Nova Swarm

About this game

READ THE PATTERN. BREAK THE BOSS. BUILD THE RUN.

Nova Swarm is a fast top-down vertical shoot 'em up built around quick restarts, deliberate attack patterns, and ranked runs that evolve after every boss.

Start with one ship and unlock 29 more as your career develops.

In Mayhem Tactical, the main ranked mode, fight through shifting enemy formations, defeat a major boss at the end of each sector, then choose one of three upgrades. Your pick stays active for the rest of the run, steadily transforming your starting hull as you chase higher scores and deeper sectors.

BUILD A DIFFERENT SHIP EACH RUN

Mayhem Tactical contains 32 upgrades across Offense, Mobility, Defense, and Utility. Increase weapon damage, strengthen drones, improve movement or recovery, add defensive failsafes, and push towards more specialised combinations.

Upgrades can stack, evolve, and combine into Fusion protocols. Each run starts with one rescan, giving you one chance to replace an unhelpful set of offers. Your starting hull establishes the foundation; your decisions shape the final build.

30 SHIPS, 30 STARTING POINTS

Unlock reliable all-rounders, spread-fire craft, precision cannon ships, drone specialists, mobility-focused interceptors, and demanding late-career hulls. Every hull has its own weapon behaviour, handling, trait, strengths, and tradeoffs.

Changing craft changes how you read the arena, which targets you prioritise, and which upgrades are worth chasing.

PLAY YOUR WAY THROUGH THE SWARM

• Mayhem Tactical – The main ranked run, with a new draft after every boss.
• Mayhem Pure – The original score-attack ruleset, with no drafted upgrades.
• Daily Signal – The same fixed ship and route for every pilot under shared daily rules.
• Scout Run – A lower-pressure way to learn patterns and experiment with ships and builds.
• Sector Run – Practise later sectors from checkpoints earned through Mayhem.
• Overrun – Reach Sector 30 to unlock a direct start at Sector 51, then push deeper in Tactical or Pure variants.

READABLE CHAOS. LEARNABLE BOSSES.

Bosses have distinct silhouettes, warnings, movement rhythms, and attack patterns. Later encounters can call reinforcements, protect support craft, shield priority targets, or turn an open arena into a much tighter problem.

The screen can become crowded, but the challenge is built to be learned. Read the windup, find the safe lane, decide what must be destroyed first, and carry that knowledge into the next attempt.

THE CABINET IS WAITING

At the heart of Nova Swarm's mystery is The Cabinet: a worn arcade machine that watches your runs, records what it sees, and challenges you throughout your career. Voice performances bring different parts of the Nova Swarm universe to life. Discover 60 Cabinet Wonders, each opening another window onto the strange world surrounding the fight.

CABINET WONDER: STARWHALE CONSTELLATION



Between attempts, advance pilot ranks, unlock ships and checkpoint starts, complete Pilot Orders, expand the Threat Codex, and inspect detailed Run Reports with practical counter-advice. Separate leaderboards track Mayhem Tactical and Mayhem Pure.

Nova Swarm is built for the moment after a defeat when the pattern finally clicks, another build is already taking shape, and the next attempt is only seconds away.

Latest news

• Patch Notes·12 Sept 2026Official

  New Threats, Snake Broods & More Surprises

  New threats, stranger encounters and more surprises waiting deeper in the swarm. New enemies to discover Meet the Veilborn: New mysterious enemies with distinct attacks, movement, sounds and arrival announcements. They join ordinary waves and can fight alongside a boss or Space Snake. Some lose weapons and body parts as you shoot them apart. New tractor ships bring different ways to pull, swing and trap you, with animated energy fields, individual sounds and Codex escape tips. Space Snake broods: mothers now have a random chance to hatch babies. Each species has its own brood, weapons and alien calls; some juveniles even heal their mother. Destroy the mother and her surviving brood retreats. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/46138701/e4af1ac3d2db4446670867293bfe5e91dee797c4.png A Cinder brood defends its mother. More surprises as you go deeper Enemy identities now arrive gradually the deeper you venture Rare later-sector fights can bring a second boss or a Space Snake into the battle, with coordinated warnings and breathing room between major encounters. Active damage during longer special encounters earns additional score, helping keep your scoring pace moving. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/46138701/6b2fb0f70e65be396ae589083fd892c7570e6a87.png Glass Widow joins an ordinary enemy wave. A sharper look and clearer sound All 30 ships have more detailed, freely rotatable menu and Hangar models, with richer materials, framed canopies and recessed engines. Combat sprites and ship stats are unchanged. Overrun celebrations now feature your actual 3D ship, a cinematic arrival and animated rewards. Bosses and snakes have stronger sound identities. Arrival announcements are clearer, and boss death dialogue no longer competes with Tactical Draft voices. Cleaner combat effects and fewer distracting brackets; smoother Hangar ship changes and menu startup, without the brief flat-sprite flash. Hangar Back now remembers your selected ship. Support drones are easier to see, and powerup artwork is clearer. Imp...
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• Announcements·9 Sept 2026Official

