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Driftworn

Every jump is a gamble.

A turn-based starship roguelite for Android and iPhone. Command a battered ship and a small crew, jump across generated galaxies, fight tactical battles and answer strange signals from the dark.

Watch the trailer Read a story

Out now on Google Play

NewComing to iPhone in November

The Driftworn, a grey starship with blue engines, before its first jump
Official trailer. 34 seconds of real gameplay.Playing it loads the video from YouTube. Watch on YouTube

Blow them apart.

Battles are turn-based, so you always have time to think. Aim every weapon at an enemy system: hit the Armory to weaken their guns, the Generator to cut their power and the Bridge to strip their evasion.

Lasers, rockets, phasers and a nuke you only get to fire once.

Turn-based space battle, round two: wreckage of a pirate fleet drifts while the crew aims at the destroyer.

Mind the fuel.

Every jump costs fuel. Nebulae burn more of it, ion storms tear at the hull and nanite clouds patch it up. Dock for repairs, trade Moon Coin at the Moon Bank or fly into a wormhole and see where you come out.

An Ancient Guardian holds the exit of every galaxy. Defeat it to breach the next one.

Galaxy map: the jump to the Ancient Guardian costs 45 fuel through a nebula and an ion storm.

Follow the signal. Live with the choice.

Answer an invoice from a billing drone. Find a late freighter drifting with its cargo doors wide open. Follow ancient ringways into the unknown.

Choices cost hull, fuel or crew. Some pay off. Some really don’t.

The Waking Cargo

The Late Delivery

Chapter 1 of 7

A man from Morrow Arms calls your ship. His name is Davin Pell, and he smiles while he talks.

“One of our freighters is late,” he says. “The Patience. It was bringing ore home from our mining outpost on Gant, a small moon far away from everything. We pay double if you find it. Morrow pays at the end of the job.”

Your call

  • Send two of your crew across in space suits.
  • Look closer with the camera only.
  • Pull away from the Patience.

Brave crew. Loyal pets.

Engineers, scientists, pilots and managers, each with skills to train, like Fuel Expert, Battle Mechanic or Moon Broker. Robots keep the ship running, pets keep the crew happy and a space eel in a room’s tank makes that room stronger.

People you lose stay lost.

And please, do not press Consume.

Crew roster with six crew, a robot and a pet.
The dossier of Sebastian, the ship’s pet, with a Consume button.

Build a ship worth risking.

Upgrade the Armory, Generator, Repair Bay and Bridge. Decide which guns get the energy. Find weapons with lucky upgrades, salvage what you can’t power and keep the right ship tool for the moment a story needs it.

Ship page of the Driftworn: hull, energy and crew readouts with a laser, a rocket and a phaser mounted.

You will die. A lot.

Every voyage ends. The Black Box records how it ended, and the only question is how far you got first.

The Driftworn explodes under a Golden Armada Mother Ship.
The Game Over card tells how the voyage ended.

Lose the ship. Keep the stories.

Your signals, earned ships and achievements stay with you, so the next voyage starts with more to find.

Captain’s Log

15 stories. 84 chapters.

The main story and 14 story signals, each one a book on your shelf. Open one and read its first page. What happens next is your call.

  1. Heartglass
  2. Impossible Rescues
  3. No Birds on Trophy Moon
  4. The Black Orchard
  5. Terms and Conditions
  6. The Bug Front
  7. Hidden signal
  8. Hidden signal
  9. Hidden signal
  10. Hidden signal
  11. Hidden signal
  12. Hidden signal
  13. Hidden signal
  14. Hidden signal
  15. Hidden signal

Main story

Heartglass

9 chapters

Each voyage can recover two signals, free or premium, and what you recover stays recovered. Deeper signals stay dark until a voyage reaches their galaxy.

Know your enemy.

Praedao raiders, Ancient Guardians and the Golden Armada. Every ship breaks apart one stage at a time, yours included. Tap one to fire.

0 by you

Four ships. Four crews.

Each ship launches with its own crew. Drag the hull and see how much it can take.

Driftworn

The hull you set out in.

Where every voyage starts.

A pilot, an engineer, a scientist, a pet and a robot.

    More than 100 achievements.

    Win battles, train your crew, survive a fuel crisis, come back out of a wormhole. Leaderboards track your highest score and your furthest galaxy.

    Patch notes

    The galaxy keeps changing.

    Every update since launch, in plain words: what changed, by how much and why.

    • BuffStronger
    • NerfWeaker
    • ReworkWorks differently
    • NewAdded
    • FixRepaired

    Day 1Wednesday, 28 October 2026

    1 update1

    Google Play

    Driftworn 1.0

    New

    A turn-based starship roguelite with a battered ship, a small crew and strange signals from the dark.

