What is NOVABLOOM — Fifty levels of orbital gunnery, with a pipe puzzle in between
NOVABLOOM is an arena shooter with a puzzle bolted into the middle of it, and the puzzle is not decoration. Before many combat levels you are dropped into a calibration screen: a grid of plasma conduits that have all been rotated out of alignment, and a single path that has to run from the CORE on the left to the CANNON on the right. Solve it in fewer moves than par and your guns hit fifteen per cent harder for the level that follows. Fumble it and you fly in with the damage you had.
The combat itself is an open arena seen from above. You thrust the Novastar with the keyboard or by dragging a finger, aim with the mouse, and hold fire. Fighters shoot, seekers orbit and mines drift; every tenth level brings a warship, and level fifty brings Khar. Two abilities sit on cooldowns: the Novaflor, a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree petal storm you release when the bloom meter fills, and Orbis Focus, which slows everything else down for a few seconds. Between levels you spend star shards at the Forge on six upgrades, and the run is saved automatically.
How to play
- Fly with WASD or the arrows and aim with the mouse; hold the left button or Space to fire. On a touch screen, drag anywhere to fly and the cannons fire by themselves.
- In the calibration puzzle, click a tile to rotate it a quarter turn. Cyan tiles are already carrying plasma. Fewer moves than par pays a damage bonus and extra shards; there is no penalty for taking more.
- Press B when the bloom meter is full to release the Novaflor, and the Orbis key to slow time. Both recharge on their own, and both are wasted if you use them on a half-empty arena.
- Collect the diamond shards enemies drop and spend them at the Forge between levels. Six upgrades are on offer, and progress is saved after every level, so a run can be picked up later.
Strategies that work
- Solve the pipe puzzle properly before you engage. Beating par gives fifteen per cent extra damage for that level and extra shards on top, and the grid is small enough that tracing the path backwards from the CANNON usually finds it in one pass. The damage bonus is worth more on boss levels than any single upgrade.
- Keep moving in a circle, not in a line. Seekers lead their shots, which means they aim where you are going; a wide constant arc makes every predicted shot miss behind you, while a straight run into open space makes them all land.
- The Novaflor is not an emergency button. It clears a radius, so it is worth the most when the arena is at its fullest, which is normally about two-thirds of the way through a wave. Firing it at three enemies wastes a meter that took most of a level to fill.
- Spend the first shards on the Bloom Core, not on cannons. A faster, larger Novaflor compounds: it clears waves sooner, which means you take less damage, which means you keep more hull for the warship. Twin Cannons only help you when you are already winning.
- On boss levels, attack the engine glow and ignore the rest of the hull. Warships have an entry animation with no attacks during it, and Orbis Focus during the entry gives you a free opening burst before the fight properly starts.
A little history
The arena shooter and the pipe puzzle are old arcade forms that almost never meet, because one rewards reflex and the other rewards stillness. NOVABLOOM puts them in the same run deliberately, and the interesting part is what happens to the player between them: you come out of a puzzle calm and precise, and thirty seconds later you are being asked to do the opposite. The fifteen per cent damage bonus for beating par is what glues the two halves together, because it means the quiet screen has consequences on the loud one. The setting — a gunner recruited off an arcade machine and thrown onto a frontier — is the oldest excuse in science fiction for why an ordinary person is flying a warship, and it earns its place by never getting in the way of a wave.
Frequently asked questions
Can I skip the pipe puzzles?
No, but you can finish one badly and move on. There is no fail state: any solved path opens the level. Beating par is worth a damage bonus and extra shards, which is the only thing you lose by rushing.
What happens if I lose a run?
The game offers to retry the level you died on, which keeps your upgrades and your score so far. Starting a new mission instead erases the saved run and resets you to level one with no shards.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Dragging anywhere on the screen flies the ship and the cannons fire automatically, and the two ability buttons sit within thumb reach. The puzzle is tapped rather than clicked.
