Ahead of the Game - Star Overlord is an idle love letter to arcades, Lofi, tower defence, and roguelites
Lofi beats and 80s arcade vibes collide
- Lovely sci-fi romp through 80s arcade nostalgia
- Lofi beats and charming artwork
- Tower defence, idle upgrades, and merge elements combined
Hello and welcome to Ahead of the Game, a series where we tell you all about an upcoming game that, despite not being out yet, is available for you to play at the time of publishing. Through this series, you can grab a chance to play games well ahead of their release date, be that through Soft Launch, Open Beta, Demos, or more.
What's this? A colourful combination of my beloved Capybara Go elements, peppered with neon lights, synth music, and Lofi vibes? I never would have thought such a thing could exist, but alas - exist it does in the form of Star Overlord, and it's glorious.
Part tower-defence, part idle merge adventure, this lovely sci-fi quest will have you defending your ship against hostile alien forces while you're planet-hopping across the galaxy, and it's all presented in handy portrait mode too.
Much like (but not quite) the aforementioned capybara-themed idler, this one lets you upgrade your stats, equip weapons and gear, then set off on interstellar missions clearing through endless alien hordes.
Each time you defeat your foes, you'll be rewarded with random power-ups you can choose to accept (via ads), as well as more weapons you can merge to form even more devastating ones.
You can also unlock more slots on your ship's grid to offer extra real estate for your weapons, but beware - it's not just a matter of expanding your slots as much as you can. Each new slot means your ship gets bigger, which also means you become more and more vulnerable to big, crunchy bosses that'll whittle down on your shield until you're down to your last HP.
All these add to the exhilarating rush that tower defence genres always bring, coupled with roguelite elements via randomly generated buffs that spice up each stage. As an added bonus, you also get to pick your responses as dialogues between you and your bot are sprinkled throughout the levels, and if you're anything like me, that nice little narrative touch makes all the difference.
So, how do you play Star Overlord?
This love letter to all things 80s arcade is currently in early access on Android, but honestly, I don't see what else it needs to improve at this stage given how enjoyable it is. There's even a StarCraft-esque AI voice that prompts you every time a new upgrade is available, which is simply music to my RTS-loving ears.
