SmoothBrainTheory

StarVaders is Truly Stellar

Games being created by independent teams have exploded since the days of the mid 2000s, and frankly I think this is nothing but a blessing. One of my favorite games that I have played in 2025 (as of the time of me writing this) is StarVaders. I was introduced to this game through a video by NorthernLion who streamed the title a few times to a somewhat middling reception by chat. As a viewer, however, I was locked in to the gameplay and loved the art direction. 

StarVaders is a 2025 game made by a small studio in Montreal called Pengonauts. Pengonauts is made up of just 3 developers being lead designer Eddie Cai (pseudonym: Axolotl), lead programmer Hansen Liu (pseudonym: Crabdog), and the art director known as Text Settings (according to their website). 

Now that you know of the main folks behind this game I’ll talk about why this is one of my favorite games of 2025. StarVaders is tagged on steam as a roguelike deckbuilder which is a fair assessment of the game. People currently joke a little about this genre in the wake of 2024’s massive indie success, Balatro. Heck, I would be lying if I said I didn’t at least participate in some jokes about the perceived oversaturation  of the genre myself. But StarVaders seems to take some inspiration straight from the source, if you will. The parallels between this game's core gameplay aspects and that of 2019’s Slay the Spire are quite clear upon first glance to anyone familiar with the latter. This, however, is not in any way a critique or negative aspect to me. Where StarVaders adds its charm is through its combining the roguelike deckbuilder formula with grid-based tactics. This gameplay style brings to mind one of my childhood favorite series, Mega Man Battle Network.

The main gameplay loop of StarVaders is simple to grasp, but as deep as the ocean. It starts off quite simple. You start off  with the Gunner mech and its first pilot, Roxy. The Gunner is pretty straight forward. The cards in its deck all have an assigned Heat value and the robot has a Heat sink gauge that maxes out at a value of 4. Where the fun comes in is the Gunner’s main mechanic, Overheat. Overheat is what happens when you play cards and go over the Heat value of 4. This results in you burning the final card that you played which makes the card no longer playable. All of the pilot characters have a starting artifact (think relics from Slay the Spire) and Roxy starts with artifact Fire Starter. Fire Starter grants the player +2 cards and +2 Heat sink upon your first overheat. You might be able to see how this alone allows for a lot of satisfying moments of gameplay where you squeeze in one more attack or movement that puts you in a better position for the next turn. There is a whole wealth of gameplay modifying artifacts as well as a treasure trove of cards to add to your deck. On top of this there are 2 more pilots for the Gunner mech who both have totally different play styles!

An in-game guide explaining Gunner specific mechanics, abilities, play style, etc

Noel’s gameplay style revolves around freezing and removing the burn status on your rightmost card. Zeke, the final Gunner pilot, has one of the most complex gameplay styles I’ve ever come across in my time with countless roguelikes. Zeke’s starting card pool has cards with “components” added to them, and his starting Artifact revolves around burning these component cards which will purge the burned card (removing it for the rest of the encounter), but adds a copy of the burned card along with 1 of 3 cards with a cost of 0 heat to your next hand. 

A screenshot of a basic first encounter as Roxy in the Gunner mech.

All of this might sound complex when written out (especially by an amateur writer such as myself). I promise though that this game is nothing but pure strategic joy. This might be some of the  most fun I have ever had in my life learning a game. I never felt frustrated during encounters; I would just focus on what I could have done better instead. There’s a rewind  mechanic that actually  has a large multitude of uses for those who might find themselves stuck. Accidental misplay? Bad hand of cards? Nothing in the shop to your liking? These are all use cases for the rewind feature. It really feels like the dev team thought of everything to make this game feel as comfortable as possible to play. I won’t keep you here forever discussing every single intricate piece of gameplay; I think it's best for you to discover the fun for yourself after all. Just know that all that depth only applies to one mech you pilot and there are 3 unique robots in total all with 3 different pilots each that totally change how you play the game (4 pilots actually in the case of the final unlockable mech). 

The final mech select screen

Next I would like to discuss some other aspects of the game. The art direction really brings a smile to my face. It's clearly inspired by things like anime, cartoons, and comics, but it all comes together into something that’s really pleasing and original yet familiar. The soundtrack in this game is also composed by plasterbrain. Admittedly I am not familiar with their work outside of this game’s soundtrack, but with how good this soundtrack is I now will be listening to their other work! So many of the tracks from this game have been stuck in my head for a few months even when I’ve taken extended breaks from playing. 

I really wanted to just put a spotlight on StarVaders because frankly I just think its a great little indie gem with a small dev team that clearly love and care about this game a lot (it receives pretty regular updates with things such as gameplay tweaks, bug fixes, and there has been some statements about future content to come). It’s sitting at a 98% positive rating on steam with just about 2,100 reviews. Since my purchase in early May I have sunk in about 20 full hours into this game, and I still haven’t unlocked or seen everything! StarVaders is one of those games that feels truly infinitely replayable like last year’s previously mentioned indie darling Balatro. In a time where AAA games are reaching nearly 100 dollar prices I believe its games like StarVaders made by people like the folks at Pengonauts that remind some of us (like me) what made us fall in love with games in the first place. (To be clear I don’t mean this as a dig at AAA games nor the people who make them, but just that rather it’s important in times like these to support smaller devs and indie projects). 

StarVaders is currently on sale during the Steam Summer Sale for 10% off ($22.49) until July 10th, and I cannot recommend this game enough. Shout out to the devs at Pengonauts, plasterbrain, and the publishers Joystick Ventures and Playworks for the great game.

Roxy's intro cutscene when you play as her for the first time.

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