Starforged Legacy arrived in my peripheral vision earlier this week, and I was instantly drawn in by its promise of Vampire Survivors-inspired sci-fi action, flying giant ships around asteroid fields, and engaging in epic space battles.
It’s early days, but the first impression it made on me was a good ‘un. I’ve only attempted a handful of runs, but it was enough to get a feel for the game and know that I’ll be keeping tabs on it as it advances through Steam Early Access and into full release.
I think it’s one to watch, with enough points of difference to warrant a wishlist or demo download at the very least. Starforged Legacy landed on PC (Win) on June 1st, and while it’s definitely a bit janky and most certainly an Early Access release, I like what it’s doing.
So what is Starforged Legacy?
The space setting looks and feels unique, but ultimately it operates in a similar way to all games in this arena. You’re zipping about the place, killing your enemies, grabbing up XP and the rewards you discover en route, and generally you’re just trying to stay alive for as long as possible.
There’s a lot going on at times, and that blend of on-screen chaos is a big draw in a game like this. You’re not in the cockpit here, but controlling things from above.
The boss battles are genuinely fun, and I enjoyed this part of the game. I spent ages strafing and dashing, dodging and trying to charge up my shield, and always finding time to blast the boss ship’s entourage of supporting units.
The upgrade system seems fine so far. It’s the same as you find in nearly all games like this, but with a well-implemented ship-building theme. You’re customising your craft on the fly, pardon the pun, specialising it with new weapons, thrusters, and shields.
It is the late-game synergies that are most exciting in a survivors-like game, in my opinion. You don’t get a real sense of that until you’ve played a lot more than I have, so I’ll save final judgement for the full review, whenever that lands. Again though, my first impression has been generally encouraging.
The campaign progresses via a starmap, like the one in Slay the Spire or, going back even further, FTL Faster Than Light. A generic design choice it may be, however, it’s nice and thematic in this instance. I liked the notion that you’re warping between systems, and with a bit of tightening, these transitions could help build even more immersion.
In terms of what’s in the game at the start of Early Access, there are three difficulties and an endless mode, six ships with different loadouts, plus a chonky meta-game. A solid slice of game, considering the relatively low price, but naturally with more to come.
Starforged Legacy’s Roadmap
The future for Starforged Legacy is already written in the stars, it would seem. Or at the very least, it’s written in this Steam post, which details a two-phase update plan, with QoL stuff coming first before they start trying to expand the game further. Here’s how they put it:
- Flight Systems – Will primarily focus on improving existing gameplay systems, including controller and keyboard navigation, saving runs for future continuation, balance, and gameplay clarity.
- Hangar & Arsenal – Once this strong foundation is in place, we’ll shift our efforts to expanding our pilots’ arsenal of Augments, Weapons, and playable Starships.
With a big focus on quality of life and much-needed spit and polish, I think developer Second Shift Games is on the right track to make Starforged Legacy into a very good survivors-like. Whether the game is able to punch into the top bracket in the genre depends on how well the devs can lean into their theme as they bring everything together. I remain cautiously optimistic, though.
Starforged Legacy is out now on PC (Win), and I played thanks to access provided by the developer via Keymailer.
