
Lead a squadron against the Drone invasion in a top-down space shooter with RPG depth. Take contracts across three galaxies, outfit and upgrade your ship, recruit wingmen, and push the story through to the Nexus.
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About
The Drones have swept through three galaxies, relay by relay. Station after station goes dark. Command has one answer left: you, a ship, and whoever you can convince to fly with you.
Space Defender is a top-down arcade space shooter with real RPG progression, made by a solo French developer. Twin-stick flight, fast combat, and a ship that grows with every contract you close.
Recruit pilots at any station and hand them a ship from your hangar
Up to three wingmen follow your lead and fight on their own
A downed wingman ejects: recover the rescue pod before it is lost
Clash, Escort, Convoy, Siege, Elites, Armada, Swarm, Fleet, Holdout, Hunt, Rescue, Salvage and Strike. Contracts roll with modifiers such as asteroid fields, elite leaders, enemy reinforcements or a ticking clock, each with its own risk and reward.
Snipers keep their distance. Minelayers leave traps behind. Carriers launch waves of fighters, jammers scramble your guided missiles, support hulls recharge their allies' shields. Learn each Drone and pick your targets.
8 ships, from the nimble Falcon to heavy frigates and destroyers
Over 60 pieces of equipment: lasers, pulse cannons, railguns, flak cannons, guided missiles, turrets, shields, generators and batteries
Manage your energy: every item you fit changes how your ship flies and fights
A research tree across combat, ship, crew and logistics
Fly for Admiral Voss and Ilse Marin, with ARIA, the AI at your side, through 13 story missions, from the first stand in Aquarii to the heart of Drone territory and the final battle against the Nexus. Climb the ranks from Recruit to Admiral as the war turns.
Three difficulty modes
Full controller support, or mouse and keyboard
English, French and Spanish
Genres
Stats
All-time low is the lowest price we've recorded for this game since we started tracking it.
Reviews
I am pleasantly surprised by the overall quality and mostly the crazy good bang for your dollar at this games early access launch today! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T0Vbeektd0 I did play the game with my controller after I recorded the video above and the controls on the controller work fantastic and I'd recommend using a game-pad over your mouse and keyboard if you own one. This game has a few imbalances and needs some more polish, but don't let that deter you. The EA questions the indie developer answered does state that the game could increase in price as the game gets further developed, so getting it now at it's lowest price is my recommendation! No major complaints and even the controls that might feel 'off' initially soon feel much better and make sense as you play the game. WELL DONE to the developer! ..Fantasic first game for you here on Steam and I look forward to watching this game progress and to any future games this indie dev might launch! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!! ...A Crazy good value for your dollar right now in early access. You're getting a LOT of content for your money for sure!
Playthrough after recent big update 5/29/2025: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1731170/Space_Defender/ Playthrough here: https://youtu.be/V5CXpkwpn6Y edit: I would also suggest using copyright free music. both of these songs are flagged for copyright Чувство Думсег Dreams Bensound Edit 2: more copyright all by shane ivers The Fall Of Heroes Piano Singularity Passage Of Arms Overall this is great for a first game definitely considering it's early access and the creator is looking to improve upon it. I will say the first universe drags a bit and the missions feel underwhelming, but the 2nd universe is way better and the third is even more so. The upgrades feel great as you progress I love that they actually show up on your ship cosmetically and that you kind of have to balance when you get certain upgrades/ships to balance your energy. I hope the finished product has something to add story-wise or special mission-wise etc. to kind of break up the same 4 missions monotony (suggestions in video). The controlling kind of feels a lot like asteroids, but as you get better thrusters etc. it feels like more of an intense space battle game. I will say I do think the enemies need more mechanics they're a threat, because sometimes they'll spawn in and get you from the side (or galaxy roaming enemies may pop in and pop you), but once you have all the enemies spawned you can easily abuse them with a circling motion. I definitely got my worth out of the game at 3.99 though it was a blast and really hard to put down once I got to the 3rd universe really impressive since the creator said it's his first game.
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Languages: English, French, Spanish - Spain
Un petit jeu avec du potentiel, le gameplay est sympa mais un peu répétitif pour l’instant, les graphisme et animations très bons pour un jeu 2D; la musique est entraînante et les effets sonores sympas. Pas d'histoire à suivre pour l'instant mais peu être que cela viendra. A terme j'espère que ce jeu sera un peu comme la série des Starcom (Nexus et Unkown Space). La seule chose qui me dérange ce sont les contrôles non modifiable pour l'instant : ZQSD pour se déplacer dans une direction et la souris pour touner et tirer. Personnellement je préfère Z/S pour augmenter et réduire la vitesse, Q/D pour les déplacements latéraux et la souris pour tourner et tirer. Bref un jeu prometteur qui va se bonifier avec le temps je pense.
Hoo boy! My hair's standing out from all the high-gees and I've got a sunburn from all the laser near misses. But I'm a Space Defender - it's what I do. For early access, it's been a fun ride so far. Took a while to learn how things work. While the battles are currently all the same (all the same for a guy just touching the surface), the method you use to set up your ship makes a big difference. You have to carefully balance generators, batteries, weapons and shields to get the most out of it. Buy heavy guns and suddenly realize you are out of power and recharging slower than a Prius. Don't mount a good loadout and the next swarm will overrun you. And here's a hint for the new space cadets: When you buy something new, keep the old item in your hull. Before picking a mission, take the ship out of the dock and fire guns and missiles. Watch the recharge. It's better to find out now than when you are facing wall-to-wall drones. If course, you can always go into inventory and rearrange stuff. Just ignore those explosion noises. The weird thing is that you use mouse for heading, and W,A,S,D for thrust. However, the thrust is not tied to your heading. "W" makes you go up, regardless of facing. After first I found this counter-intuitive. But moments into my first combat, it suddenly clicked for me. I could thrust where I wished and spin around to shoot. None of this "He's on my six! I can't shake him!" No, just spin and fire, like real spaceships would. The developer was quite responsive to my "asks", including adding a restart ability right after I posted. I wanted to give the game another go once I'd worked out some of the tricks. Thanks for that. So a fun game at a great price. A bit of a grinder at this point but hopefully since it's early access we'll get more missions. Looking forward to the ride!
excelente jogo de game 2d e so adicionar conteúdo de qualidade de vida. A mecanica de comabte e unica (movimentação da nave) muito promisor
Un jeu très prometteur et déjà addictif avec le contenu actuel. J'espère qu'il y aura un mode histoire pour rompre la monotonie des missions. Le développeur a l'air de suivre les remarques des joueurs de très près, c'est rassurant pour la suite. À ce prix là achetez sans hésiter !
Selling now
See how fast this game is selling right now — estimated copies and revenue per day from recent review growth.
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| Game | Estimated lifetime revenue | Reviews | Review score | Price |
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| $21.8K | 69 | 78% | $14.99 | |
| $3K | 4 | 25% | $19.99 | |
| $0 | 27 | 74% | Free | |
| — | 0 | — | — | |
| $233.4K | 465 | 82% | $19.99 | |
| $118.1K | 221 | 73% | $14.99 |
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| Game | Estimated lifetime revenue | Reviews | Review score | Price |
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| $1.4K | 69 | 97% | $2.99 | |
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| $1.4K | 102 | 94% | $0.99 | |
| $1.4K | 51 | 55% | $0.99 | |
| $1.4K | 54 | 89% | $0.99 | |
| $1.4K | 52 | 65% | $0.99 |