Fly. Die. Improve. Repeat. StarFear is a brutal space extraction roguelite where loss is learning, skill is the answer, and nothing feels better than getting out alive, alone or with your friends.

Sign in to add this item to your wishlist, follow it, or mark it as ignored

Join the StarFear Playtest

Request access and you’ll get notified when the developer is ready for more participants.
This game is not yet available on Steam

Planned Release Date: To be announced

Interested?
Add to your wishlist and get notified when it becomes available.
 

About This Game

Your chosen gear goes in with you. It doesn't come back if you don't.

StarFear is a 1-4 player 2D space extraction roguelite built around two core ideas: quick reflexes and permanent loss. Venture into hostile zones, scavenge weapons and equipment, and fight your way to the extract. Die, and everything you brought is gone.

  • Take the best loadout for every run or hoard the fancy loot for later.

  • Fuel powers your run. Run empty and you're drifting.

  • Fly solo or bring your friends, then endure being asked to "go find my stuff."

  • Die. Learn why. Survive long enough to defeat the Kessari.

  • Gain experience to advance your pilot's level and raise the threat (NG+).

This Isn't Bullet Hell

It's a 2D space twitch shooter. Hard. Fast. Fair. Hard games make you feel something, and we want you to feel something.

Become the best version of your pilot self. Duck and dodge, time your defenses, and hit your shots. When you die — and you will — it'll be because of a decision you made. The combat asks you to improve, and when you do, you'll feel it.

Fly. Die. Repeat. Get better.

A Simple Reason to Fight

Your father's ship. A dead transmission. A sister gone missing. The Kessari are destroying your family — can you survive long enough to take your revenge?

Track down black market contacts, decode transmissions, and hunt the people responsible across escalating encounters that end in a final confrontation.

The Extraction Loop

Between missions, outfit your ship from a shared hub. Choose your weapons, configure your systems, stock up on fuel, and decide what's worth risking. Then drop into a hostile zone.

Enemies patrol with detection ranges and heat sensitivity — fire your engines near a patrol and they'll investigate. Push deeper for better loot. Complete objectives to advance the story. Extract successfully to keep everything. Fail, and it's all gone.

Escalating threat levels unlock harder zones, tougher enemies, and better loot.

Your Ship Is a System

Fuel powers everything — engines, weapons, shields. Run dry mid-run and you're floating in the black. Oxygen depletes with every crew member aboard. Take enough damage and your ship starts failing: thrust misaligns, weapons lose accuracy, fuel burns faster than it should.

Repair what you can. Replace what you can't. Push forward with failing systems if you have to or trade your cargo for speed and get out while you still can.

The Arsenal

Every run is a decision about what you're willing to lose. Rapid-fire machine guns, precision snipers, shotguns, explosives, devastating beam weapons that ramp damage over time, and force weapons that push enemies into walls.

Engines that trade speed for fuel efficiency. Shields that drain your tank faster than you'd like. Utility slots for dodges, blinks, tow cables, enhanced sensors, and more.

For more anxiety, mod your favorites and experience even greater pain of loss.

Fly Solo or Bring a Crew

StarFear plays as a tight solo experience. It's even more fun with friends.

Bring up to 3 players. Harass your enemies as a squadron of fighters, or crew a single vessel and split its systems between you. Your stash is shared — argue over which equipment to bring or sell when fuel reserves run low.

Divide responsibilities for the objectives at hand, then carefully coordinate or don't and apologize later.

Progression That Persists

Your perk tree and account level carry over between runs. Your gear does not. Spend perk points in a branching tree of 60+ perks across weapons, engines, and defense — with specialization gates that force meaningful choices.

Equipment power increases alongside new and harder enemies. Complete objectives to unlock new items in the hub store, open new zones, and advance the story. Save your game and return to it later.

Features

  • 1-4 player online co-op

  • High clarity 2D geometric art style rooted in the lineage of Asteroids, Xpilot, and Geometry Wars

  • Extraction roguelite: extract to keep your loot, die and lose it

  • Risk/reward tradeoffs: choose what to leave at home in case you don't come back

  • Run economy: equipment and fuel are finite; each run ends when your fuel does

  • Shared hub for you and your crew to see each other's loadouts, practice, and compete in a speedrun gauntlet

  • AI enemies with detection ranges and heat sensitivity

  • System simulation streamlined for combat: fuel, oxygen, mass, and malfunctions

  • Multi-act story with handcrafted zones and increasingly difficult enemies

  • Wanted Level (NG+) for escalating risk and reward

  • Perks that grow your power the more you play

  • Save your run and come back later

DISCLAIMER:

StarFear is in active development and subject to massive, unexpected changes based on the game's vision and most importantly: your feedback. Some systems are in a more prototype state than others, but the skeleton is in place and the bones are good. We've been having fun and we're ready to share.

AI Generated Content Disclosure

The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:

Store page images and limited generation of some sprites used in-game, usually as placeholders to be replaced by hand-drawn sprites later.

System Requirements

Windows
macOS
    Minimum:
    • OS: Windows 10
    • Storage: 500 MB available space
    Recommended:
    • OS: Windows 11
    • Storage: 500 MB available space
* Starting February 15, 2024, the Steam Client will no longer support 32-bit games or macOS 10.14 or lower.
There are no reviews for this product

You can write your own review for this product to share your experience with the community. Use the area above the purchase buttons on this page to write your review.