$19.99Cobalt Core Dodge missiles with space animals
Slide your ship across the grid, build a deck from three crewmates and fight through a time loop full of jokes and close calls.
Is Cobalt Core worth it?
Cobalt Core is worth it if…
- you want a deckbuilder with an actual tactical twist, not just another attack-and-block loop
- you like short runs you can finish in an evening and immediately want to start again
- you enjoy witty writing and characters who banter while missiles fly
- you prefer a challenge you can tune yourself over a game that punishes every mistake
- you have a soft spot for pixel art, chiptune-adjacent soundtracks and lovable space animals
Screenshots
Combat on a single axis
Most tactics games give you a battlefield. Cobalt Core gives you a line. Your ship and the enemy's sit on one horizontal axis, and every attack only hits what is directly in its path. So you play cards to slide out of an incoming missile, shift your cannon into line with an enemy's weak point, or raise shields when there is nowhere to go.
You see the enemy's planned shots before they fire, which turns each turn into a small puzzle: block, dodge, or disable their weapons before they go off. One well-timed move can make a whole volley miss. It is a simple idea that keeps every fight tense, and it is what makes this deckbuilder feel unlike its peers.
A crew worth getting attached to
You bring three crew members on each run, and each one brings their own deck, their own playstyle and their own story. One stacks shields, another specialises in movement, another in raw damage. Mixing and matching them changes what cards you see all run long, so the crew you pick is your first real build decision.
They also talk. A lot. During fights, between fights, about the missiles currently headed for your hull. The writing is funny and warm, and the characters are genuinely lovable little goobers. As you win runs you unlock more crew, more ships and more of their memories, which gives the story a reason to keep pulling you forward.
Runs that never play out the same
For deckbuilding fans, the hook here is how much changes before the first card is even played. Hundreds of character and ship combinations, split upgrade paths, artifacts that reshape your ship, and a card pool that depends entirely on who you brought aboard. Find the combo that turns a solid deck into an overpowered one, then chase it again with a different crew.
Runs are short, around an hour, and the game is gentler than most in the genre, so losing rarely costs you much momentum. Crank the difficulty when you want a real test, or try the daily challenges with their wild modifiers: win with a single crew member, or with a ship that scrambles itself every fight. One more run is always tempting.
What should you know before playing?
Can you play it solo?
Yes, it is a singleplayer game through and through. You command the ship alone, make every card and movement decision yourself, and the story, unlocks and daily challenges are all built around one player at the controls.
How hard is it?
On the gentler side for the genre. The game gives you plenty of tools, and a loss usually comes from a bad decision rather than bad luck. If that sounds too comfortable, there are higher difficulties that test you properly, plus daily challenges with punishing modifiers.
How long does a run take?
About an hour for a typical run, sometimes a bit more. That makes it easy to fit in a session, though the short runs and quick unlocks are also exactly what makes "one more go" such a common problem with this game.
Is there a story, or is it just card battles?
There is a real one. Your crew is stuck in a time loop with missing memories, and winning runs unlocks more of the narrative and new playstyles. The story is told lightly, with plenty of jokes, but the mystery of the loop is what keeps the runs connected.
