Star Salvager

Star Salvager (2024) is a puzzle game where you steer a spacecraft through a field of falling block debris to grab matching blocks and shoot enemies. You gain ammunition and upgrades by positioning your ship to hit matching coloured blocks. It stands out for the unusual combination of block arrangement with classic space shooting, and how this evolves into a strategic puzzle with additional abilities and powerups.

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You play the captain of a spaceship in a distant galaxy who sends out drones to defeat enemy aliens and spaceships. You control the drone, moving and rotating it to collect the falling blocks that provide ammunition. When three adjacent blocks of the same colour are attached to your ship, they transform into a single block that provides valuable ammunition and lets you shoot the enemy invaders. As you pick up more and more blocks, your movement is slower but your attacking potential increases.

You can spin to shake off blocks or hit special Bumper blocks to shift rows of blocks on your drone. In this way, you manage the matching and collecting of blocks to maximise your upgrades and minimise your encumbrance. When you die, you start again but can use experience points you get from defeating enemies to purchase permanent boosts to your drone, so you can gradually make it further every run you do.

The result is a game that combines match-three strategy with classic shooting action. Gradually increasing the power of your drone to make it further every time you play as you create nuanced drones tailored to your play style makes for a deeply engaging gameplay loop.

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Our examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Star Salvager 11 months ago. It was re-examined by Ellen Robertson and updated 4 months ago.