StarVaders

StarVaders (2025) is a strategic battle game where you use cards to move around and defeat Space Invaders-style enemies before they reach the bottom of the screen. You build your deck, then play cards in a particular order to deal maximum damage while ensuring your mech doesn't overheat. It stands out for extending the simple advancing invaders to ratchet the pressure and requires a careful strategy to maximise your card synergies in ways that deal with your current foes.

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You play a defender of Earth as you use a giant mech-suit to fend off hostile alien invaders and monsters. Play is turn-based and involves using your deck of cards to move your mech around a grid and defeat all enemies before they reach the bottom of the screen, as in Space Invaders. When enemies reach the bottom of the screen, they start accruing Doom, which eventually kills you. If you die, you have to start all over again, but you get to bring with you the knowledge you gained.

You use your cards (some of which let you move a certain number of squares, others enable you to shoot enemies, and others still have more specialised actions and benefits) to defeat different enemies while ensuring you don't overheat or get damaged. As you progress and get to choose new cards to add to your deck, and lean into strategies to combine specific cards' effects to overcome the overwhelming odds.

The result is a game where your position as well as your firepower are crucial. You need to develop a deck of cards that work together in ways that counter your current enemies but are flexible enough to cope with unexpected turns of play. Devising a new way to combine card abilities and then watching your plan come to fruition in a battle (or not) is always rewarding and helps you refine your tactics further.

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Our examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked StarVaders 12 months ago. It was re-examined by Andy Robertson and updated yesterday.