Stellar Warfare

Early access since Aug 2021

Space RTS with base building and ship customization. Personal passion project. More than 200 available ships, weapons and modules to design your fleet with. Contains a small campaign, several single and multiplayer game modes and a coop game mode. Also contains Wave defense!

82% positive · 432 reviews

Not yet

In early access, still in active development

High confidence

Active Development

Not yet

In early access, still in active development

High confidence

Active Development

Where to buy

Steam Updated 11 Oct 2026 Lowest $9.99 $19.99 −50% Green Man Gaming Steam key Updated 12 Oct 2026 $10.00 $19.99 −50%

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Evaluation

Stellar Warfare is a self-funded, solo-developed space RTS that entered Early Access on August 4, 2021 and remains there. The Early Access flag is still active on the store page, and the developer has never announced a 1.0 release date or declared the game complete. Development has been consistent and active throughout. The four major updates visible in the news data span from at least late 2025 through May 2026, with the most significant recent milestones being a complete 3D camera and navigation overhaul (March 4, 2026) and an entirely new AI opponent system featuring multiple difficulty levels and personality archetypes (May 14, 2026). An April 29, 2026 announcement previewed the incoming AI update and promised it would go live within 1–3 weeks — a commitment fulfilled on schedule. Since the May 14, 2026 major update, the developer has continued posting: a feature-level patch on July 24, 2026 addressed AI behavior, balance, multiplayer region selection, and camera improvements, followed by a hotfix on July 31, 2026. The most recent developer communication was July 31, 2026, just two weeks before today's date. The developer's July 24, 2026 post explicitly describes spending hundreds of hours on recent improvements and actively monitoring community feedback, framing it as an ongoing commitment to quality. A December 2025 patch noted that the co-op vs. AI mode was temporarily removed pending a new system — indicating work still in progress on features not yet shipped. No end-of-development statement has been made, no 1.0 roadmap conclusion has been communicated, and the pace of updates shows no signs of winding down.

Evidence

Developer describes spending hundreds of hours on recent improvements, actively working around the clock to address community-reported issues, and delivering a substantial patch covering AI behavior, balance, multiplayer region selection, camera alerts, and localization.

news post · Jul 24, 2026 source development ongoing

high

Major update shipped introducing entirely new AI opponent system with multiple difficulty levels and personality types, a reworked multiplayer lobby, new skirmish maps, automation assist tools for players, and chat features.

news post · May 14, 2026 source content shipped

high

Media

Details

Developer

Tense Games

Publisher

Tense Games

Achievements

Platform

Windows

Controller

—

Steam Deck

Playable

Players

Single-player · Multiplayer · Co-op · PvP

RTS Space Simulation Combat Strategy War Old School Aliens Sci-fi Real Time Tactics Indie Base Building Management Action Cinematic

About this game

This classic style RTS is a passion project with tons of ship customization and complete 3D space movement. It features several automation options so that players can choose to automate part of their RTS experience, which is ideal for us who love space battles but who dislike having to do 50 things at once!

Inspired by RTS games such as Red Alert, Homeworld and Supreme Commander. Find loot, compose your fleet and use it to face off against other players or the AI in this unique sci-fi experience!

Gameplay

Build an economy, build a base, capture space stations and spawn units to fight the enemy. Stellar Warfare plays very similar to how Red Alert used to play, but with tons of building and unit options!

Loot items to improve ships

Enemies you destroy occasionally drop blueprints for ship frames, weapons or modules. You can use these to modify your units and compose a fleet to defeat your opponents with.

These units can then be bought in-game like you would in a traditional RTS. The big difference is that these units are tailored to your own play-style. Fast raiders, tanky bruisers, building killing sneaky units or swarms of small ships are all possible!

There are currently 60 ship frames, 50 weapons and 25 modules to find which result in over a million possible combinations!

Basebuilding

Power-plants, refineries, turrets, resource enhancers, artillery buildings, repair stations and many more. Choose from over 40 buildings to place & 5 different neutral buildings to capture.