$19.99StarCrawlers Turn-Based Mercenary Work in Space
Lead a crew of renegades through procedurally generated dungeons, taking dirty jobs from megacorps on the fringes of space.
Is StarCrawlers worth it?
StarCrawlers is worth it if…
- you like classic first-person, grid-based dungeon crawlers with modern quality-of-life touches
- you enjoy slow, tactical turn-based combat where ability order and timing matter
- you want choices that actually change how a campaign plays out across factions
- you prefer a chill, repeatable loop of crawl, loot, return to base, repeat
- you have a soft spot for cyberpunk settings and a soundtrack that fits them
Screenshots
Tactical combat on a time unit system
Fights here are turn-based, but not in the everyone-takes-one-step sense: the time unit system means fast actions buy you more of them, so a quick shot and a heavy ability cost different amounts of the clock. Planning a round becomes its own puzzle. Each of the eight classes plays its own way, and the differences are real: a hacker tears into enemies from cyberspace, an engineer fields robots, a psyker channels light and dark energy for heavy damage. You pick four classes for a run, and how their abilities chain together is where the strategy lives. One honest note: fights run long, and by late game some players find the same skill loop wearing thin. Come for the tactics and the crew, not for quick battles.
A galaxy of factions, jobs and consequences
You are a Crawler, which means you work for whoever pays. Megacorps hire your crew for asset recovery, sabotage, bounty hunting and corporate espionage, and every job you take wins you friends in one faction and enemies in another. Your choices change how the story unfolds, so two campaigns can follow very different paths. Between crawls you return to base, cash in reputation, and can pick up hacking jobs: a separate set of turn-based battles fought inside networks, with a single character and a more flexible set of skills. The writing leans into the morally gray spacepunk setting, and the eclectic merchants and opportunists of the fringes react to the name you make for yourself.
Can you lose characters for good?
Can you lose characters for good?
Yes, if you want to. Difficulty runs from easy up to hardcore, with optional permadeath on the harsher settings. On those modes a fallen character is gone, and the run becomes a genuine gamble: lose enough crew and you may have no classes left to hire. If that sounds like too much pressure, the lower difficulties let you enjoy the same dungeons, loot and faction politics without the threat hanging over every fight.
How much variety is there between playthroughs?
A lot of it comes from the procedural side. Dungeons, events, loot and gear are randomly generated, so missions rarely play out the same way twice, and randomized weapons and armor carry upgradeable enhancements that keep itemization fresh. On top of that, your faction choices steer the story differently each campaign, and eight classes with multiple build paths mean a new crew composition changes how combat feels. After finishing the story, the level cap rises and you can keep running tougher, better rewarded missions.
Is it a good first dungeon crawler?
It is a friendly entry point. The classic mechanics of the genre, first-person grid movement, party-based exploration, turn-based fights, are modernized and easy to understand, and the interface is clean. You do not need to identify loot to see what makes it special, which removes one of the old genre's more tedious rituals. Veterans of older crawlers will recognize the bones; newcomers get a version that explains itself.
How does the game look and sound?
The setting is neon-lit cyberpunk, and the presentation leans into it: moody environments, satisfying combat sound effects and a soundtrack that fits the spacepunk tone so well it gets singled out on its own. The retro first-person perspective and grid movement give it the feel of the genre's classics, while the lighting and atmosphere make generated dungeons feel like real places rather than empty corridors.
