Nova Drift

About

- SURVIVE - EVOLVE - DOMINATE - Nova Drift is a 'rogue-lite' space shooter that melds a classic arcade experience with modern action-RPG elements, emphasizing build-crafting and deep customization. Your ship rapidly evolves as you defeat enemies, allowing you to take a build from inception to execution in a single, captivating game session.

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9
Based on
9006 reviews
Country Compatibility:
Languages:
Developer:
Chimeric
Publisher:
Pixeljam
Engine:
Solar2D / Corona SDK
Release date:
12 August 2024
Recent Steam reviews:
Very Positive (24)
All Steam reviews:
Overwhelmingly Positive (9006)

Game features

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Description

- SURVIVE - EVOLVE - DOMINATE -


Nova Drift is a 'rogue-lite' space shooter that melds a classic arcade experience with modern action-RPG elements, emphasizing build-crafting and deep customization. Your ship rapidly evolves as you defeat enemies, allowing you to take a build from inception to execution in a single, captivating game session.

Build to play how you want, creating a unique build every game. Runs are quick, allowing for rapid experimentation and iteration.

DEFINE YOUR BUILD, combining dozens of choices of Weapon, Shield, and Body GEAR, including:




  • Weapon - Thermal Lance: Channel a focused lance of heat that makes targets vulnerable to further damage.
  • Weapon - Swords: Wield a pair of monomolecular double-edged swords that parry projectiles.
  • Shield - Warp: Teleport when your shield breaks, creating an entry and exit blast.
  • Shield - Halo: Burn targets within your shields radius.
  • Body - Carrier: Command a legion of Swarm Constructs.
  • Body - Leviathan: Become an ever-growing serpent that shreds with its body.
  • Body - Firefly: Sear targets with massive thrusters.

Unlock an arsenal of over 200 MODULAR UPGRADES:


Transform your build, choosing from dozens of SUPER MODS:




  • Charged Mines: Your mines charge, unleashing your weapon on detonation.
  • Dying Star: Take constant damage, but burn nearby targets based on proximity and how damaged you are.
  • Barrage: Transform any weapon into a bullet hose.
  • Singular Strike: Fuse all of your projectiles into one giant projectile.
  • Ataraxia: Gain powerful passive buffs for each unspent upgrade point.
  • Antimatter Rounds: Your weapon can punch through hostile projectiles.
  • Void Slice: Teleport, slicing through anything in your path.
  • Warp Strike: Your projectiles can screen-wrap.
  • Sanctuary: Convert your shield into a massive roving bubble and gain power while within it.

Enjoy varied GAME MODES:




  • Endless: Find out just how far you can push your build after victory.
  • Draft: Jump deep into enemy territory with a pre-constructed build.
  • Wild Metamorphosis: Enjoy a challenging "rogue-like" experience that offers powerful, transformative mods.

Unlock MODULAR CHALLENGE MODES as your skills grow. Greater risk means greater rewards!


EXAMPLE BUILD - Celestial Striker:


This unconventional build defeats enemies by slamming right through them, detonating its shields, and burning anything nearby.





  • Hullbreaker is the cornerstone of our build, fast, resilient, and able to deal massive crash damage based on its velocity.
  • Amp Shield increases our velocity and damage, which results in massive crash damage.
  • Volatile Shields ensures that when our Amp Shield breaks on impact, nearby enemies receive a devastating explosion.
  • Flash Shielding lets us get our shield back quickly.
  • Celestial Lance converts our speed into a burning aura, letting us crowd control as we soar.
  • Celestial Surge lets us convert our aura into a massive burning projectile on demand, igniting anything in its path.

Nova Drift is a decade-long labor of love developed by Jeffrey Nielson (Chimeric) in collaboration with its community, featuring music and audio by Miles Tilmann (Pixeljam).

Recommended system requirements

minimum*

OS *:
Windows 8 or higher
Processor:
2 Ghz CPU
Memory:
4 GB RAM
Graphics:
Intel HD Graphics 4000 or equivalent, Integrated cards also work
Storage:
800 MB available space

recommended*

Not specified

User reviews

Petals
Recommended | 30 Apr 2026
264h played

Very chill asteroids-themed rougelike, definitely worth buying. Just enough metaprogression to encourage you to learn more of the game but not so much that it feels like a burden. 10/10 :3

Helpful: 1
Sun Djinn Kari
Recommended | 06 Apr 2026
38.7h played

This game is great! Lots of build diversity, and enjoyable fights, but there is something to be said about missing mod support. The Dev has mentioned that its not possible with the framework in which they are working

Helpful: 0
ErrorM3_997
Recommended | 26 Apr 2026
10.1h played

Ridiculously addictive. But sucks that every build is a stupid glass cannon. I don't care about the stupid global statistics. Mine is bigger. BAH -_- I'm modding the game.

Helpful: 0
g r e e n s
Recommended | 25 Apr 2026
7.2h played

Excellent game that understands its strengths. Strong visual design that effectively communicates information. An immediacy of gameplay decisions and difficulty. Much closer to pure-bred, triple-espresso, purely-refined

Helpful: 0
FlutterFeet Fetish
Recommended | 29 May 2026
7.9h played

It looks cool and satisfying to play, there's many synergies to try, but it got stale for me really fast. The same space with just hordes of enemies. There is variety to the enemies, but only a few are actually

Helpful: 0
ZenMuso
Recommended | 01 May 2026
13.9h played

Addictive Asteroids-esque gameplay, with a large number of fun weapons and upgrades to unlock which switch up the gameplay style on every run. Perfect Steamdeck game, but also fantastic on the big screen.

Helpful: 0