    • 15stories
    • 84chapters
    • 4ships
    • 100+achievements

    Day 2Thursday, 29 October 2026

    3 updates21

    First voyage

    The developer's note

    New

    It shows up once, right after your first signal locks on.

    A note from

    The developer

    Hi Captain, thank you for playing Driftworn!

    That was your first free signal. Signals are short stories with their own choices, and most of them include fights, bosses and unique rewards. Yours will be revealed when this voyage ends, and many more are hidden out there.

    Tip: upgrade your ship between fights, starting with the Generator, so your guns always have energy.

    Markus

    Story signals

    Every signal, two galaxies earlier

    Buff

    Every signal after Impossible Rescues is now found two galaxies sooner. No Birds on Trophy Moon now waits in Galaxy 2.

    No Birds on Trophy Moon
    Galaxy 4Galaxy 2
    The deepest signal
    Galaxy 36Galaxy 34
    Signals you already found
    KeptUnchanged
    1. 42
    2. 64
    3. 86
    4. 108
    5. 1210
    6. 1513
    7. 1816
    8. 2119
    9. 2422
    10. 2725
    11. 3028
    12. 3331
    13. 3634

    Galaxy where each signal is found. Signals past Galaxy 8 stay dark here, as in the game.

    Your ship · Room

    Generator

    Buff

    Your Generator now makes 1 extra energy, so your guns keep firing a little longer after a hit. Enemy Generators stay as they were.

    Base energy
    23
    Enemy Generators
    2Unchanged

    Release noteIt only gets you a bit further, though. Please upgrade your ship!

    Before2
    Now3

    Your Generator’s base energy. Enemy Generators stay at 2.

    Day 3Friday, 30 October 2026

    1 update1

    Google Play Games

    Leaderboards

    New

    Both leaderboards now show the top 100 captains.

    Captains shown
    25100

    Day 5Sunday, 1 November 2026

    1 update22

    Epic event · Galaxy 1

    The Wreck Before the Gate

    New

    Every voyage now meets a wrecked cargo ship in Galaxy 1. Its last log tells you how to beat the Guardian. The wreck is coming apart, so there is only time to take one thing.

    Beacon · Cargo ship Lantern · Last log

    “This is the cargo ship Lantern. Last log.

    The Guardian didn’t shoot at first. It just started to glow. We fired everything we had at its hull. Nothing happened.

    The glow got brighter. Then Nora found its generator, the room that makes its power, and hit it again and again. Every hit made the glow flicker and fade.

    She almost made it. Then the light filled our screens and hit every room at once. Where our shields were up, they broke, but the hull held. Everywhere else, the ship went dark.

    If you can hear this, the gate is close. Take what you can use. We won’t need it.”

    Your call

    • Pull the gun loose with the cargo arm.
    • Send someone out to the pod.
    • Take the fuel tanks.
    • Leave the wreck.

    Main story

    Heartglass starts sooner

    New

    The main story now begins at your very first jump.

    Starts in
    Galaxy 2Galaxy 1, first jump

    Google Play Games

    Leaderboards

    Fix

    The leaderboards now really load all 100 captains, 25 at a time as you scroll.

    Achievements

    Achievement pictures

    Fix

    The big achievement picture no longer has cut-off corners or a second frame.

    Day 6Monday, 2 November 2026

    1 update2

    Event · Galaxy 1 to 6

    Barnaby's Junk Drones

    New

    Barnaby fixes dead drones from the junk fields and pays for a good show. Pick three, five or seven drones. Your Armory decides if you shoot them all down. He shows up again and again in the first six galaxies, and he wants a stronger Armory the deeper you go.

    Try it: change the Armory level above Barnaby's page. The tags follow the game's own odds for Galaxy 1.

    Contact

    Barnaby’s Junk Drones

    A big workshop ship has been following your engine trail. Now it flies up beside you, and an old face with a huge grin fills your screen.

    “Barnaby here! I find dead drones in the junk fields and fix them. But I never know if they really work until a real ship fights them.”

    “I pay for a good show. Shoot them all down, and the money is yours. How many do you want? Three? Five? Seven, if you are brave.”

    Your call

    • Ask for three dronesArmory 2Low risk
    • Ask for five dronesArmory 2Low risk
    • Ask for seven dronesArmory 2Low risk
    • Fly on

    Story choices

    Risk tags

    New

    Choices that depend on one of your rooms now show the room, its level and how risky the choice is: Low risk, Risky or Very risky. You see them in Barnaby's Junk Drones, the Unavoidable Asteroid and the Asteroid Field.

    Room choices
    [Armory L2]Armory 2 · Low risk

    Day 7Tuesday, 3 November 2026

    3 updates1222

    Ancient Guardian · Boss weapon

    Last Order

    Rework

    The Guardian no longer opens the fight with a Nuke. It charges its Last Order instead: four warheads, one for each of your rooms. You see it coming, and a shield can stop a warhead.

