I get sent an incremental game to review almost every single day, and that is not an exaggeration. To stand out from the crowd in this bloated genre, I personally look for games that keep me involved and invested in the gameplay loop and do not transition into something that plays itself. I’ve become more selective over the incrementals that I review or buy now, and it will serve me in good stead. Launching today is Astro Nova, a game that ticks these boxes. It is a part open space, part arena shooter with both in-run and overarching roguelike skill trees to blitz through. Best of all, it’s quite succinct and doesn’t outstay its welcome.
What I like most about Astro Nova is how you’ll need shoot-em-up skills to survive the game, and you can’t just skill tree spam your way out of it. The goal is to survive 20 stages of arcade action, and each stage is split up into two halves. The first half is an endless space void with various enemies flying and shooting at you to avoid. Survive that, and you’ll be trapped in a circular arena to kill the boss and whatever enemies are left in the stage when the boss arrives. Once a boss has been beaten, it usually starts appearing in future stages alongside the cannon fodder, so Astro Nova builds its difficulty up over time. Movement is nimble, shooting is precise, and you’ll have a few options at your disposal to try out.
Each run starts you off with a base ship and weapon, and they have different speeds, fire rates, and powers. On top of that, you’ll get access to a sub-weapon, a special once-per-stage ultimate weapon, and a booster weapon or ability to dodge out of the way. Each of these categories has a few options and these slots get unlocked in the roguelike ascension skill tree when you decide to end a run, cash in your currency for completing X amount of stages, and then come back with stronger base stats for next time. Then you’ll get three backup weapons that run on autofire like a Vampire Survivors-style game, and three utility slots for improving things like fire rate, health or health recovery, or more fuel. Fuel, or FX as it is in the game, is a crucial upgrade because it acts like a timer, and it doesn’t matter how good you are, you’ll still need to have fuel left to actually clear the stage and progress. It’s the only true bottleneck for skilled players looking for a less-roguelike experience.
That said, the variety of weapons, auto weapons, and utilities will keep most runs feeling a little unique. Astro Nova refuses to let you reroll a shop upgrade selection, so you’ll have to always buy from the three RNG selections it gives you. That prevents a player from relying on the same old selection, as it may not appear. Beyond that, many weapons have tiers of upgrades that are unlocked in the ascension skill tree, so you may prefer some weapons over others. Make sure you get the fuel and health upgrades on the way to beefing up your firepower!
The gameplay of Astro Nova is enjoyable, but I did run into repeated bugs and issues. Whenever the music changes track, the game freezes. It also seems to crash when lots of particle effects are on screen, often caused by the powerful and useful Nova weapon, which launches multiple fireballs. The problem got much worse the deeper into the game I got, and this is one of the biggest dents in the current review score. If those issues can be patched out, then Astro Nova is a solid recommendation for incremental gamers, at a competitive price point, too.
Review copy provided by the developer. Astro Nova is out on PC.
Higher Plain Games is part of the Higher Plain Network. If you like what I do, please consider supporting me via Patreon for as little as $1/£1 a month. There are additional perks for supporting me, such as behind-the-scenes content and downloads. You can also share the website or use the affiliate buy now links on reviews. Buying credit from CD Keys using my affiliate link means I get a couple of pence per sale. All your support will enable me to produce better content, more often. Thank you.