  Space Snakes, Rare Rewards & a Rebuilt Fleet

  Something much bigger is moving through the swarm. This update introduces Space Snakes, rare bonus cores, new bounty drones and a rebuilt player fleet, alongside more rewarding active combat and a livelier orbital hangar. Meet the Space Snakes Fourteen species. Connected armoured bodies. Very bad intentions. From Sector 6 onward, rare encounters can bring a Space Snake into your run. These creatures coil, sweep and weave across the battlefield, changing their movement as they hunt. Each species has its own appearance, proportions and voice, from monstrous growls to piercing screeches. Tougher encounters that grow with your progress, with aimed attacks and multiple movement patterns. Break their bodies apart section by section, then finish the hunt for a satisfying destruction cascade and bounty. Discover all fourteen in a dedicated Threat Codex category, complete with backstories and combat tips. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/46138701/7467cacd6704fd9d6660da7ef1e02df511d04226.png Eclipse Dragon on the hunt. Gameplay captured in a test build. New things worth chasing Ten rare bonus cores offer score and collection rewards, with distinct designs, movement and pickup sounds. These are separate from powerups and will not replace your combat effects. Fifteen additional bonus drones bring the shootable bounty roster to nineteen. Each has its own design and score reward, with new Codex entries and sharp artwork. Clearer rewards: the displayed score bounty is the number you receive. Bonus drones appear less often, while cores stay rare and unpredictable. A fleet with more personality All thirty player ships have been rebuilt as solid 3D models, with individual hull shapes, colours, materials, weapons and engine lighting inspired by their original artwork. Rotate the ships in the showroom and fly matching artwork in combat. Ship stats, traits and hitboxes are unchanged. A cinematic orbital hangar, animated Play and Other Modes buttons, richer help screens and a pulsing Codex button for ...
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• Patch Notes·7 Sept 2026Official

  Boss Overhaul, Varied Waves & Clearer Combat

  Boss fights have a new look and a more distinct rhythm, with clearer warnings and more varied enemy arrivals. Boss overhaul: Ten redesigned boss families with detailed ships, animated weapons, distinct attack sequences and new charging sounds. Bosses also have more varied movement and feints. More varied waves: Enemy formations follow different curved flight paths and arrival speeds, with brisker timing for the slowest entrances. Cleaner spectacle: Reworked boss destruction effects and removed distracting circular effects and the faint frame around bosses. Clearer combat: More readable enemy bullets, clearer charge-versus-fire warnings, and better feedback on what caused a death. Two of the redesigned bosses Sam the Misfit {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/46138701/8b8d9c7687778f83522d1129a607a6b79a8e03b5.png Tyrian the Great {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/46138701/689f8bea8c6ee396cf40e1ea5a5fed0ea216401e.png
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• Patch Notes·6 Sept 2026Official

  The Swarm Has Evolved: A Major Nova Swarm Update

  Nova Swarm has had a serious overhaul. I've rebuilt the fleet and the worlds you fight above, made destruction more satisfying, and worked on the opening minutes and performance. I'm proud of how far it's come, and your feedback helped get it here. Watch the new gameplay trailer on the Steam page. Give it 50 seconds and see the overhaul in motion. Ready for a closer look? Curious about what keeps a run interesting after the first few waves? I've added Nova Swarm - A Closer Look, a two-minute tour of ship choices, Tactical Draft upgrades, combat mechanics and the different game modes. You'll also see career unlocks, the Threat Codex, leaderboards and the Run Report, with stats and practical advice to take into your next attempt. Select the second trailer in the Steam page's video gallery. Have a look around the Hangar, start imagining your build, and see how deep you'd like to push it. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/46138701/5e3327e45e89fbe898c4073dd6e5a964f4063a60.png A fleet worth taking into battle Player ships, enemies and bosses have far more detail and personality, including 227 new enemy hull designs and redesigned support drones. Layered planets and space scenery replace the old backdrops. Bosses break apart into burning hull sections, with reactor bursts, plasma jets and cooling debris. I've also cleaned up warnings and moved distracting announcements away from the fight. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/46138701/85c87819f2af310519c21b4b955f4c25b5b260a9.png The main menu now puts your chosen Hangar ship on display in an industrial dock, with landing lights and a ship you can drag to inspect. The Hangar, Codex, rank badges and menus have all had attention too. Pick your firepower. Get into the fight. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/46138701/47f0903b85a23fccf8778c6164bad7ab2bd53f82.png Three ships from your first launch: Sparrow, Pixel Needle and Quasar Fan offer twin-lane, precision and broad three-lane fire. Preview their firing patterns in the Hangar before choosing. A faster opening: the normal...
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• Patch Notes·29 Aug 2026Official

  Nova Swarm: Distinct Powerup Art & Clearer Pickups

  Powerup clarity update The newer powerup roster has received a full visual pass. Each icon now has its own silhouette, central symbol, and mechanic-specific visual language—so you can tell what you’re grabbing at a glance, even in a crowded wave. Highlights 20 newer powerups now use finished, distinct artwork. Survival-critical pickups are easier to recognize: Extra Life keeps its unmistakable life symbol, Nano Patch reads as hull repair, Mercy Protocol signals emergency rescue plus protection, and Magnet stays clearly magnetic. Similar effects are easier to separate: Overdrive Core / Jackpot Lens, Slow Time / Chrono Anchor, Shield / Aegis Burst, Extra Life / Mercy Protocol, Rapid Fire / Saw Matrix, Double Shot / Ion Dash, Speed Up / Rail Surge, Pierce / Prism Splitter, Score X2 / Score Fever, Magnet / Nano Patch, Drones / Drone Carousel, Bomb / Pulse Refund, and Orbital Strike / Plasma Lance. The finished art is used consistently in gameplay pickups, the HUD, Tactical Draft, loadout, mode briefing, and the Threat Codex list and detail views.
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