/01
Read the swarm.
Enemies lock into formation, then peel off and dive at you. Your weapons do the aiming. Your job is to be somewhere else when they arrive.
Starlight AscendantDODGE.
BUILD.
SURVIVE.
A free roguelite space shooter for iPhone. You steer with one thumb, your guns pick their own targets, and the build is all yours.
20WAVES
69WEAPONS
16SHIPS
169ITEMS
How a run goes
START SMALL.
HIT EVERYTHING.
Every run starts with one ship and one weapon.
By wave 20, it's a fireworks show.
/02
Build something unfair.
Between waves, spend your credits in the Workshop. Grab a new weapon, stack an item, or combine two weapons into a hybrid that hits much harder.
/03
Finish the fight.
Hold out for 20 waves. On the last one, a boss shows up to end your run. Kill it or just outlast it. Either way, you win.
/04
Raise the stakes.
Won a run? Try it on Ascension 1. Each level adds a new threat, and Ascension 5 sends both bosses at you at once.
Free, and fair about it
Play as long as you like.
Free to play
Nothing to refill and nothing to wait for. There's no premium currency to buy, either.
Fair about ads
Your first run has no ads. After that, an ad might play after wave 5, 10, or 15, and never more than 2 in a run. The one-time Supporter Pack turns them off for good.
Plays offline
Play on a plane or in a tunnel. No account needed, and your progress still backs up to iCloud.
Also in the game: 226 achievements, 5 Game Center leaderboards, kill streaks, 20 Protocols that give you an edge for free, and Assist sliders from 50% to 150% if you want it easier or harder.
Pick your ship
SAME SWARM.
DIFFERENT RULES.
16 ships, and each one bends the rules in its own way. You get 3 right away. Win runs and beat bosses to unlock the other 13.
01 / 16 — Learn the game
Vanguard
A bit more health, a bit more speed, and a few extra credits after every wave. It's forgiving on purpose, so you can learn how the swarm moves.
- Starting weapon
- Pulse Laser
- Ship advantage
- +5 Max HP · +5% Speed · +5 Scavenging
- Trade-off
- No penalties
Ready from your first run
02 / 16 — Kill it first
Gunship
Hits harder and fires faster from wave 1. The catch is a weak magnet, so you'll have to fly in close to grab your credits.
- Starting weapon
- Fire Ball
- Ship advantage
- +20% Damage · +10% Attack Speed
- Trade-off
- −30% Magnet
Ready from your first run
03 / 16 — Bleed them dry
Corsair
Bring a blade to a gunfight. Every hit has a chance to patch the hull. Guns still fire, but they hit a lot softer than steel.
- Starting weapon
- Cyber Sword
- Ship advantage
- +2 Melee Damage · +3% Life Steal
- Trade-off
- −30% Damage for non-Melee weapons
Ready from your first run
04 / 16 — Never get hit
Scout
Weave through the gaps while your missiles hunt things down. You live on speed and dodge, because armor does nothing for you here.
- Starting weapon
- Seeking Missiles
- Ship advantage
- +20% Speed · +10% Dodge · +10 Range
- Trade-off
- Armor cannot exceed 0
Win Ascension 0
05 / 16 — Tank the dives
Cruiser
Slow, heavy, and hard to kill. Hold your Laser Beam on a target and choose your spot with care, because you won't get out of the way fast.
- Starting weapon
- Laser Beam
- Ship advantage
- +8 Max HP · +5 Armor
- Trade-off
- −20% Speed
Win Ascension 1
06 / 16 — Buy the win
Merchant
Earns more every wave and sees five shop offers instead of four. It starts weak. Shop well and it ends scary.
- Starting weapon
- Ice Shard
- Ship advantage
- +15 Scavenging · +15 Luck · 5 shop offers
- Trade-off
- −20% Damage
Win Ascension 2
07 / 16 — Let the sentries fight
Carrier
Your sentries stay for the whole wave, so the arena fills up fast. Go all in on Engineer weapons and let them do the fighting.
