One Of The Best Roguelikes Ever Made Just Hit 1.0! - Nova Drift

Get Nova Drift on Steam - store.steampow...
Nova Drift is a "Roguelite" space shooter which melds a classic arcade experience with modern action-RPG elements. Your ship rapidly evolves as you defeat enemies, allowing you to shape its abilities and weaponry to your desires in a matter of minutes. Unlike many action-RPGs which can absorb hundreds of hours of time, Nova Drift allows you to take a ship build from inception to execution in a single game session.
_____________________________________________________________
Support me on Patreon: / wanderbot
My Twitter: wanderbots
Watch Me Live: twitch.tv/wanderbot

[@novadriftgame]

It means a lot to me to see you return to Nova Drift, you were a huge part of the game coming out of obscurity! Thank you. Once the release from dust has settled, I plan to review your library for the dozens of amazing rogues I've missed during the chaos.

[@JosiahBradley]

I don't game often, but when I do, I hope I can Nova Drift. Cheers!

[@phu9340]

Your game is cool ah!

[@Hexcede]

Some stuff to note about the mechanics: Plating does not affect shields. Self damage also bypasses plating (the best counter to self damage is to have forms of fast regeneration, notably, having high regen and high max health) *and* self damage will also bypass shields and damage you directly. Most on damage effects (e.g. armor plating) also won't be triggered by self damage. The fastest form of just raw, constant regeneration is health regeneration because it is proportional to your max health. With shield regeneration the regeneration of the shield is proportional to the max shield iirc, which also means that your regen for your health and shields is a lot smaller than you would probably think, but it can also get a lot bigger than you would probably think too. This means that *generally* if you spec out of shields you can pretty easily tank some pretty big self damage, but most of the time self damage builds tend to do bad with shields ime because you just don't have nearly as much healing, and because self damage bypasses shields you can't rely on shield cooldown to outheal what could end up being some pretty huge damage. The total shield cooldown time also increases proportionally with a bigger shield, which means that extremely low max shield plus extremely fast shield cooldown can result in by far the largest DPS absorption in the whole game simply because the shield can recharge its entire health repeatedly (there are also lots of super fun shield recharge mechanics). Personally, I tend to prefer to play without a shield because it simplifies things a lot and makes specialization easier because removing your shield eliminates a whole bunch of mods. I can also offer one tip if you plan to have no shield, you can actually skip the shield upgrade (and others but the shield is probably the most useful to skip) at the start of a run and immediately get a weapon, which just starts you off with the base shield. There is also a base weapon which you can't get in any other way (I was a bit disappointed to learn that there aren't any achievements related to playing really well with base gear unfortunately, but, maybe that will change) Out of the ~100 hours I have played the beta for I can tell you that this game is easily the most consistent with the rules that it applies out of any roguelike that I have played. There are very few cases where something will behave in a weird way that disagrees with something else in a way you wouldn't expect, for example if there are any cases where self damage will trigger an effect it would get explicitly mentioned, and otherwise it can always be expected to not trigger any effect because self damage is basically just raw, direct damage. It's not 100% perfect in this regard, especially when it comes to some of the much more complex behaviours (e.g. not having a weapon and taking certain upgrades that require you to do things with your weapon like reload or fire, etc, these things can sort of read like they imply that they will work, but, in actuality the descriptions of mods don't update based on what you have or anything so you have to pay some attention to the wording) but I think the game still does a really good job at communicating the way that the different mod effects apply. If you read what things say, the wording is always very precise and consistent, and the dev certainly pays a lot of attention to that sort of stuff which I appreciate as a player a lot. The game is extremely well balanced and I find it fun often even when I lose a good run because it's almost always due to me making a mistake rather than some weird inconsistency or unexpected mechanic, which is something I can't say about most games. Especially when you get past some of the sort of initial learning and you understand how a lot of the mods work.

[@lenoplanet8590]

„Some“ Stuff

[@TajinQ]

I appreciate the efforts but I ain't reading all that xD

[@ravenomegatrueheart356]

There is an achievement "Ya Basic" Kill wave 100 boss with basic gun, basic shield AND basic hull

[@Hexcede]

@@ravenomegatrueheart356 Oh it must have been added as part of the release, cool

[@TECHNOBYT3]

This is a really great review! The balancing of everything also amazes me and it's really great seeing how the developer is able to keep all of the different mods, weapons, shields, etc from conflicting with each other. I'm approaching 100 hours myself and can't wait to see what's in store for the future. I'd also like to add to your note on self damage and say that only hull self damage bypasses shields. Otherwise, self damage such as that from dying star will affect your shield before your hull. Aside from that your advice is really great and in-depth! I've never really taken advantage of how hull/shield regeneration scales with max hull/shield respectively, and I'll definitely keep that in mind for any bulky builds I may end up running in the future. Thank you! tl;dr Only hull self damage bypasses shields. Other than that great advice/review, thanks!

