- The Constellation Update — Starfend's biggest update yet - 21 July 2026
I rebuilt the first hour. Then I rebuilt everything around it. A few weeks ago someone recorded 23 minutes of themselves playing Starfend for the first time. Near the end they said something I couldn't unhear: "The tutorial is vague. I didn't retain any of the information. I mostly just stumbled my way through." They were right. People who understand Starfend play it for hours. People who don't, quit in thirteen minutes. That's not a content problem — that's a me problem, and it's the one I spent the last month fixing. So I rebuilt the moment you first touch the game. And once I was in there, I kept going. What feels different The first run teaches you now. No more menu wall before you've seen the game. Your first launch drops you straight into a match with a drone already yours, and the game shows you — in the match, with your hands on it — how to move, place, shoot, dash, shield and c…
- The Fusion Update — stone ranks, skill drafting, and a smoother fight - 2 July 2026
Your runs just got a plan. Two of Starfend's core systems grew up this update. Stones now have somewhere to go — ten rarity ranks, from humble Stardust all the way to Cosmic — and skills stopped being a lucky drop and became something you draft, run after run. 💎 Stones: rank up & fuse 10 stone ranks — every stone now rolls a rank, from Stardust (grey) to Cosmic (cyan). Higher rank, stronger buff, prettier frame. Stone fusion — fuse 5 stones of the same rank into 1 stone of the next rank, right from the preparation screen. Those piles of early stones finally have a purpose. Deeper runs, rarer stones — the further you push, the better the drops. Sell prices scale with rank too. New in-game stone art across the board. ⚡ Skills: draft your build You start every run with a skill — the one matching your drone body's color. From wave 1, you have a button to press. Pick a new skill every 5 wav…
- Starfend is couch-ready — controller & Steam Deck, now 30% off - 25 June 2026
Pick up a controller. Starfend was waiting for this.When I first built Starfend, it was a mouse-and-keyboard game that happened to tolerate a gamepad. Not anymore. I rebuilt control from the ground up — and the game I always pictured, the one you play leaned back on the couch with a drink in the other hand, is finally here. Dashing your main drone through a swarm of meteors, snapping the shield up at the last second, calling the next wave early because you want the pressure — it all flows now. No menus fighting you, no "where did my cursor go." Just you, your fleet, and the color you chose to win with. What feels differentIt plays like it was made for a controller — every action sits where your thumbs already are. LT dashes, RT raises the shield, the sticks fly the camera, the D-pad fires your skills. Steam Deck, properly — full Steam Input support, readable HUD, the layout already conf…
- Steam Deck Support Update - 22 June 2026
Hey everyone, We've put real work into making Starfend a great experience on Steam Deck: 🎮 Full controller support — every menu and action is playable with the Deck's controls, no manual setup required. On-screen button prompts match the Deck. 🖥️ UI adapted to the Deck's 1280×800 screen, with interface text tuned to stay readable in handheld. ☁️ Steam Cloud saves — continue your game across PC and Deck. We've reached out to Valve to have Starfend officially reviewed for the Steam Deck Verified rating. Until that review is complete, the store may still show the Deck status as "Unknown" — but the support is already built into the game. We'll update this post as soon as we have the official rating. Thanks for playing! — RP Entertainment
- Full Controller Support - 22 June 2026
Full Controller Support Starfend now has complete controller support powered by Steam Input! What's New Play with any controller — Xbox, PlayStation (DualSense/DualShock), Switch Pro, Steam Deck, and generic gamepads are all supported, including future devices. On-screen prompts match your controller — Button icons in the tutorial and menus now show the real buttons for your specific controller model, and they update if you remap. Full menu & gameplay navigation — Navigate every menu, place and upgrade your ships, control the camera, and use abilities entirely with a controller. Remap your controls — Customize any binding through Steam's built-in controller configurator. Auto-pause on disconnect — The game automatically pauses if your controller disconnects mid-battle. Controller-aware tutorial — The tutorial now teaches the correct controller inputs. Fixes & Stability Fixed a crash tha…
- Localization - 1 June 2026
New Features Localization — 10 Languages Supported The game is now fully localized in 10 languages, including support for CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) and Cyrillic scripts. Font atlases were rebuilt for all language groups to ensure proper rendering across every screen, tooltip, and tutorial message. Auto Language Detection On first launch, the game now automatically selects your system language. Audio defaults to 25% volume so you're not blasted on first start. Controls Rebinding You can now rebind the Drone Skill keys (Z/X/C/V) and adjust mouse sensitivity directly from the Settings → Controls screen.
