaton Musashi. So even though it’s bleak, it is also hopeful and vibrant. Roxy’s story is a strong start, since we see how dire the situation is as she immediately heads out moments after preparing her Gunner. After I unlocked the Invasion difficulty, it suggested there’s some alternate reality and timeline elements going on. I do wish there were a few more story segments, since these people seem so colorful and detailed, but what is here lets us focus on gameplay more.

I had absolutely no idea I’d enjoy StarVaders as much as I would, and it definitely adds something to the ever-growing roguelike genre. It’s compelling, but inviting. You’re given opportunities to learn, but it will absolutely challenge you once you’ve gotten accustomed to its nuances. There are plenty of options when developing your deck, making the prospect of additional playthroughs promising. Fans of the genre should check it out.

StarVaders is available for PCs via Steam. A demo is available on itch.io.

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