[@6Saturn9]

Random fun fact: there's an animal called Blue Dragon Sea Slug that looks exactly like the thumbnail.

[@WCGamesOfficial]

I believe its also called Glaucus, just like the boss

[@cygnusa5992]

Yes, it is based on that

[@cavemandanwilder5597]

I have been playing this game for years. There’s not enough good Nova Drift content out there - I’d love to see you do a series now that it’s in full release!

[@Maxtech50]

If your into nova drift you probably already know them but ultra c plays it a lot and I enjoy them a lot

[@cavemandanwilder5597]

@@Maxtech50 Absolutely, Ultra-C is one of my favorite YT channels.

[@WCGamesOfficial]

The pain of watching u miss doubled Grandeur hurts

[@ch1kn_tenders]

Been on and off playing this game for so long, it's crazy that it just now fully released 1.0 when it has been such a fun game ever since it came out :)

[@MrEDET]

Weird that I never heard of this game until the 1.0 release and apparently the rest of the world is already playing this for years :D Bought it and absolutely love it.

[@micheal3333]

it kinda looks like asteroid's and galaga got smashed together

[@maxpower8549]

it is more like asteROIDS

[@WolfHauler]

my favorite part about you wonder is our consistency, and your calm nature, definetly someone id get along with if i ever met!

[@koko4620]

Wow this game is visually stunning

[@thorne6477]

I can't wait until Wander meets The Big Boy.

[@seldric6089]

I had no idea they had their 1.0 release. I had this in my steam library a while ago and didn't know they had big news until I stumbled on your video

[@lagosertergaming3835]

Asteroids, plus galaga really is the best way to describe this game. im so happy its in 1.0 now

[@Anthraax]

Exactly how I described it in my first review that I left way back😂 This game definitely deserves so much more attention as a hidden gem and labor of love!

[@BrokeOldGamer]

FINALLY! Love this game as it's in my top 10 of GOAT roguelikes list!

[@TryHardGamerYT]

Oh my god I've never seen a fire build like that, that's insane i gotta try it.

[@michaelwestmoreland2530]

Dropped by after beating a Rogue Genesia run and finding a SUSPICUSLY FAMILIAR HELMET.

[@maxpower8549]

NaN! It was this exploit becoming a feature that made me buy the game, getting an item is the least the dev could do, they seem like a cool person

[@Anthraax]

Ayoooo! So glad to see support for this awesome game to celebrate its official launch! +1 for those algorithms

[@thebetterterrablade809]

For the zero people wondering; the dev has mentioned that they WOULD want to try and make a console port of Nova Drift but it depends on well the official launch goes.

[@rednoodleoffate]

This one has been in development for a few years now, Ultra C has been covering different builds throughout Early Access.

[@SuperfluidAlkaloid]

10 years 😃

[@KhaziirEverflight]

saw this originally AGES ago, maybe your first or second video on this and instantly went and bought it when i had the money, like a few days or so afterwards, and the game ahsn'T been uninstalled since. absolute fun for a "quick" go at it, especialyl once endless and all challengemodes were unlocked

[@mhenhilmorin527]

hell yeah more nova drift!!

[@mwuilchku8548]

W w w whaaaat? Its 1.0 now?

[@SpokenTruth419]

One of the videos I found your channel on, wow it's been that long 😮

[@shadowsonic4452]

It might just be me, but I think rapid regeneration and regenerating shields should be mutually exclusive upgrade trees, similar to the assault/defensive drone/ally trees.

[@Ironnerd63sChannel]

Somehow my first winning run was Carrier with a bunch of durability, Void, and basically fully defensive summons

[@gardenergulfie1073]

Yeah Glaucus!!! Based on the Glaucus Atlanticus!!! My favorite sea slug!

[@someonenamedsean91]

Heck yes i always love seeing more nova drift

[@GaloKaineRey]

Love seeing content on Nova Drift as 1.0 came out, been seeing lots of different builds, hope you try other builds, currently doing a Engineer with Allies Swordsman... This is a very fun game...

[@leafykille]

That final build actually looked good, auto fire is your friend wi rapid fire weapons. Especially with homing.

[@CobaltSpace]

Usually, especially if going for hidden power, the best thing to banish is recursive wild mods.

