Inspired by classic RTS games such as Homeworld, Supreme Commander and Command and Conquer Red Alert, Stellar warfare is an indie game with a stunning look. Mainly made by one developer, it contains hundreds of ships, weapons and modules to customize your fleet. It’s definitely a game to watch. In the latest update, Tense Games offers balance changes and a new feature designed to help players with less time on their hands.
Stellar Warfare is the passion project of solo developer Thomas van den Essenburg of Tense Games, who first started working on the space game in 2018. He states that his intention was to “create a Homeworld-like game, but with base building and ship customization. ” with other major RTS games like Supreme Commander influencing certain structures and systems. There’s a short campaign with single-player wave defense, basic attack and skirmish modes, as well as the ability to play skirmish and battle royale multiplayer matches.
A civil war has broken out, set after a galaxy-wide event known as The Light. This civil war has quickly shattered long-standing alliances and turned friends into enemies. You’ll gather resources, build out your base, and then design your ships with a range of custom parts before recruiting them in-game to take part in massive, cinematic space battles. With more than 40 buildings, 60 ship frames, 50 weapons and 25 modules, there is plenty of variety.
The new Stellar Warfare update includes a series of balance changes. The Type-D, Hive and Stinger ships now all have slightly more health, and the damage of many weapons has been upgraded, while the Mirror Optics module now gives you more range than before, but at the cost of a greater impact on your speed.
The big addition, however, is a new ‘happy hour’ feature. Three times a day you’ll get up to triple the usual loot drops for an hour, which according to Tense Games “should help those of you who don’t have a lot of time to play to have specific times where this becomes a little easier.” The loot consists of blueprints for ship frames, weapons and modules, which unlock additional ways to upgrade your fleet, meaning you’ll want to grab as many as possible.
The creator of Stellar Warfare says he considers the current state of the game to be very playable, with at least 10 hours of gameplay. However, he still wants to add more campaign missions, further tighten enemy AI, and introduce additional quality of life features.
“According to current estimates, I believe we should be able to stamp ‘done’ on this game in about six months,” he says, “but even then, development won’t stop and we’ll continue to add things based on what we think the highest priority, or simply a fun factor.”
Stellar Warfare is now available in early access on Steam, priced at $19.99 / £16.75. You can go here to take a look for yourself.
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