Lonestar

Lonestar (2025) is a strategy battle game where you control a spacecraft on bounty-hunting missions. Play involves equipping your ship's grid with items to power up the numerical damage you inflict on enemy ships. It stands out for turning number-based battles into a moreish complex web of possible ways to maximise your ship's power.

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The game takes place in a universe with hundreds of different treasures, each with a unique function. You work to earn these and then tactically place them on your ship to gain power-ups to your numerical attacks. They combine with each other in mathematically interesting ways, along with any exclusive units on your ship.

You take your ship into turn-based battles and then decide how to spend the energy you are dealt each round. Damage is calculated in the numerical lanes, so lining up your ship's treasures and applying energy is not only about power but how that is positioned in the battle. In this way, you work to build a powerful number-damage engine to overpower the enemy ship. Do well, and you gain more treasures to further customise your ship to cause even more damage.

The result is a space battle game that's actually about building a machine to generate ever larger numbers. The surprise is how this mathematically intense challenge and complexity is both understandable and enjoyable.

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Our examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Lonestar 6 days ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated today.