When does StarVaders get good?

Hooks you almost right away. In the first 2 hours 1 in 9 reviews are negative (11%); after 10h it's 1 in 60 (2%). Fully opens up by hour 10.

How many players finish StarVaders?

75% of players who start reach the ending.

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AdventureIndieStrategy

StarVaders

Apr 30, 2025 Steam: Overwhelmingly Positive

Hooks you almost right away

Gets good by 2h almost every game dips in hours 2–3

Fully opens up by 10h rated like by long-time players

Reach the ending 75% of players who started

Started playing 95% of owners

Steam reviews 97% positive of 4,450

What the data shows

In the first 2 hours 1 in 9 reviews are negative (11%); after 10h it's 1 in 60 (2%).
Fully opens up by hour 10.
The opening is criticised less than in 90% of games we track.
75% of players who start reach the ending.
Most players drop off before “Cadet” (Win a run): only 75% of starters get there.
95% of owners got the first achievement.

When it gets good

Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.

before it gets good opening up fully opened up

Based on all 4,497 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 295 reviews: 12.5h for positive, 5.4h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.

Where players quit

Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (95.4% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.

Started playing 100%
Cadet Win a run. Most players quit here 75% −25

story milestone ending biggest drop-off

Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.

All achievements (100)

story milestone ending side

Baby Steps Complete the tutorial. 100%
Big Mom Defeat the Mothership. 93%
Jello Defeat the Megablob. 84%
Trash Fire Overheat with a Junk card. 83%
Limit Break Go over the bomb limit. 80%
Friendly Fire Have a shooter kill another invader. 77%
Calamari Defeat the Kraken. 75%
Cadet Win a run. 75%
ON FIRE!!! Win a run as Roxy. 72%
D-Mail Reroll the shop or an encounter reward. 68%
Wild Cards Play 10 or more cards in a single turn. 68%
In Shambles Defeat the Shambler. 61%
Junkrat Win an encounter with 10 or more junk cards in your hand, discard, and draw combined. 60%
Lazengann Overload Reach a heat sink of 7 or more. 58%
The Purge Purge 10 or more cards in a single encounter. 56%
Lieutenant Win a run on Invasion. 56%
Fishbait Defeat Nessie. 55%
Normal Punch Kill 10 or more invaders by playing one card. 52%
THIS IS STARVADERS!!! Kill an invader by pushing or pulling it into a hole. 52%
pewpewpewpewpewpew Fire 30 or more bullets in a single turn. 49%
Split! Split the Kraken's tentacle. 49%
Queen's Gambit Defeat the Grandmaster. 47%
Research Assistant Help Min complete her research. 47%
Egress Defeat the Eclipse. 43%
Get Outta Here! Kill an invader by throwing a junk card. 42%
Cut That Out. Annoy Min. 42%
Top Gun Win a run on Apocalypse. 41%
Hot Chocolate Win a run as Noel. 41%
Nappy Time Win a run as Shun. 41%
Beekeeper Defeat the Queen Bees. 40%
Judgment Day Kill 5 or more invaders that are channeling doom in a single turn. 39%
Stayin' Alive Win a run with 4 doom. 35%
WOMBO COMBO Reach a combo of 25 or more. 32%
Red Wedding Defeat the Hemophage. 29%
Killer Queen End the turn with 8 or more Bombs on the grid at the same time. 28%
Starstruck Get struck while your mech is shocked. 28%
Zap! Reach 10 or more battery. 26%
The Gang's All Here Spawn 5 or more unique entities in a single turn. 26%
Pirate King Win a run as Kaia. 25%
Clean Up Win a run as Iris. 25%
Battle-Tested Win a run as Zeke. 23%
I Choose You! Activate a summon 5 or more times in a single turn. 22%
Masochist Get struck 7 or more times in a single turn. 22%
The End Reach the true ending of the game. 21%
Armageddon Unlock all bosses and invaders in the game. 21%
Fire Fist Win an encounter with 7 or more burnt cards in your hand, discard, and draw combined. 20%
Happy Feet Move 10 or more times in a single turn (Stinger). 20%
Why Can't I Hold All These Cards? Reach the max hand size (of 12). 20%
Sacrificial Lamb Sacrifice an invader. 20%
Job's Done Win a run as Hali. 19%
Cyberware Win a run with 8 or more cards with components. 17%
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Win with Min. 14%
Hoarder Win a run with 10 or more artifacts. 14%
Tower Defense Win an encounter without playing a Move card. 14%
Starman Win a run as Xenn. 14%
For The Greater Good Sacrifice 5 or more entities in a single turn. 13%
Make it Double! Win a run as Garu. 13%
Pacifist Win an encounter without playing any attack cards. 13%
Timeless Win a run without using a Chrono Token. 12%
Prepare for Trouble! Win a run as Sura. 11%
The Collector Have 15 or more pickups on the grid at once. 10%
Witch Time Win a run without letting any Angels fly away. 9.5%
nice nice 9.2%
Lost in Time Win with Max. 8.9%
Fleet Commander Win a run with all pilots. 8.8%
KA-BOOOOM! Detonate a bomb with 5 or more radius. 8.6%
Maximalist Win a run with a deck size of 30 or more. 8.1%
AVRADA KEDAVRAVRAVRAVRAVRAVRA Activate 6 or more spells in a single turn. 7.7%
The Chosen One Win an encounter without spawning more than one entity (Keeper). 7.4%
Consecrated Win a run on Post-Apocalypse difficulty. 7.4%
Electric Feel End the turn with 8 or more Shocked entities. 6.7%
Carpe Diem Win a daily run. 5.7%
Minimalist Win a run with a deck size of 8 or less. 5.2%
Archangel Reach 10 or more mana. 4.9%
The Actual End...? Complete the Ultimate Ending. 4.5%
Exalted Win a run on Post-Post-Apocalypse difficulty. 4.0%
Who Needs Cards? Win a run without taking any cards from rewards or the shop. 3.6%
Death by a Thousand Strikes Play a card with 10 or more repeats. 3.5%
You Are Already Dead Defeat a boss in a single turn. 3.4%
Min will remember that. Buy everything in Min's shop. 2.9%
Ascendant Win a run on Impossible difficulty. 2.9%
The Bare Necessities Win a run without Rare or Legendary cards. 2.7%
Who Needs Artifacts? Win a run without gaining an artifact. 2.1%
Flawless Victory Win a run without getting struck or gaining any doom. 2.0%
Run It Back Have winstreak of 5 or more on any pilot. 1.9%
Purist Win a run without any components on your cards. 1.9%
Aim for The Top Complete all Roxy challenges. 1.4%
Veteran Win a run without having any Starter cards remaining in your deck. 1.4%
Godspeed Complete all Shun challenges. 1.2%
Poseidon's Aid Complete all Hali challenges. 1.0%
Warrior of Liberation Complete all Kaia challenges. 1.0%
Iron-Blooded Orphan Complete all Iris challenges. 0.9%
Blizzard of Hell Complete all Noel challenges. 0.9%
Into the StarVader-Verse Complete Max Challenges. 0.8%
Turbo Granny Complete Min Challenges. 0.8%
Fullmetal Complete all Zeke challenges. 0.8%
Devils Never Cry Complete all Garu challenges. 0.7%
Bury The Light Complete all Sura challenges. 0.7%
El Psy Kongroo Complete all Xenn challenges. 0.7%
Thank You For Playing! <3 Complete ALL challenges in the game. 0.5%

Steam page Updated: 2026-10-19.