Up to 8 heroes fight together to hold off droves of pirates and space debris in multiplayer space-shooter Stardrift Nomads.
Stardrift Nomads rocketed out of nowhere, and immediately became concealed in the massive wave of games which laps onto Steam every day now. It’s now been in Valve’s game-swamped client since April, undergoing monthly tweaks and content updates. The obscurity brought by that adding to the time on the storefront, mixing together into that cursed equation which hides games away from most consumer eyes.
That said, it’s a game which is —possibly accidentally— built deliberately around the concept of being stuck outside of time; from its simple, twin-stick gameplay loop, to the wave defence and special ability structure, Stardrift Nomads is a best seller from a timeline where side-on platforming games never replaced the top-down viewpoint of games like Asteroid and Centipede.
It’s a twin-stick shooter, of course, so the majority of your time is spent hanging relatively close to the centre of the screen, watching the game’s mini-map system, and blowing up space-rocks, debris and pirates, all of which appear in various shapes and sizes as the game’s campaign plods on.
The game features three different types of ships, all of which can be kitted out with new gear as you rank up in the game’s survival mode, or barrage your way through the game’s story. Each ship is tailored to a different playstyle; destroy, build, or repair — all three worthy of attention as the game has some building elements included wherein you can build objects with loot rend from enemies. Each of those ships also have their own construction options, some having agressive rocket-turrets, while another features the ever-useful wall, which can often be enough to keep the central point defended long enough to nab a win.
However, Stardrift Nomads has a secret. One which it struggles to tell you. One which the game needs to be screaming from the rooftops.
It’s actually an extremely impressive co-operative game.
The main problem is, that secret point is completely and utterly essential to the game, and getting that message out there is essential to the game’s future. It’s also hindered by the fact that the game currently includes a specified peer-to-peer server set-up wherein players must use Valve’s chat, or ‘Invite Friends’, function to arrange people together for a quick blast. It immediately cuts off interactions with strangers, which —while not always productive— cuts back the average match size exponentially.
It’s best not to dwindle on the accessibility of the multiplayer enabling features of their engine of choice, especially when it is a fresh team, and when there’s a regularly unstated —but, no doubt exceptional— level of work required to change a game from single, to Valve-managed, to searchable lobby format. But, it is one-hundred percent worth mentioning that every single issue which I ran into during the game would have been solved with more accessible multiplayer (or AI allies).
The high praise which is —possibly too— hidden in those last sentences is sincere. Each of the three ship types has its selection of buildables, but also has a selection of abilities and weapon customisations. There’s even paint-jobs for the little ships, although based on the experiences of myself (and my B3 co-contributor Trence) most people will settle in cosy with the Samus Aran reminiscent design. Movement and aiming is simple, and while the various menus don’t translate too well to a controller, they are simple enough to grasp onto once you’ve had ample mess around with them all.
The complications appear in when you’ve got less than optimum team-mates. Two assault ships can force their way through the campaign with a dedicated push (especially as the difficulty amps mid-campaign) which larger groups could include the other ship-types and —as such— benefit from the defensive buildings which can be built. What also doesn’t help is that the rate of scrap drops for the assault ships is so low that even if you do build a few low-level turrets you’ll likely not have enough juice to keep them fixed. A case of bad balance over ‘challenge’.
That said this ‘bad-balance’ is only in the campaign mode at low player counts. If a single player was to hop into the game’s endless mode then they’d enjoy the challenge as an arcade game, but with the added bonus of their XP & level creeping up as they play. The levelling is important as it unlocks abilities and loadout changes for the ships; after a few levels the starting for can seem long shaken as cluster and specialised weapons, or deadly (nuclear) specials and rapid-fire abilities are unlocked. These options are deep and varied, and eight players running the same ship type can be operating almost wholly different ships.
I guess you already know how I’m going to round out this article, dear reader.
At (current price at time of writing) £6.99 the game is a crazy, low price considering the game’s potential. However, until matchmaking and lobbies are in place the actual price required to experience the game at its best is easily double, quadrupled, or oct-upled. It’s a game which —at this price— would really have benefited from the ‘pack’ bundles which Steam only recently stopped.
If you and a bunch of friends have grown sick of Alien Swarm, or Left 4 Dead, and all have the money to pick it up, then Stardrift Nomads will do no wrong — until then I sorely & desperately hope that the developers can find a way to implement match making.
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