Hold the line against an alien fleet over a burning planet horizon.
Star Siege is a fixed shooter in the grand arcade tradition: an alien fleet marches back and forth above you, stepping down every time it reaches the edge, and you hold the bottom of the screen with a single ship. Shoot them down before they land. The fewer that remain, the faster the survivors march.
Modern twists keep every wave different. Aliens peel out of formation and swoop at you along curving attack runs, heralds dive with escorts, energy shield domes soak up fire but crack as they take hits, and every fifth wave a huge multi-part boss arrives whose wings and cannon can be shot off one by one. Grab power-ups for spread shots, rapid fire, a piercing beam, a personal barrier or screen-clearing bombs, and bring a friend: two ships can defend the planet together on one keyboard or two gamepads.
How to play
- Move left and right along the bottom of the screen and fire upward. Every alien you destroy scores points; clear the whole formation to finish the wave and earn a bonus.
- The formation marches sideways and drops a step each time it touches a wall. If it reaches your line, every ship loses a life and the fleet is pushed back, so don't let it get close.
- Hide under the shield domes to block enemy fire. They regrow a little between waves and fully after a boss, but each hit burns a hole. Your own shots pass straight through.
- Some aliens leave formation and dive at you. Dodge the dive, or shoot the diver for double points. Glowing aliens, divers, the courier ship that crosses the top of the screen and boss parts drop power-ups.
- Every fifth wave is a boss. Its core is armoured while both wings stand, so shoot the wings and the cannon off first, and watch for the red targeting line that warns of its laser.
Controls
| Action | Keyboard | Touch | Gamepad |
|---|---|---|---|
| Move | A / D (player 1), ← → (player 2); either set works in solo | Drag anywhere: the ship follows your finger | Left stick / D-pad |
| Fire | Space or W (player 1), Enter or ↑ (player 2) | Automatic while you steer | A / RB / RT |
| Bomb | E or Left Shift (player 1), ↓ or Right Shift (player 2) | Bomb button | B / X / LB / LT |
| Pause / restart | Esc / R | Pause button | Start / Back |
Every action can be remapped in Settings.
Modes
- Arcade
- Endless waves. A boss every fifth wave, and the fleet only gets faster.
- Co-op
- Two ships, one planet. WASD + Space and Arrows + Enter, or two gamepads.
- Daily Siege Daily
- Ten waves with today's seeded modifiers and two bosses. The same for everyone.
Tips & strategy
- Thin out the outer columns first. The formation turns around when its outermost alien reaches a wall, so a narrower fleet has further to march and takes longer to come down.
- Your shots destroy enemy plasma bolts. When a volley is coming and you have nowhere to go, shoot through it.
- Shoot down an herald's escorts before the herald itself while they dive: each escort you get first multiplies the herald's value.
- Save a bomb for the boss. It clears every bolt on screen and hits every part of the boss at once.
- Against a boss, take the wings first. Each wing removes a stream of fire and lets more of your damage through to the core.
- Don't camp under one shield dome all wave. Spread the damage across them so you still have cover when the fleet is low and fast.
- In co-op, a boss kill brings a fallen partner back with one life, so keep the survivor alive and push for the next fifth wave.
Achievements
- Siege BrokenDefeat your first bossLocked
- Long WatchReach wave 15Locked
- Last LineReach wave 25Locked
- Surgical StrikeShoot off every boss part before destroying its coreLocked
- UntouchableDefeat a boss without losing a life during its waveLocked
- DogfighterShoot down 25 diving aliens in one runLocked
- Clean SweepDestroy 6 enemies with a single bombLocked
- Special DeliveryShoot down 3 couriers in one runLocked
- WingmateBring your co-op partner back by defeating a bossLocked
- Daily DefenderSurvive all ten waves of the Daily SiegeLocked
A short history of the genre
Fixed shooters were one of the first great arcade genres. In the late 1970s a marching formation of aliens that sped up as it thinned out turned a simple shooting gallery into a test of nerve, and players queued around the block to try it. Destructible bunkers, a mystery ship crossing the top of the screen and a tense, accelerating heartbeat became part of the template.
Within a few years designers added aliens that broke formation and dived at the player in sweeping curves, multi-stage bosses and two-player modes, and the genre branched into the vertical and horizontal shooters that followed. Star Siege borrows the timeless parts of that template and adds its own: shield domes that crack where they are hit, bosses whose parts can be shot off, seeded daily modifiers and local co-op.
FAQ
Is Star Siege free?
Yes. Star Siege is free to play in your browser with no download or sign-up. The site is supported by unobtrusive ads that never cover the game.
Can two people play on one computer?
Yes. Choose Co-op: player one uses A and D to move, Space to fire and E to bomb; player two uses the arrow keys, Enter to fire and the down arrow to bomb. With two gamepads connected, each pad controls its own ship. On a tablet, each player steers on their own half of the screen.
Does it work on phones?
Yes. Drag anywhere on the screen to steer: your ship follows your finger without being hidden under it, and fires automatically while you steer. A button in the corner drops a bomb. It works in portrait and landscape.
What is the Daily Siege?
Ten waves, including two bosses, with modifiers chosen by the day's seed, such as an extra row of aliens, armoured heralds, faster divers or no shield domes. Everyone gets the same waves on the same day (they change at midnight UTC), so you can compare and share scores.
What do the power-ups do?
S fires a three-way spread, R is rapid fire, L is a piercing beam that cuts through a whole column, O gives a barrier that absorbs one hit, B adds a bomb, and + is an extra ship. Weapon power-ups last a few seconds; collecting the same one again extends it.
Where are my scores saved?
In your browser on this device. You can export your profile from the Profile page and import it on another device.
Updates
- Star Siege launched with Arcade, local Co-op and the Daily Siege.