    First shot
    Round 1Round 2
    Your shields
    IgnoredSave the hull, then break
    Damage
    A full Nuke90% of a Nuke
    Second shot
    NeverOnce more at half hull
    Guardians with it
    From Galaxy 7From Galaxy 1

    In the first galaxies it hits softer: 40% of a Nuke in Galaxy 1, full strength from Galaxy 6.

    WhyThe opening Nuke did almost 90% of all the hull damage a Guardian dealt, and shields did nothing against it. Now you get one round to answer: every hit on its Generator while it charges holds the shot back, and so do the Blue and Green Crystals.

    Ship system

    Bombardment

    Nerf

    Every shell now rolls against the enemy's evasion, like every other gun. From Armory 48 on, the shells stop getting a second bonus from your Armory.

    Shells
    Never missedCan miss
    Armory bonus
    Counted twiceCounted once past Armory 48
    Shells per volley
    4 to 7Unchanged

    WhyOn the Galaxy 110 run it did about 90% of all the damage. With a Red Crystal it killed deep Guardians before they could fire in almost 9 of 10 fights.

    Crystal

    Green Crystal

    Rework

    Green no longer boosts your own rooms. Now it weakens the big enemy ship: all of its rooms run at 60% for the rest of the battle. It still takes 2 bubbles off every small ship.

    Your rooms
    BoostedNo boost
    Big enemy ship
    No effectAll rooms at 60%
    Small ships
    2 bubbles offUnchanged

    WhyIts room boost did the same job as the Red Crystal. Now each crystal has one job: Red hits the big ship harder, Blue steals its energy, Green weakens its rooms.

    Ship system

    Shield System

    Buff

    The Shield System now also tries to raise a shield before the first round of every battle.

    Tries before round 1
    NoYes, once

    WhyThe Guardian's first volley used to land before your shields had a chance to come up.

    Before
    1. Battle starts
    2. Round 1: guns fire
    3. Round 1 endsShield roll
    Now
    1. Battle startsShield roll
    2. Round 1: guns fire
    3. Round 1 endsShield roll

    Each roll uses the system’s normal chance.

    Every ship system

    Trigger chance

    Nerf

    The chance that a ship system fires each round now stops at 75%, and you only get there with a tech 4 system and both crew skills. Enemy systems use the same numbers.

    System Expert skill
    +10%+5%
    Improviser skill
    +5%+3%
    Deep enemy Shield systems
    75%67%

    WhyLate in a run, systems fired in almost every round. They should stay a gamble.

    BeforeNowBest case: a tech 4 system with System Expert and Improviser aboard.

    Checked in the Balance Lab with 200 bot voyages per build: the Bombardment, Shield and Nanoids builds now get about as far as each other.

    Events

    Header art

    New

    24 Rare and Epic events now show a painting at the top of every page of the event.

    24 paintings, from the Thunderdome to the wormhole.

    Story signals

    Found signals start at once

    New

    When a signal locks on, its first chapter plays as soon as you are back on the map, and the rest of its story happens in this voyage. Premium signals: the first chapter is free, then you decide if you want to unlock the rest.

    First chapter
    Next voyageRight away
    Premium, chapter 1
    Buy firstFree
    Locked-on screen
    Continue, See the routeOne Play now button

    Signal locked on

    Galaxy 2 · Free

    No Birds on Trophy MoonUnknown free signal

    The cameras found you first.

    It starts now.It will be revealed when this voyage ends.

    ContinueSee the route

    Day 8Wednesday, 4 November 2026

    1 update173

    Tutorials in story form

    Five lessons on your route

    New

    Each of these events teaches one part of the game while it tells its story. They wait around the galaxy where you first need what they teach, so a new captain learns the game one piece at a time.

    The four Epic events happen once per voyage. After the Raid can come back once per galaxy, from Galaxy 3 to 10.

    1. Galaxy 2Aim for the BridgeThe Endless Duel
    2. Galaxy 3CrystalsThe Wrong Escort
    3. Galaxy 3 to 10Ship ToolsAfter the Raid
    4. Galaxy 6Space EelsThe Dry Sea
    5. Galaxy 7Moon CoinsThe Stranded Trader

    Epic event · Galaxy 2

    The Endless Duel

    New

    Twin Praedao brothers bought the same racing ship, and for two days they have been shooting at each other over one name: Untouchable. Help one of them and fight the other one's ship alone, or tell them both to shoot the Bridge.

    The lesson: a ship dodges because of its Bridge, so the Bridge is the room to hit first.

