I’m no shooter fanatic – or “shmutter” as I understand it, they prefer to be called – but some of the first games I remember playing were shmups. Games like Maelstrom, Ambrosia’s Macintosh clone of Asteroids, and proto-shmup Searching for the crystal from Patrick Buckland, who would later go on to create Carmageddon. Little did I know that the humble concept of a tiny 2D spaceship shooting enemies on a screen that wrapped around its axis would reach the brilliant heights of Nova Drift. If you had shown me this game in 1995, I dare say I would have gotten into it myself.
This “shiny heights” line is a bit premature, I’ll admit, not to mention very unprofessional. I haven’t played Nova Drift yet—it popped up on my radar when it left Early Access yesterday. But it looks very good, and Steam reviewers’ post-launch verdicts have been very favorable. The overall premise is that it combines the directness of a shmup with the construction aspect of an ARPG and a dash of roguelite progression. You command an “ever-evolving biomechanical ship,” with hundreds of modules and upgrades to choose from, as you “ride the trail of a dying star through the void.”
Apparently sensing the panic of players who see games like Path of Exile as a life-altering commitment, the creators—Chimeric designer Jeffrey Nielson and publisher Pixeljam Games’ Miles Tilmann responsible for music and sound—emphasize that the loop of improvement and experimentation is quick. “Unlike many action RPGs, which can take hundreds of hours to build, Nova Drift lets you build a ship from concept to execution in a single play session,” they explain.
In one approach, you can turn your ship into a battering ram, with shields that explode when overloaded and a flaming aura that scales with your speed. In another approach, you can load up on grenades and shrapnel mods to create a terrifying piece of astral artillery, tearing off projectiles that detonate into dozens of homing missiles. The individual ship parts and powers listed on Steam page including the Leviathan, which turns your ship into an “ever-growing snake,” and the Sanctuary, which turns your shields into a free-floating bubble that empowers you while you’re inside. There are transport ship hulls that let you summon amiable drones, and antimatter missiles that pierce through enemy fire.
It says something about the game’s verb choice when the ability to teleport seems inconsequential. Pfft, why would I do something as tedious as instantaneously traveling from one place to another when I could be an “ever-growing snake”? Again, these are my impressions. I don’t make a habit of recommending things I haven’t played, but I’ll venture that this one is decent enough to justify all the praise in retrospect. Nova Drift can also be found on Itch.ioif you’d rather not deal with Valve’s giant emporium of content. For those who’ve already played, Here are the notes for version 1.0.
