Space Defender: Frontier Squadron

Space Defender: Frontier Squadron is a twin-stick space combat game with a story campaign, a squadron to command and a shifting front in the Perseus and Orionis galaxies. You fly missions for Admiral Voss and Ilse Marin, with ARIA at your side, while the war continues to develop around you.

Story and campaign

The story unfolds across four acts through scripted dialogue and events broadcast over the radio during combat. You escort the Armada and face a choice at the Threshold before continuing to Kepler, an abandoned mining world and the setting for Act IV. Its gravity wells pull everything in; missions take you down dark shafts and to the port of Ferrum, where four heavy ships come from the shipyards. Several endings await, including one that only becomes available if you handle the pirate captains in a particular way.

Lead your squadron

You can recruit pilots with 20 different traits that affect how your ships fight, and assign a crew to each ship. Crew bonuses travel with their ships, and you can talk to every crew member. Up to three wingmen can accompany you; order them to attack, cover you, hold or break, and they respond over the radio. A downed wingman ejects in a rescue pod, which you can recover before it is lost. Pilots you lose for good are remembered in a memorial.

Ships and equipment

The game has 17 ships and over 60 pieces of equipment, including lasers, railguns, flak, guided missiles, turrets, shields and generators. Managing energy is part of fitting a ship: each item changes how it flies and fights. A directional dodge lets you evade attacks you see coming, and enemies signal their attacks so you can react. Snipers keep their distance, minelayers leave traps, carriers launch fighters and jammers scramble your missiles.

Missions and progression

A research tree accompanies mining, salvage, trade, refining and recycling. You take on 15 kinds of contracts with modifiers, as well as a signature mission in each galaxy. Four difficulty levels and a Veteran mode are available, with three save slots.

You can scan planets and send your crew on 12 illustrated expeditions. Pilot traits determine the odds, and expeditions can yield rewards, wounds and archives from before the war, as well as permanent losses.

Pirates and spaceports

Each galaxy has a pirate den. You can raid stations, ambush freighters, rescue kidnapped pilots and pursue bounties on named lieutenants. The four captains—Kessa Varn, Dorn Halvek, the Mask and Ilka Brann—each have their own story. You can spare them, enlist them or shoot them down, and your choices carry through to the end.

You can dock at Horizon, Hephaistos, Sekhmet or Ferrum and walk into the bar, Command and the shipyard. Talk with locals, buy rumors, take small jobs and earn their trust.

Multiplayer

Local co-op lets a second player fly as your wingman with another controller. You can play together on one machine or over the internet using Steam Remote Play Together; one player keeps command while the other handles the guns.