- Starting weapon
- Turret
- Ship advantage
- +5 Engineer Damage · Sentries last the whole wave
- Trade-off
- −40% Damage for non-Engineer weapons
Win Ascension 4
08 / 16 — Dodge or die
Phantom
Dodges more than any other ship, up to 80%. But your health tops out at 25, so the hits that do land really sting.
- Starting weapon
- Lightning Spark
- Ship advantage
- +20% Dodge · 80% Dodge cap
- Trade-off
- −5 Armor · Max HP cannot exceed 25
Win Ascension 5
09 / 16 — Start with a hybrid
Prototype
Starts every run with a random hybrid weapon and bonus damage. You don't pick the weapon. You do pick what to build around it.
- Starting weapon
- Random Uncommon hybrid
- Ship advantage
- +20% Damage
- Trade-off
- −25% Max HP
Win with each of the original seven ships
10 / 16 — Take the hits
Ironclad
Armor plates orbit your hull, soak up hits, and answer with a shockwave. You can't dodge at all, so plant yourself and let the plates work.
- Starting weapon
- Aegis Plates
- Ship advantage
- +8 Armor · +10 Max HP
- Trade-off
- −25% Speed · Dodge cannot exceed 0
Win with the Corsair
11 / 16 — Make them come to you
Warden
An Ion Field fries anything that gets close, and every melee weapon grows 20% bigger. Your guns can't reach far, so hold the middle and let them come to you.
- Starting weapon
- Ion Field
- Ship advantage
- +2 HP Regen · Melee shapes 20% larger
- Trade-off
- −20% Speed · Range cannot exceed 250
Win with the Ironclad
12 / 16 — Hit and run
Harrier
Ram the Piston Spike through a diving enemy and get out before it hits back. Nothing on this ship reaches far, so speed and crits keep you alive.
- Starting weapon
- Piston Spike
- Ship advantage
- +15% Speed · +5% Crit Chance
- Trade-off
- Range cannot exceed 200
Win a run with melee weapons only
13 / 16 — Burn and freeze
Tempest
Opens with ice, then leans into the elements. Fire, ice, and lightning all hit harder, and there's no downside at all.
- Starting weapon
- Ice Shard
- Ship advantage
- +3 Elemental Damage · +10% Attack Speed
- Trade-off
- No penalties
Win Ascension 3
14 / 16 — Snipe from the back
Ferryman
Thread Bell Lance shots through the swarm from way back. It's slow, so you'll need to spot every dive before it starts.
- Starting weapon
- Bell Lance
- Ship advantage
- +35 Range · +5 Ranged Damage
- Trade-off
- −15% Speed
Defeat both Bellgrave bosses
15 / 16 — Plant more turrets
Botanist
Each Turret plants one extra sentry. Let the garden hold the lanes while you stay out of trouble, because this hull can't take much.
- Starting weapon
- Turret
- Ship advantage
- +5 Engineer Damage · +1 sentry per Turret
- Trade-off
- −5 Max HP
Defeat both Cinderbloom bosses
16 / 16 — Crit on the move
Surveyor
Every Recall Array shot fires a second time from where it started. Keep moving, stay fast, and let the crits pile up.
- Starting weapon
- Recall Array
- Ship advantage
- +15% Speed · +10% Crit Chance
- Trade-off
- −6 Max HP
Defeat both Parallax Vault bosses
Every slot is a decision
SIX WEAPONS.
YOUR KIND
OF CHAOS.
Chain lightning through a tight formation. Send missiles after the stragglers. Drop sentries and hold your ground, or get up close with a blade.
You get 6 slots. Fill them from 11 base weapons, combine pairs into 55 hybrids, and earn 3 more in the outer worlds. Weapons come in 8 classes, and two from the same class earn a set bonus. Then pile 169 items on top.
See where you'll flyWeapons bay
Weapon · Common
Pulse Laser
Rapid
A steady stream of fast bolts. Nothing fancy, and it never lets up.
Base damage- 2.7
Attack interval- 0.26 s
Range- 400
Scales with Ranged Damage.
Combine with Laser Beam Strobe Cannon
Combine two Common weapons to make an Uncommon hybrid.