[@WUGarry163]

man I like how different this game turn out to be

[@mightydevilico]

Fantastic game. I’m going to be playing for a while

[@swede7581]

REMINDS ME OF A GAME I PLAYED IN THE 80S OR 90S AT THE ARCADE WHERE U FLY IN A CIRCLE SHOOTING AT ENEMIES AND LEVEL AFTER LEVEL THROUGH THE SOLAR SYSTEM PLANET AFTER PLANET BUT I CANT SEEM TO REMEMBER WHAT ITS CALLED AGAIN(IT MANY YEARS BACK SO MIGHT BE DUE TO THAT) thanks 4 this video

[@creamydonk]

From your description it sounds like the sequel to asteroids, called blasteroids.

[@overlodoverlord8871]

Yo love your content man always feel safe when i watch it i am watching your mindestri gameplay ist amazing

[@73ingie]

1:12:44 your rocking now🎉

[@shadowsonic4452]

49:00 crucible has always felt out of place for me, and it looks like it has improved, but I just can’t turn the extra boss modifier on, because this boss showing up is just too often a run ender for me. It just feels unbelievably tough, does a ton of damage in a short period of time, has attacks the feel neigh impossible to dodge, and also removes the safety of screen warping. Before this game is done being developed I really hope this boss gets another look, as it’s just ruins the extra boss modifier for me.

[@NothingKingKN]

This game brought me nostalgia of Bubble Tank...

[@73ingie]

Bought this great game love the sound and visuals it's very addictive ❤

[@raze4135]

Research feels like you need to spam your bans immediately and get out asap(Which can be harder than it seems if rng doesn't want to give you the ship you want) and even then I'm not sure if it's worth it over just using your reroll points to reroll normally.

[@Alexandragon1]

Thx for the video!

[@BaneWilliams]

Path of Exile - Righteous Fire is even better imo than your D2 callback. It's a very sexy build.

[@ElderBeagle295]

Does it have options to dampen the effects like screen flash?

[@TECHNOBYT3]

It lets you disable screen flash entirely in the settings menu, but there doesn't appear to be an option to dampen or decrease it without disabling it

[@ElderBeagle295]

@@TECHNOBYT3 Thanks I appreciate the reply!

[@humanhuman7280]

i started playing the game not long ago and i hate the crab boss alot also blade drones are good with the stealth hull

[@mecalico4647]

Yeah i love this game

[@badscientist42069]

I really wanted to love this game, but the dated, floaty tank controls killed it for me.

[@maxpower8549]

i mean i already have 500 hours sunk into this but: Nova Drift, Knock On The Coffin Lid, Rogue Genesia, where do i start? I can only agree to a comment that said there are not enough hours in the day

[@73ingie]

Good if you sort crucible your onto a good one 💯👍

[@Trezzahn1982]

You need to stop reviewing games that I like... good job again Wanderbot!

[@JohnDoe-nn5pj]

scorching wake just seems bad. Against bosses, you never want to be in a position where scorching wake can do damage. And against regular enemies, it's useless since your regular attacks will kill enemies faster.

[@truckingwithatablet4489]

@wanderbots Nova Drift is not Astrioids it is Galaxian. Rouge Rocks is Astrioids. JC

[@pmangano]

Shield builds are amazing, until you lose your shield and then you are both useless and unprotected. Which then feels awful. Also, F the crucible. This sucker is waaaay harder than glaucus, its much more of a final boss

[@derGhebbet]

What do you need a webcam for anyway? Don't think I've ever seen your face.

[@wanderbots]

Meetings.

[@pmangano]

Once upon a time a facecam era of wanderbots actually existed.

[@noscopemonkey3369]

BIG Sadly the game controls are very bad on the steamdeck so I can't play it

[@butteredcrumpet]

That's absoluteky not true, I'd recommend messing around with your settings some more, it's a ton of fun on steam deck.

[@ultraken]

Try directional input style

[@noscopemonkey3369]

@@butteredcrumpet already tried all of the aiming settings. Probably getting a mouse would solve my problem

[@bluupadoop]

Sounds like a personal problem bro, maybe you just need to git gud. The game's certainly worth sinking some time into.

[@noscopemonkey3369]

@@bluupadoop ive played over 300 hours on pc so I know that is a good game bro My opinion is that the controls are bad on steamdeck. I will just get a mouse lol

[@user-ev4ov6wr1d]

One Of The Best Roguelikes Ever Made? Then why do I see one of the most boring roquelikes ever made?

[@73ingie]

Play it you will see....

[@HighLanderPonyYT]

Roguelites, oof.

[@WhatWillYouFind]

1st?