Star Warden

Star Warden is a vertical 2.5D shoot-em-up with clay-toy ships flying over drifting clouds and nebulae. Your warden ship holds the lower part of the screen and fires on its own, so your job is to steer: slip between rocks, drones and enemy fire, scoop up stardust and save your Nova bomb for when the screen gets crowded.

The campaign covers eight sectors of fifteen stages each. Stages 5 and 10 of each sector are gate stages with a mini-boss gunship, and stage 15 is a sector boss with several phases, from the Pod Station and Reef Crab to the Frost Warden, Storm Eye and Void Crown. Each sector brings something new: splitting clay rocks and weaving drones, mine fields that burst into rings of shots, gunners behind shields, frost turrets whose shots slow you down, ember swarms that chase you, carriers with menders that heal their friends, blinking hunters with lightning lanes, and spiral patterns at the edge of the void. Every stage has three stars: clear it, down 70% of the enemies, and do it without taking hull damage.

Kills charge the Nova. When it fires, it wipes every enemy bullet off the screen and damages all enemies in view, bosses included. Some enemies drop capsules that either repair one hull point or give a short overdrive with faster fire. Stardust goes into the workshop: a weapons tree with blaster power, fire rate, spread up to five streams, homing missiles, wing drones and an ion lance that pierces every enemy in its path, and a hull tree with armour, a recharging shield, a stardust magnet, engines and the Nova core. Branches open as the campaign moves on, and six hull paints unlock with stars.

A few tips from the game itself: break a guard's shield first, or flank it with missiles. Take out menders before the carriers they protect. Pop mines when nothing is close, or use them to break up a crowd. Lightning lanes light up before they strike, so move out early. Lead chasing embers into your fire and slip aside. If your ship goes down, you keep the stardust you collected, so a failed stage still moves your upgrades forward.

Patrol mode is endless: waves from the sectors you know, rising heat and bosses along the way, with a best score to beat. The daily Patrol gives everyone the same waves for the day.

The campaign is split into stages, so it is easy to play one or two at a time. Steer with the mouse, keyboard or a finger dragged anywhere on the screen, in portrait or landscape.

Stardust goes into the workshop: a weapons tree with blaster, missiles, wing drones and an ion lance, and a hull tree with armour, shields, magnet and engines. New branches open as you clear sectors, and paints for the ship unlock with stars.

When the campaign is done, Patrol mode keeps going with endless mixed waves. A daily Patrol gives everyone the same run, so you can see how far you get on the same waves as everyone else.