I got this game yesterday morning after watching Day9 play it, and I am instantly hooked and haven’t put it down except to sleep since.

Essentially, the game has you controlling a space ship consisting of multiple sections that basically act as lanes - their attacks tend to go straight ahead to the opposing spaceship’s lane. You can shift your ships around, and can also launch missiles and drones which can be moved individually. It’s an extremely simple to pick up system, but the game adds difficulty from a lot of different directions, from outside effects, to ships having holes in them that shots go through, to some of the enemy ships just being enormously large. The gameplay changes up constantly and feels consistently refreshing.

Meanwhile, your ship consists of three crew members picked from a small selection, effecting both gameplay and story. On the gameplay side, the characters act as your deck deciders - each character has specific cards they start with, and specific ones you can pick up, as well as character specific upgrades that change how the game functions, similar to Slay the Spire’s relics.

But they also have their own personalities and stories. Part of the core loop is beating the game to unlock memories of different characters and piece apart a surprisingly interesting and entertaining story that updates with each playthrough. I didn’t expect to have this much fun seeing the interactions of characters, and I’m looking forward to seeing where they go.

But seriously, if you want a new card battler/deck builder, this is an incredibly solid option worth the price.