- Giant Meteors - 21 May 2026
Giant Meteor System — Major Update New Features Giant Meteors - Up to 10 Giant Meteors now orbit the battlefield simultaneously, each with a unique orbit radius and speed. - Giant Meteors scale in size proportionally to their current HP — the bigger they look, the more dangerous they are. - Each Giant Meteor has color-based armor: matching damage types deal reduced damage, so bring the right guns. - Giant Meteors now always drop a T1 Stone of their color on death — killing them is always worth it. - A targeting cursor lets you click a Giant Meteor to focus fire from your drone. - Giant Meteors display a tooltip showing their HP, armor values, and color. Stone Reward System - After destroy a GiantMeteor, a new reward screen shows individual Stone cards dropped by Giant Meteors — pick what you want, see exactly what you're getting. - Stone inventory is now capped at 200. A visual indicato…
- Tooltip System - 19 May 2026
Tooltip System Overhaul We've completely reworked the in-game tooltip system to make it clearer and more useful during both the Prepare and Battle phases. - Click-to-inspect: Clicking an enemy or gun now opens a detailed tooltip. Clicking the same target again closes it — no more stuck tooltips. - Fixed bottom-right position: Tooltips now appear in a consistent spot on screen so they never obscure gameplay. - Accurate gun stats: Gun tooltips now reflect your actual current values, including Stone bonuses, Skill Tree upgrades, and Wave Buffs — not just base stats. - Dynamic MAX ATTACK: The maximum damage shown in gun tooltips is calculated per-gun, accounting for all active modifiers. - Synergy displayed as Power %: Color synergy bonuses are now shown as a clean Power: X% value instead of a raw multiplier. - Fire Rate bar fixed: The Fire Rate progress bar in gun and drone tooltips was di…
- Wave Buffs - 16 May 2026
NEW — Wave Buff Cards - Attack Range — A new color-coded buff card, one per gun color. When picked, permanently increases the attack range of all guns of that color. The more you stack it, the farther your fleet reaches. - Collect All Coins — A utility card that instantly vacuums every coin on the map the moment you pick it. Great for keeping up with fast waves. --- REWORKED — Wave Buff Selection The five buff cards offered between waves are now split into two distinct groups: - Cannon Buffs (slots 1–3): Crit, Attack Speed, Attack Power, and Attack Range cards. The game now weighs offers toward the gun colors you actually use — the more guns of a color you have, the more likely you are to see buffs for it. - Utility (slots 4–5): Neutral cards like gold drops, cooldown resets, coin collection, and more. Value rolls now have ±80% variation (up from ±50%), so individual picks feel more imp…
- Stone Inventory Filters - 14 May 2026
Stone Inventory Filters Finding the right stone in a large inventory just got easier. The stone inventory panel now has a filter bar with 13 buttons — one for each of the 10 stone colors and one for each of the 3 tiers. Tap a color to show only stones of that color. Tap a tier to narrow it down further. Tap the same button again to clear that filter. Filters reset each time you open the panel, so you always start fresh. No more scrolling through a pile of T1 greys looking for that one T3 RedBlue.