    Epic event · Galaxy 3

    The Wrong Escort

    New

    A snake freighter thinks you are the escort it hired and lends you one crystal of each colour. Play along, and three Praedao attacks follow, each one made for one crystal: Green against a swarm of Scouts, Red against a Destroyer, Blue against a Bomber that carries a Nuke.

    Use the right crystal and you get a new one of that colour. A crystal coach shows up in these fights only, and the Green Crystal now says "Hit every small ship" when small ships are in the fight.

    Event · Galaxy 3 to 10

    After the Raid

    New

    The Praedao raided a convoy, and its escape capsules are still drifting between the wrecks. Each visit, one capsule needs one of your Ship Tools: the Tether Drone, the Signal Decoder or the Emergency Sealant. With the right tool you save the survivor for sure, and they join your crew. Without it you can still try, but it is very risky.

    At most once per galaxy. A survivor takes a free seat on your Bridge, or waits on standby when every seat is taken. Try it: switch between with and without the drone above the page.

    Contact

    After the Raid

    The Praedao attacked this convoy not long ago. Its freighters are broken, and between them the beacons of escape capsules are still blinking. One of them is close.

    The capsule is spinning toward a burning freighter. In a few minutes, it will be inside the fire.

    “A Tether Drone could catch it,” Elisabeth says. “Next time we pass a Tool Station, we buy one.”

    Your call

    • Send the Tether Drone to catch itSold at Tool Stations
    • Fly in close and grab it with the cargo armVery risky

    Fly on

    Epic event · Galaxy 6

    The Dry Sea

    New

    On a planet whose ocean dried up long ago, a stone temple keeps four living Space Eels. Your crew argue over the radio for the eel they want, and each says what that eel does. You pick one, and it goes into its room's tank.

    Each room has one tank, and an eel for a full tank gets eaten. So eel choices now show the room, the bonus and the eel, and an eel whose tank is full stays locked.

    Epic event · Galaxy 7

    The Stranded Trader

    New

    A Moon Coin trader ran out of fuel on a bare, rocky planet. Give the trader 20 fuel, and you get a Moon Coin and a lesson on the Moon Bank and the Captain's Note. Then the trader sends news to the market to push the price up or down, the way you ask, and you get one trade at the new price.

    Snake Trader event
    From Galaxy 8From Galaxy 15

    A little news always moves the price. A lot of news is a gamble: a big move the way you asked, or a backfire the other way.

    Story choices

    Locked choices say why

    New

    A choice you can't take right now stays on the page, locked, and says why: a Ship Tool you don't carry and where to buy one, an eel tank that is already full, or bad news when the Moon Coin is already at its lowest price.

    A choice you can't take
    HiddenLocked, with the reason

    Story choices

    Risk tags on risky tries

    New

    The risk tag now also shows on a try that needs no room, like going in without the right tool.

    Risk tags on
    Room choicesRoom choices and risky tries

    Performance

    Long voyages no longer lag

    Fix

    From about Galaxy 9 the game could freeze for a moment after a tap, and some stories, like Barnaby's Junk Drones, were slow to open. Every time the game checked a story's conditions, it searched through hundreds of game functions from the start. Now it finds them once and remembers where they are.

    A tap while out of fuel
    528 ms137 ms
    Barnaby's Junk Drones opens
    794 ms264 ms

    Measured on a test build with a Galaxy 9 voyage.

    Out of Fuel

    Help comes when only a station is in reach

    Fix

    When your fuel only reached a station that sells you no fuel, like a Repair Dock or a Fuel Dock you can't pay, the game thought you could still fly on. So no Out of Fuel help and no distress call came. Now such a station doesn't count, unless a real place is in reach past it.

    Signals and ships

    Big moments close only through their buttons

    Fix

    A quick tap beside the "Continue this story?" card could close it, and the offer was gone. Now that card, a newly found signal, the signals revealed when a voyage ends and a newly unlocked ship ignore taps beside them and the Back button.

    Explore map

    No more signal card on the map

    Rework

    The "Premium signal · past the Guardian" card at the bottom of the map is gone. It showed from Galaxy 1 on, and tapping it took you out of your voyage. The Guardian's signal ping on the map stays.

    Free to play. No ads.

    The game and its seven free story signals cost nothing. Seven premium story signals are optional in-app purchases: each one can be bought once a voyage recovers it. The Season 1 Signal Pass covers all seven, each yours the moment a voyage recovers it, and unlocks the Listener.

    Google Play Games

    Achievements, leaderboards for your highest score and furthest galaxy, and your signals and ships saved to the cloud.

    Plays with TalkBack

    Built to work with TalkBack, the galaxy map and battles included. It also follows your system setting to remove animations.

    Every voyage ends.

    The only question is how far you get first.

    Watch the trailer

    Out now on Google Play

    NewComing to iPhone in November