In Early Access from Chimeric, Nova Drift is a classic arcade space combat game with added Roguelike elements that constantly evolve the player’s ship in insanely different ways each time they play. Upon first glance, the game looks and plays very much like the classic, Asteroids. It only takes a few moments for that feeling to be flipped on its head as Nova Drift dives headfirst into a wild ride.
Like many Roguelikes, Nova Drift is played in “runs.” As soon as the player dies, they have to start the game again from scratch. This is not much different from class arcade space shooters, where traditionally, the only goal is to hold out as long as possible and try to beat the previous high score. Nova Drift differs in handling weapons and ship upgrades, having players unlock new mods as they level up during each play. Not only that, but the way that mods evolve and combine during a run creates a profound system to please the pickiest of min-maxers.
Nova Drift’s mod system allows players to pick from a hand of mods every time they level up their ship in a match. The first mod is always a weapon mod, the second a shield, and the third a body type. After that, each new mod evolves one of the player’s core mods. Weapons range from the classic spread shot to a railgun, missile salvo, and even a melee-style lance. Shields do not just protect a player. They can also repel shots, slow down incoming projectiles, or even warp a player‘s ship to a different location when they break. Ship bodies offer varying bonuses such as increased speed, a carrier fleet, or even a lengthening leviathan body.
Once Nova Drift players choose their core mods, each mod after that will alter one of them in different ways. Some may add extra projectiles to a player’s attack or cause them to home onto enemy ships. Others may increase the radius of the shield or add extra effects to it. Body alterations can increase speed, hull strength, add ramming capabilities, or even make it, so the ship’s thrusters do damage to anything caught in their wake.
Each time a player dies, they gain experience to their overall Nova Drift level, unlocking more mods the longer they play. It gets to a point where there are way too many mods to manage an efficient run effectively. That is, it would be if it were not for rerolls. Often dropped by enemy ships, rerolls allow a Nova Drift player to “reroll” the hand of mods they are given when they level up. This helps clear out mods that are not useful to their current build strategy and get some fresh mods into the mix.
At a certain point in Nova Drift, wild mods and advanced challenge modes become available. Modular challenge modes increase the game’s difficulty in exchange for extra experience earned both in-game and between games. One of the most basic allows a player to jump straight to Wave 12. Another randomizes enemy ships’ weapons and movement patterns. These can be turned on and off in different combinations, allowing players to customize their game experience even further.
Wild Mods work similar to regular mods, except that they have wildly different buffs and debuffs, each of which stacks the more times the mod is taken. Wild mods are the only mods in the game that can do this, and they will appear randomly in a player’s hand unless another wild mod guarantees X amount of wild mods in the next few hands, which happens more frequently than one may think.
Nova Drift is currently available through Early Access on Steam.
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