- Main Drone Shield - 14 May 2026
New Features Main Drone Shield The Main Drone now has an active Shield ability. Press Shift to activate it and block incoming damage. The ability has its own cooldown UI and 4 new sound effects. Shield is also available in the control rebinding menu. Wave Buff History Bar A new HUD sidebar now tracks all buffs collected during the current wave, displaying the accumulated value of each buff so you always know exactly how your run is stacking up. Score Breakdown on Victory After completing a stage, the victory screen now shows a full breakdown of how your score was calculated: - Stage level base score - Speed multiplier (playing at 2× or 4× boosts your score) - Planet health multiplier - Drone hit penalty (−1% per meteor hit on your drone, up to −50% at 50+ hits)
- Settings & Controls - 12 May 2026
Starfend — Build Update | May 2026 ⚙️ Settings & Controls Full Settings screen with Audio, Video, and Controls tabs Audio: Individual sliders for Music, SFX, Voice, and Cutscene volume; Tips toggle Video: Fullscreen toggle, Resolution selector, VSync, Target FPS (30/60/120/Unlimited), and Quality presets — all applied live and saved between sessions Keybinding Rebinding: Remap any control directly from the Settings screen. Bindings are saved and persist across sessions. Each binding can be reset individually or all at once 🎮 Gameplay Wave Buffs system: 6 new buff cards, randomized offers between waves. Select cards with keyboard shortcuts (1–5) Ambient Meteors: Environmental meteors now actively pursue your main drone during gameplay Mini-Drone activation notifications: Visual message when a mini drone activates or deactivates by color Repair shortcut: Press R to repair your main drone…
- Full Audio Overhaul - 9 May 2026
Full Audio Overhaul The game now has sound effects for virtually every action: ship placement and destruction, drone hits, stone shop interactions, dash recharge, skill tree upgrades, game speed changes, and more. Tower placement sites also now loop an ambient audio cue while selected. Improved Placement Feedback Selecting a tower site now triggers a spawn effect particle system. The particles dynamically adapt their color to match whichever ship you're hovering over in the fleet panel — giving you a clear preview of what you're about to place before confirming. Drone Visual Feedback Added new visual effects for the dash ability (dash start and dash end), plus impact feedback when the player drone takes a hit.
- Update notes for 05/03/2026 - 3 May 2026
Starfend — Update Notes Meteors - Meteors now grow larger as waves progress and visually shrink as they take damage - New LavaRock shader with glowing emissive cracks that deepen as the meteor loses health Coins - Destroying meteors now drops coins with a pickup visual effect - Coins are collected automatically when the player's ship passes nearby Wave Buffs - Fixed a bug where extra cards could be selected during the closing animation delay - Cards are now smaller, better spaced, and repositioned for a cleaner layout - Hover feedbacks use unscaled time so they work correctly while the game is paused Stone Shop - The stone shop inventory now persists between sessions, preventing reroll abuse - Multi-select stones for bulk selling - Inventory scroll view fixed with proper Viewport and ContentSizeFitter setup Fleet & Skill Tree - Resetting your fleet or skill tree now costs 100 crystals -…
- Update notes for 05/02/2026 - 3 May 2026
New Features - Leaderboard on Main Menu — the global ranking is now accessible directly from the main screen, no need to start a match. - Main Menu button on Prepare Screen — you can now return to the main menu directly from the preparation screen. Gameplay Changes - Fleet reset and Skill Tree reset now cost 100 crystals — a cost was added to make reset decisions more meaningful. - Stone shop no longer rerolls on scene exit — the shop offer now persists between sessions. Use the Refresh button (5 crystals) to see new stones. This closes the exploit of getting free rerolls by going back and forth to the main menu. Improvements - Stone inventory — multi-select to sell multiple stones at once. - Wave Buff UI — smaller cards, repositioned with better spacing. Bug Fixes - Removed black square artifact from the Wave Buff UI. - Audio system refactored — stable volume with no cross-scene interf…
- Update notes for 04/30/2026 - 30 April 2026
