A living galaxy to fly in
Starlathe is a 2D top-down space sim where the galaxy keeps running whether you're watching or not. Across 150 sectors, six factions mine ore, haul goods, run factories and fight wars in real time. Nothing is faked: every shipment travels, every ship flies, and every wreck was someone's ship. Stations can be destroyed for real, with evacuations, wrecks and loot fields left behind, and factions rebuild them later. Territory changes hands and prices react to actual supply and demand. Fog of war hides the galaxy until you chart it, so ship graveyards, abandoned sectors and wild space beyond the gates stay unknown until you fly there.
How your group plays together
You can play solo or in online co-op with up to 3 friends. Every pilot gets their own ship, wallet, fleet and missions, so you can split up and work different jobs — one of you mining, another trading, another hunting pirates — while exploration is shared across the group. Friendly fire is off: nothing you shoot can hurt each other. Friends are invited through Steam, and every pilot is saved along with the galaxy, so you pick up where you left off.
Choosing your path
You start with a small ship and pick a direction. Mine asteroid fields and refine ore into something worth more, or trade across a real supply chain of over 50 goods, buying where prices are low and hauling where they're needed. Fight by hunting pirates for factions or by turning pirate yourself, living with what your reputation becomes. The law notices smuggling and piracy, and your reputation follows you. Crafting runs through refining, components and full production chains to make weapons, modules and ships.
Fleets and combat
Buy ships, assign them roles and put them to work: miners feeding your income, transporters running routes, escorts guarding convoys, up to a dreadnought flagship leading your battle line. Battles are fought ship to ship with turrets, rockets, beams and point defense rather than dice rolls.
Before you start
Starlathe is in Early Access, so expect things to change. On first launch it asks once about anonymous performance and balance reports, tied only to a random install number; you can change this later in Settings. Bug reports go out only when you press Report Bug (F8).