Weapon · Common
Seeking Missiles
Swarm
Three missiles that hunt down targets in any direction, even behind you.
- Base damage
- 7 × 3
- Attack interval
- 1.50 s
- Range
- 600
Scales with Ranged Damage.
Combine with Fire Ball Inferno Swarm
Combine two Common weapons to make an Uncommon hybrid.
Weapon · Common
Lightning Spark
Electric
Lightning that jumps from enemy to enemy. The tighter the formation, the better it gets.
- Base damage
- 8
- Attack interval
- 1.00 s
- Range
- 350
2 chains · Scales with Elemental Damage.
Combine with Turret Tesla Coil
Combine two Common weapons to make an Uncommon hybrid.
Weapon · Common
Fire Ball
Fire
Lobs an explosive fireball into a crowd and leaves the survivors on fire.
- Base damage
- 15
- Attack interval
- 1.25 s
- Range
- 450
Splash + burn · Scales with Elemental Damage.
Combine with Laser Beam Solar Lance
Combine two Common weapons to make an Uncommon hybrid.
Weapon · Common
Laser Beam
Beam
A focused beam that cuts right through enemies lined up in front of you.
- Base damage
- 5
- Attack interval
- 0.31 s
- Range
- 500
1 pierce · Scales with Ranged Damage.
Combine with Turret Beam Sentry
Combine two Common weapons to make an Uncommon hybrid.
Weapon · Common
Turret
Engineer
Drops sentries near your ship that shoot at anything, in any direction.
- Base damage
- 5
- Attack interval
- 0.62 s
- Range
- 350
2 sentries · Scales with Engineer Damage.
Combine with Seeking Missiles Missile Pod
Combine two Common weapons to make an Uncommon hybrid.
4 worlds · 8 bosses · 2 titans
EVERY WORLD
BITES BACK.
Clear a world once and the next one opens. Expect new enemies, new ways to die, and a new soundtrack each time.
World 01
Meridian Reach
Hold the last road home.
Classic formation flying. Aliens swoop in, lock into a grid, and dive at you. Shoot the Abductor mid-dive and you rescue a Wingman.
BossDreadnought
Dashes straight at you, then sweeps a tractor beam.
BossHive Queen
Marks where you are, then fills that spot with shots. Don't stay put.
TitanThe Mothership
Takes up the whole top of the arena. Break its turrets and the core takes more damage.
- Opens
- Open from the start
World 02
Bellgrave
The rescue call never stopped.
A ruin of bells and chains. Bell Drones send out rings of shots with one safe gap, and Bell Turrets ride down the walls.
BossThe Sexton
Tolls rings of shots with one gap to fly through.
BossThe Last Choir
Its voices ring in turn, then all at once.
- Opens
- Clear Meridian Reach once
- Beat both bosses
The Ferryman joins your fleet
World 03
Cinderbloom
The star died. The garden did not.
A garden growing over a dead star. Kill the Spore Lantern's seeds fast, or they sprout into thorn fields.
BossThe Gardener
Its arms slice wedges across the bottom half of the arena.
BossWidow Sun
Opens her petals to fire solar flares.
- Opens
- Clear Bellgrave once
- Beat both bosses
The Botanist joins your fleet
World 04
Parallax Vault
The battle ended. The echoes kept fighting.
Ghosts of an old fight still fly here. Afterimages repeat their dives, and Prism Turrets fire darts from the walls.
BossThe Archivist
Records your flight path and fires it back at you as a beam.
BossThe Unwritten
One hand replays your route. The other fires fans of shots.
TitanThe Panopticon
Its searchlights find you, lock on, and fire rail lances.
- Opens
- Clear Cinderbloom once
- Beat both bosses
The Surveyor joins your fleet
Wave 20 brings one of the world's two bosses. On Ascension 5, you get both at once. In Meridian Reach and Parallax Vault, a titan might show up instead, and titans always fight alone.
ONE MORE
RUN.
Free on iPhone. Pick a ship, pick a world, and find out how far this build takes you.
iOS 18 or later
No account needed, and it plays offline.
An ad can play between some waves. The Supporter Pack removes them.