*STEAM DECK and PROTON users please note that a build is available in an accessible beta branch for testing
This game is my homage to Trade Wars 2002, a text/ANSI graphic based multiplayer space-trading game from the '80s/90s that I've tried to recreate the core concept and look and feel faithfully without being an exact clone, and also inspired by the computer UI's from science-fiction films/TV shows of the '70s and '80s with wireframe graphics and all caps text. I hope for those of you that play, who know what I'm talking about, it will bring back some nice memories for you, and those of you who don't, I hope you enjoy what the vision of the future in the '80s looked like.
Made with love and care to bring a modern touch to the old style with respect.
EXPLORE. TRADE. FIGHT. CONQUER.
Every session begins the same way: you, a Merchant Scout, and a galaxy full of opportunity. What happens next is up to you.
WHAT CREATORS ARE SAYING
"I don't have any complaints, which is very rare. Everything is tasteful, everything is tacked the hell down, everything is squared away..." - SplatterCatGaming
A LIVING GALAXY
▸ 2,000 sectors, procedurally rewired every run. No two galaxies are the same.
▸ A five-zone economy that reacts to supply, demand, distance, and sudden shocks like mining collapses and tech embargoes.
▸ Epoch shifts every 2,000 turns: pirate uprisings, trade booms, and faction wars across six eras before the Final Epoch locks in.
▸ Ten alien powers with capitals, patrols, and long memories. Hail any ship for intel, buy off a hostile captain, or demand a surrender, and watch your reputation open doors or close them.
▸ Strange readings emerge as you travel: distress beacons, fuel caches, convoys, and gravity wells, each a branching arrival incident with real stakes.
▸ Establish Colonies to grow your empire and provide resources to help you climb from Recruit to Admiral.
COMBAT AND CONTRACTS
▸ Tactical Combat, a real-time duel of phases, stances, and a momentum meter either alone or with wingmen where one mid-battle call can bury you.
▸ Fleet Combat, for when brawls get really big and have all your hired captains firing beside you, calling for an entirely different set of strategies to use.
▸ Work the faction bounty board: pirate hunts, patrol sweeps, cargo runs, and named targets or work the other side of the fence and accept missions for the Black Market.
BUILD YOUR FLAGSHIP & FLEET
▸ Eleven ship classes, from a Courier that outruns trouble to a Dreadnought that ends it.
▸ Customize your ship with weapon, defense, and utility upgrades.
▸ Hire AI captains and post them to guard, patrol, trade, or follow, up to a fleet of twenty-five.
FIVE PATHS. FIVE ENDGAMES.
▸ Trader, navigate and dominate the galactic market.
▸ Warrior, wiping the scourge of pirates from the map.
▸ Explorer, the map filled corner to corner.
▸ Diplomat, every great power calling you ally.
▸ Settler, a frontier stitched with your colonies.
THE PRECURSOR MYSTERY
▸ Discover the remnants of long vanished alien civilizations and their legacy.
▸ Chase their clues through the anomalies they left behind: scan-down gauntlets where the right choices pay out in rare loot and permanent edges.
TUNE THE TERMINAL
Make your own perfect vision of the '80s.
▸ Eight customizable CRT presets, with fine tunable settings that can make the game a crisp flat panel to a full retro burn pixellated vintage throwback.
▸ Customizable UI to make it as spartan as a '70s terminal to a glorious '90s effects display.
LOCALIZATION
▸ Japanese planned for the Early Access release.
▸ French, and German shortly after.
Join me on Discord for the latest news, sneak peeks, and to send your feedback.