Abilities Overhaul The Abilities screen has been redesigned to make every choice feel more meaningful. - Smaller, tighter point pool — The total point cap has been reduced from 240 to 100, earned at 1 point per victory. Progression feels complete sooner and choices carry more weight. - Free distribution — The 15-point cap per color can now be spent however you like across the three skills (Crit, ATK Speed, ATK Power). No more forced even splits — go all-in on one stat or balance across all three. - Individual skill cap — Each skill within a color is still capped at 10 points, keeping builds diverse. - Rebalanced hybrid unlock thresholds — Hybrid colors unlock at lower investment thresholds, making specialist builds more accessible without giving them away for free. --- UI Fixes - ATK Speed buffs in the Wave Buff cards now correctly display +X% instead of -X%, matching the language used…
- New Feature: Buff Stones - 27 April 2026
New Feature: Buff Stones (Meta-Progression) A new meta-progression system has been added, Buff Stones. Stones persist across matches and give your guns permanent damage boosts. Stones - Stones come in 3 tiers, each granting a flat damage multiplier to specific gun colors: - Tier 1: +10% | Tier 2: +20% | Tier 3: +30% - Each stone has a color (matching the game's 10 gun colors) and one or more color-specific buff slots - Equipping a stone in the matching drone color slot grants an additional +10% bonus Post-Victory Rewards - After winning a match, you receive 2 Buff Stones — their colors are drawn from the enemy types you defeated in that run Inventory & Stone Shop (Prepare Screen) - New toggle panel in the Prepare Screen with 30 equippable stone slots - Stone Shop: buy random stones, sell unwanted ones, and refresh the shop's offer using Crystals New Currency: Crystals - Earn 5 Crystals…
- Update notes for 04/23/2026 - 23 April 2026
UI Visual Polish - Wave buff cards now display a color-coded frame that matches the cannon color of each buff — makes it much easier to read your choices at a glance - All in-game tooltips (gun stats, drone stats, enemy info) now have a matching colored frame border, giving the UI a more cohesive sci-fi feel - Tooltip backgrounds are now near-opaque for better readability against busy backgrounds - Skill tree nodes now tint their background and buttons to the drone's color, making the skill tree clearer to navigate - New immersive AI-generated hangar artwork on the Main Menu Audio Controls - Volume sliders (Voice, Music, SFX) are now accessible directly from the Main Menu — no need to be in a match to adjust audio - New Cutscene volume slider — control cinematic music independently from gameplay music - All volume settings are saved between sessions - Added a small Audio ▼/▲ toggle butt…
- Update notes for 04/21/2026 - 21 April 2026
New Features - Keyboard shortcuts for upgrade selection — when the buff card screen appears between waves, press 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 to select the card in the corresponding position. Speed shortcuts (1/2/3) return to normal after closing the screen. - Keyboard speed controls — press 1, 2 or 3 during gameplay to set speed to 1×, 2× or 4×. - Wave rush — from the second wave onward, you can call the next wave early to earn bonus gold. Both waves run simultaneously. - Voiced tips — all tutorial and periodic tips now have voice-over audio. A new separate Voice volume slider has been added to the settings. - Individual volume controls — separate sliders for Music, SFX and Voice are now available during gameplay. - Spacebar calls next wave — in addition to the on-screen button, press Space to call the next wave. Improvements - The game now pauses automatically when the buff card selection screen a…
- Updates note for 04/20/2026 - 20 April 2026
New Features Speed Control & Score Multiplier - Press 1, 2, or 3 during gameplay to set game speed to 1×, 2×, or 4×. - Your final score now reflects how fast you played — running at 4× speed can quadruple your leaderboard score. - Steam leaderboard updated to rank players by speed-adjusted score. Rush Wave Mechanic - From wave 2 onward, waves now auto-start as soon as you clear the previous one. - A Rush button appears while enemies are alive — call the next wave early to earn bonus gold and keep the pressure high. Improvements - Tips updated: New hints explain the rush mechanic, speed-as-strategy, and keyboard shortcuts. Onboarding tip for calling the first wave now appears automatically ~10 seconds after the game starts. - Skill Tree fix: The skill tree now closes when you open the pause menu (ESC) and reopens when you unpause, preventing UI overlap. Gameplay Improvements - Rush now s…
