Blow Up StarVaders' Universe in the Dice-Rolling, Astronomically Scoring Dicevaders

There are just two constants in this world - no, not death and taxes - it's that every indie developer needs to either make a Vampire Survivors-like or Balatro-like. It seems that Pengonauts, developers of last year's tactical roguelike hit StarVaders, have chosen the latter. Dicevaders, out today, is (as you'd expect) a dice-rolling roguelike that flips the script on the StarVaders universe, putting you in control of the alien invaders on a quest to explode Earth.

This is very much a spinoff, rather than a sequel. The original StarVaders was a surprisingly involved tactical deckbuilder, with a big focus on careful movement to evade bullet hell-esque attacks, signposted at the start of each turn. Here, you're stacking scoring perks (similar to jokers in Balatro) and buying units to create a line-up of attacks, then rolling your dice to see which lanes of minions get to attack.

Each round, the enemy defense target goes up, and you need to outscore them to move on to the next round. So far, so Balatro, and this one fully embraces the absurd numbers, showing scores spiraling well into the astronomical figures in the launch trailer. The big advantage the game has going for it is that Starvaders had a fantastic aesthetic, funny space-adventure setting, and a banger of a soundtrack, and it looks like Dicevaders has inherited all of those perks too.

Even if you're the villains here and trying to blow up planets, there's something just charming about your roster of characters and your squidgy, bouncy little space minions that you're lining up on the board. A good vibe is essential in a game like this, as Balatro proved - all the smart mechanics in the world are unlikely to give you a breakout hit if you don't have that sauce. And, judging by the first round of user reviews here, Dicevaders is dripping with it.

Dicevaders is out now for £13/$15, with a 10% launch discount running until October 13th, and further savings if you own StarVaders, Luck Be A Landlord or Balatro. They know what they're doing.