Planned Release Date: Nov 24, 2026

About This Game

Starwinder is an original Amiga game that's coming to PC - a vertical-scrolling shoot-em-up. The Amiga version comes out on the same launch date.

Fly. Fight. Survive.

Take command of a lone starship and blast your way through 14 worlds, each with its own terrain, music and enemies: a frozen void, volcanic fortresses, an arctic outpost, coral depths, an orbital station, crystal caverns, an alien hive, desert ruins, a toxic swamp, a storm sky city, asteroid mines, a clockwork foundry, a haunted necropolis and a neon city.

Every campaign draws 7 of the 14 worlds at random, in a new order each time. The game gets harder as the run goes on: the first stage is always the gentlest and the last the toughest, whichever worlds you get.

Every Enemy Fights Differently

Each world has seven kinds of flying enemy and its own turret, and every one of them has its own attack and its own projectile: 112 in all. You'll face braided stingers, homing missiles, lobbed acid, spike mines, lightning strikes, sweeping beams and expanding rings with a gap to slip through. The dangerous attacks show a warning before they hit, so even a busy screen stays readable.

14 Mini Bosses, One Final Boss

Every stage ends with a mini boss, and each has a signature move. The Magma Colossus leaps at you and lands with a shockwave. The Pharaoh Sentinel splits into three mirages, and only the real one casts a shadow. Sentinel Prime reels you in with a tractor beam, and the Megacorp Enforcer sweeps a laser fence down the screen. After the last stage, a multi-limbed alien creature descends: rip off its claws, weapons and engines as it moves through three increasingly aggressive phases.

Score Chasing

Chain kills together to build a score multiplier up to x8. Let enemy shots skim past your ship to score grazes. Wipe out every ground structure in a section of a stage and a medal drops; collect medals in a row and each one is worth more, up to 10,000 points. When a boss dies, every enemy bullet on screen turns into score gems. Each stage ends with a results screen that grades your run from D to S, and 14 achievements reward bosses beaten, flawless stages, long chains and more.

Power Up Your Arsenal

Collect pickups to upgrade your weapon through 5 levels, from a single shot to a 5-way spread with an automated laser defence that intercepts incoming fire. At full power, napalm rounds splash burning fire across the ground and set turrets and structures alight. Weapon pickups beyond that store leech mines: they seek out the most dangerous enemy on screen, latch on, drain it and stop it firing, then jump to the next target. Energy, shields, invulnerability and armour-piercing power shots help you survive. Ground installations can be blasted apart, though some are protected by energy shields.

Modes

• Campaign: 7 random worlds, a mini boss after each, then the final boss

• Daily Challenge: the same 7 worlds for everyone today, one attempt per day, with its own leaderboard

• Boss Rush: all 14 mini bosses back to back, then the final boss

• Practice: any single world

Clear the campaign without using a continue and it isn't over: Loop 2 sends you through the 7 worlds you didn't play, with faster enemy fire, revenge shots from fallen enemies and double points, then the final boss again.

Play Together

• 2-Player Co-op: fly together on the same screen

• 2-Player Alternating: take turns when one pilot falls

• Remote Play Together: invite a friend to play co-op online through Steam

Options

• 5 Difficulty Settings: from Beginner to Master, with score multipliers from 1x to 3x

• Keyboard + Gamepad: full controller support for up to 2 controllers, with rumble; remappable keyboard controls

• Your Own Soundtrack: the MY MUSIC option plays your own music files during the stages

• Music and sound volume, fullscreen or windowed, effects quality

AI Generated Content Disclosure

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

Starwinder's visual and audio assets were created with the help of locally run generative AI models and then edited by hand. The game does not generate any AI content while you play.