Star Swarm is a portrait survival shooter about controlling space and deciding when to spend stored power. Normal fire is automatic, so your attention belongs on movement, charge timing, item routes, and the warnings that precede dangerous attacks.
Guide reviewed for the July 2026 web build.
The first minute: move less, observe more
The opening tutorial teaches eight concrete reactions with real game objects: movement, boost, charge magnetism, item effects, orbit wall reactions, bomb clears, Burst laser clears, and Burst-to-ATK conversion. It is not a separate simplified ruleset. Tutorial enemies and bullets use the normal collision systems, while a training guard prevents the lesson from costing a life or affecting a competitive run.
During the first ordinary wave, use the center-lower area as a home position. Small corrections preserve escape routes better than constantly circling the border. Normal shots fire by themselves. Holding Charge pauses that stream, so a long charge is a trade: you gain a piercing, bullet-blocking projectile but temporarily give up continuous damage.
The controls that change a run
- Move: arrow keys or WASD, the touch joystick, or a standard gamepad stick/D-pad.
- Charge: hold C, the mobile C button, or gamepad A/Cross. Release to fire the reached stage.
- Boost: hold Space, mobile B, or gamepad B/Circle. Boost spends its own rechargeable energy.
- Orbit wall: Z, mobile O, or gamepad Y/Triangle launches orbiters into a temporary defensive formation.
- Bomb: X, mobile X, or gamepad X/Square clears immediate pressure. Bomb pickups are deliberately uncommon.
- Pause and settings: P pauses. The KEY panel remaps keyboard and gamepad actions, while touch settings adjust size, position, hit area, and opacity.
The most useful beginner habit is to separate movement tools from damage tools. Boost is an escape resource; Charge is a timing resource; a bomb is an emergency reset. Spending all three on the same harmless wave leaves no answer for the next dive.
How an ordinary run develops
Waves scale in groups of three. Defeated enemies can restore some Burst energy, and item pickups alter the current run. Rapid and Spread feed one ATK gauge, while Burst, Rapid, and Spread pickups also trigger short overdrives. Shield, orbit, homing, life, and bomb drops answer different problems: shields forgive one mistake, orbits intercept bullets and control a lane, and homing support keeps damage moving when direct alignment is unsafe.
Elite and boss milestones lead into card choices. Read a card as part of a direction, not as an isolated percentage. A charge-focused route wants stored Burst, stage-three reliability, and safe charging windows. A sustained-fire route values ATK storage, Rapid/Spread pickups, and movement that keeps targets in front. An orbit route becomes useful when you treat the visible connector between orbs as an active damaging wall rather than decorative art.
A reliable route to the first boss
- Keep one escape direction open. Avoid parking in a lower corner before a diving enemy commits.
- Use early charge shots through aligned targets. Their piercing path and bullet-blocking property create a safer lane.
- Preserve at least one emergency answer—boost energy, orbit wall, or bomb—for an elite dive.
- When a meteor appears, decide whether the item reward is worth the attention. Meteors block enemy bullets, but they are also solid threats with their own path.
- At wave ten, watch the boss rather than only the projectile field. The exposed weak point before laser charge is the best burst-damage window.
Boss regular fire has a deliberate rearm floor, and aimed volleys keep spacing between shots. That rhythm gives you time to cross a lane if you move when the warning begins. During the laser sequence, attack pressure changes: use the telegraph to select a safe side, then punish the exposed weak point instead of charging blindly in the center.
Playing on different devices
Keyboard
Keyboard offers the clearest separation between movement and action keys. If C, Space, Z, or X feels crowded, use the KEY panel to create a layout that keeps movement fingers free. Remapping is stored in the browser on that device.
Touch
The portrait interface uses a virtual joystick plus separate action buttons. Phone, tablet, foldable, and touch-PC layouts share the same 9:16 virtual playfield. Increase the hit area before increasing visual size if missed taps are the problem; opacity can be lowered without shrinking the active touch target.
Gamepad
Standard-mapped Xbox, DualSense, Switch Pro, and similar controllers use the left stick or D-pad for movement. The in-game binding panel shows the active mapping. Browser and operating-system controller support can vary, so connect the controller before loading the page if it is not detected mid-session.
Common questions
Do I need an account?
No. Guest play, local settings, and local scores work without login. An account is optional and is used for server-synced achievements, Career Points, permanent Career upgrades, and account-linked leaderboard records.
Why did normal fire stop?
Normal fire pauses while Charge is held. Release Charge or check whether a remapped charge input is stuck. Opening the KEY panel shows the active assignment.
Does watching an ad make the game pay-to-win?
Web advertising is currently disabled until network and consent review is complete. A native build can offer limited optional rewarded actions, but a reward is only granted after the native provider reports completion. Direct purchases are not enabled.
Can I repeat the tutorial?
Yes. Settings includes a Tutorial panel that clears temporary suppression and restarts training at a safe run boundary. Completing or leaving training performs a clean Main Run reset, so supplied tutorial resources do not carry into a score run.
Ready for the systems behind these decisions? Continue with the Combat and Build Manual, or learn how account progression works in the Progression and Rankings Guide.
Play Star Swarm