Phobos Down

About this game

Latest news

• Announcements·17 Sept 2026Official

  Phobos Down Goes Free

  Starting from October 1st, Phobos Down will be 100% free on all supported platforms!If you would still like to support my game development work, you can buy the game at 75% discount right now or you can wait until October and get it completely free.The main reason for this change is very low sales. I never expected to make a profit but I wanted to learn Steam publishing and perhaps get some small compensation for my efforts. Currently, it's just not worth the required time and bureaucracy.I'm very thankful for the people who bought the game so far and I hope you don't feel betrayed by this change.I will not stop making games for good. In foreseeable future, I will continue working on my small games and likely releasing them for free.
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• Patch Notes·20 Apr 2026Official

  Version 1.0.2 is here

  You might wonder what happened to version 1.0.1. It does exist but because it was mostly about enabling the mobile version and improving the arcade cabinet version, I skipped the update on PC. This version now contains all the changes done since version 1.0.0.Changes from 1.0.0 to 1.0.1:Fixed errors in log when starting game runs without challenges from server.Log usage statistics (arcade build only).Show possible update message from server in main menu.Show notification in main menu if a new version is available.Enlarge fonts and scale UI elements properly in mobile mode.Moved equipment level indicator next to score indicator.Show score indicator guide texts in arcade mode too.Made guide overlays slightly translucent.Added separate guide overlay for mobile mode.Fixed info text not always getting hidden when leaving main menu.New better looking game icon.Default to low controller vibration in mobile mode.Changes from 1.0.1 to 1.0.2:Fixed long mission and operation info titles getting clipped.Enlarged the touch area for weapon management button.Made the terrain slightly flatter to avoid random unwalkable slopes.Allow skipping mission and game completion info box animations.Changed controller guide touchscreen button icon and made it blink while the guide is visible.I'm currently not aware of any significant open issues except for some compatibility issues with low-end mobile hardware that I can't fix. Let me know if you encounter any problems.
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• Announcements·8 Dec 2025Official

  Phobos Down is out NOW

  Phobos Down is readyThe game has been in slow development for four years since the first prototype. Most of that time, there has a been playable alpha or beta version available, first on Itch.io only, later on Steam Early Access as well. I did not get as much feedback as I had hoped but the feedback I got was constructive and helped shape the game into what it is today.The original idea was to take all the features I liked in existing twin stick shooter games and leave out everything that I felt was unnecessary interruptions to the action. I tried to make an ideal twin stick shooter for myself, a middle-aged gamer with limited time, who enjoys twin stick shooters but can't keep up with the most hectic bullet hell games, and wants to enjoy more strategic shooting action without constant panic and struggle to survive.The arcadeDuring these four years I also upgraded my old DIY arcade cabinet to run Phobos Down. I'm hoping to get this arcade cabinet publicly playable again somewhere in Tampere during December.What's new?This update does more than just bumps the version number. Settings menu has been overhauled and some requested settings, like master volume control, has been added there. Some new enemy variants have been also added, including a new boss enemy that launches bombs in patterns around the player.Here are all the changes since the last beta version:Fixed a bug in enemy obstacle avoidance that made them push too hard against obstacles.Added evasive movement on hit to most smaller enemies.Added medium sized crawler enemy variant.Added smaller and larger variants of bomb launching crawler enemies.Fixed logged errors on attempting to set achievements in non-Steam game version.Split settings menu into gameplay and video+audio settings.Added audio master volume control in settings.Hide controller guides while mission info is shown.Fixed crawler enemy walk animation speed not scaling with body size.Added new bomb pattern launching boss enemy.Adjusted boss enemy ap...
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• Announcements·27 Oct 2025Official

  Version 0.1.1 is here

  This update focuses mostly on improving in-game instructions and guides, especially regarding high scores.Score calculation from kill events (multiple termination, termination streaks) has been changed. Now each additional kill will always increase the score bonus. Together with some other tweaks, this makes earning score slightly easier than before. Kill streak progression and final score bonus is now visualized with an indicator at the location of the kill.Message texts have been shortened and their timing adjusted so that player sees the instruction texts at the right time and has more time to read them. An additional direction indicator has been added that guides player toward the most important items like the extraction zone at the and of mission or to medical stations when badly hurt.There are also many minor visual improvements like added "juice" to score indicator, more plant variants, adjusted dynamic lights, animated extraction zone marker and added progress bar while compiling shaders.And last but not least, this updated adds achievements!
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• Announcements·6 Oct 2025Official

  Progress report

  Time for a quick progress report. After the last beta version, I've been focusing on highlighting the high score aspect of the game and trying to improve the player instructions in general.The score label at the top of the screen has been juiced up with animation and improved sounds. Last completed game run score and result is now visible in the main menu and notifications are now shown when new high score ranks are reached during the mission.Score calculation for kill streak and multiple kill events is now based on increasing multiplier instead of fixed score rewards. This is now also visualized with kill score indicators that show the kill streak progression and the final score at the location of the event.Last but not least, I have finally implemented achievements for the Steam version of the game! There are currently 11 of them.The change log is already quite long but I still have many improvements to do. I'm planning to release the next beta update with all these improvements near the end of October.Phobos Down is participating in Finnish Games Week 2025 event and will be on sale for the duration of the event.
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