Projects / 01 · Sci-fi roguelike

The Outer Darkness

Board fast. Take what you can. Get out before it notices you.

The Outer Darkness feature graphic.

About the game

Dead ships drift back out of the dark with their holds full and their crews still aboard. Pick a derelict on your scanner, board it, and fight your way deck by deck to the escape shuttle. Aim each shot at a body part, take what you can carry, and get out. Die, and everything you brought stays aboard.

Move through a dead ship room by room. You keep only what you carry out, and every step deeper raises the stakes. Low oxygen, darkness and infestations change the rules from one ship to the next.

Built for your phone. One-handed portrait play, 5–15 minutes a boarding, and runs that save when you stop. No pay-to-win.

Scanner
Derelicts in range on a green radar, each with its size, threat and conditions.
Boarding
A new seeded ship every run: fights, loot, supplies and event rooms.
Aimed combat
Turn-based rounds with action points. Blind a Stalker, cripple a Crawler's legs, crack a Warden's shell.
Extraction
Reach the shuttle with your cargo, or lose it and the gear you took.
Your ship
Sell salvage, buy gear and upgrade the scanner, cargo hold, jump drive and vault.

From the blog

The Outer Darkness notes