Nova Drift is a 'rogue-lite' space shooter that melds a classic arcade experience with modern action-RPG elements, emphasizing build-crafting and deep customization. Your ship rapidly evolves as you defeat enemies, allowing you to take a build from inception to execution in a single, captivating game session.
Build to play how you want, creating a unique build every game. Runs are quick, allowing for rapid experimentation and iteration.
This unconventional build defeats enemies by slamming right through them, detonating its shields, and burning anything nearby.
Nova Drift is a decade-long labor of love developed by Jeffrey Nielson (Chimeric) in collaboration with its community, featuring music and audio by Miles Tilmann (Pixeljam).
Game length provided by HowLongToBeat
Posted on: October 2, 2025
CINNATOAST0313
Verified ownerGames: 2 Reviews: 2
Very fun game
this game is a super fun ofline game i love playing it when my wifi is down or just when im bored
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Posted on: April 29, 2021
Early Access review
AidanofVT
Verified ownerGames: 16 Reviews: 3
Experimentation greatly encouraged.
If you want the sort of game that begs to be broken, Nova Drift may be for you. The closest comparison I can think of (that I've played) is Synthetik, but I'm almost tempted to compare it to a deck-building game. Compared to those things, the number of cards/items/mods is relatively limited, but very well thought-out. There's just enough RNG so I don't feel I'm retreading the same path every run, but not so much that I feel I'm gambling with my choices. I always feel like I'm just on the cusp of a game-beating synergy, and when I lose, I usually have a theory about what I can do differently next time. It's an arcade game, too. There's a highscore system, and I found myself getting competitive with my brother. Nova-Drift is a fun, absorbing time-sink if you allow yourself to get swept up in the challenge. The GOG/Steam achievements are flavorful, too. I think Nova Drift's greatest strength is its enemy design. The number of distinct enemies isn't huge (probably two or three dozen), but their variety is great. Taken together, they are great at exploiting the weaknesses of my builds, and their different behaviors make the game feel quite dynamic. So, what would it take to make this a five-star game for me? Mostly, I just want MORE. More enemies, more mods, more random events. And I dare Jeffrey Nelson to get even crazier with the mods. Add stuff that change more game-rules more severely, and try to break out of the "paths" paradigm when it comes to mods. Wild mods are a good start. Finally, I want to see an easing out of the progression curve. Prior to wave 20, you get levels faster than you can remember to check for upgrades, but after level 90 your build is pretty much set. Finally, I want bosses that are more tests of skill and less tests of patience. Looking at the roadmap, all of these things seem possible. Even as it is, I think it's going to be a while longer before I get bored of Nova Drift.
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Posted on: August 25, 2024
hubijohn
Verified ownerGames: 3 Reviews: 1
Super
So many combinations you can go for!
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Posted on: February 15, 2020
Early Access review
gdrake
Games: 19 Reviews: 1
Drift On
Best Game of it's kind. POE meets asteroids. Play it.
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