Nova Drift owes a lot to Asteroids. In fact, it acknowledges this debt in the opening moments of every run, when you’re presented with some giant space rocks to train your aim on before the bad guys show up in force. After those nostalgic opening seconds, however, Chimeric’s action-roguelite stands on its own.
I’m not going to bury the lead on this one: Nova Drift is an exceptional video game. This top-down space shooter delivers some of the most frantic and pleasingly emergent combat sequences that you’ll find in any game on any platform, and the deeper you dig, the better it gets.
What is Nova Drift all about then?
After more than 10 years in development, Nova Drift has finally left the confines of Early Access; it is now considered content complete, and there’s never been a better time to jump in.
To sum up this particular game is actually rather easy. I’ve mentioned Asteroids, which is the main influence at play here, and if you’ve played that all-time classic before then you’ve already got a fair idea of what Nova Drift is all about. Having said that, Nova Drift is infinitely more nuanced than the old arcade game thanks to its action-roguelite gameplay loop and contemporary aesthetic.
Throughout each run, from your top-down perspective, you must blast enemies with your equipped weapons, grab up experience points as they drop, and avoid any and all incoming damage. At regular intervals you’ll be given the opportunity to level up your ship, adding modular upgrades to both your offensive and defensive systems. Thus you grow more powerful as the enemies you encounter also grow in strength and number.
Too hot to handle?
There’s one divisive thing about Nova Drift that will split opinion among the player base and that’s the movement controls. You propel yourself forwards with the left trigger and then control direction with the stick, which does take a little getting used to. Some people will not like this at all because it does feel antiquated, however I would urge anyone who is struggling with it to persevere.
These momentum-focused controls reminded me of another excellent roguish space shooter by the name of Galak-Z, although that one had more of a Saturday morning cartoon vibe to it. Nova Drift, on the other hand, is a no-frills hardcore shooter with a roguelite framework that lets you impact all aspect of your ship’s handling and loadout.
The plentiful range of upgrades includes a selection of improvements to your propulsion system, in case you want to make your ship more responsive or even turn it into something of a battering ram. Still, there’s no getting away from the fact that some people just won’t gel with the control scheme.
Bristling with intent
What I love the most about Nova Drift is the huge range of potential abilities you can add to your ship, and how those abilities interact with each other. You’re constantly tweaking the direction of your build as you make decisions. They’re big steps at the start, and early on you must pick your main weapon, a shield system, and your ship type. However, once you’ve locked down the basics, everything else then layers on top as you start to assemble a (hopefully) winning build.
In the run I finished just before starting this article, for example, I picked a build based around missile launchers. Over the course of that run, I made choices that increased the number of rockets I could fire at any one time, made them more powerful, gave them the ability to set fire to targets, had them split on impact, and then narrowed down the spread of my attacks so everything was more focused. By the end, I was firing a deadly barrage of rockets every few seconds, and the screen was constantly filled with smoke trails and explosions.
That was just one potential example, and there are literally countless ship configurations to explore and experiment with. The different systems appear to be so carefully balanced that I think you could keep playing for dozens and dozens of hours and still keep finding new ways to assemble a viable build. I look forward to finding out, as I think this is a game that I’m going to keep coming back to.
Finally, a word on the presentation. Yes, it’s simple, but I also think the screenshots don’t really do it justice. When it’s in full flow I think it’s rather easy on the eye and the bold visuals are surprisingly easy to parse. The enemy ships look clean and crisp, and there’s a broad range of designs, from tiny little drones to hulking great bosses.
The audio is also worth some praise, thanks to the game’s pulsating soundtrack, which fits the atmosphere to perfection. The music is then complemented by some crunching audio effects to round things off. In all aspects, this is an extremely polished video game.
If I haven’t already made it abundantly clear, or you’re one of those folks who just skips to the concluding paragraph, I think Nova Drift is a truly excellent arcade shooter and I’m really pleased that I didn’t let its full launch pass me by. The controls may take a while to master, but once you’ve got in the groove you’ll find an action-packed roguelite with incredible mechanical depth and, thanks to a broad array of modes and settings, a lot of replayability.
Nova Drift is out now on PC Steam (Mac, Win) and I played the game via access kindly provided by publisher PixelJam – thanks for that!
