The Final Frontier Windows game

The Final Frontier

DJ Games | Released 2021

In this twin-stick shooter roguelike, you will constantly be attacked by waves of enemies becoming more powerful the longer you survive. Upon starting the game for the first time, you will have access to the Fighter ship that shoots short bursts of bullets. Destroying enemies rewards you with points to level up following a skill tree. When starting the first round, you will feel as near equals to the most basic of enemies, but after a few level-ups, you will start to feel that fighters are not much of a threat anymore. The game, however, is not that forgiving and will send more difficult enemies at you.

CHARACTERS

With every enemy killed, you gain coins that enable you to purchase new characters. Each character has its own tech tree that can greatly change playstyle.

Once defeating wave 50 with a character, a new threat level is unlocked which buff enemies in some way. Each threat level adds to the power of these enemies giving quite a challenge.

ENEMIES

With 13 enemies with different behavior, fighting dynamics can be unique causing you to approach different groups of enemies differently.

Enemies also can be three different levels of varying stats, with level two and three being more frequent in later waves.

BESTIARY

After being introduced to new enemies and killing them, an entry is filled out in your bestiary with information about the enemy and the number of times you have killed it.

WEAK SPOTS

When encountering some more powerful enemies, you will notice some flashing red circles on them; those are reactors and need to be destroyed for the enemy to fall. These reactors are within the borders of the enemy; Bullets, missiles, and lasers all leave holes in their target and will be necessary to reach the reactors of these enemies.

ASTEROIDS

Asteroids are also a hazard, but not just to you. Asteroids break apart when run into or shot and can be damaging. This can be used to your advantage if you can trick the enemy into a crash.

UPGRADES

Once reaching the point threshold to level up, you get the option to choose what you would like to upgrade on your ship according to the skill tree for your character. Many of these upgrades can change the way you approach fights and will make earlier enemies less threatening.

While you get to upgrade your ship, enemies have that same luxury. The further you get into the run, the more common an enemy will be levelled up which increases their stats and chance to have a shield.

GAME FEATURES

Twin-stick retro space shooter

Continuous waves of increasing difficult enemies

Ship skill trees

Scaling enemies and difficulty

Steam leaderboards and stats

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Major Update 1.1 Released

Jun 24 2022 News

Save 15% on The Final Frontier on Steam (steampowered.com)

Update 1.1 Change Notes

New Characters

Fighter (starting character with blaster and 5 health)
Bomber (shoots missiles and starts with 8 health)
Summoner (cannot shoot at first, summons drones, and can have turrets)
Healer (heals health but less deadly)
Basher (fast and can run into enemies)

Upgrade Trees

Each character has a different upgrade tree

New Upgrades

Hull Upgrade (regenerates health)
Missiles
Dual Missiles
Triple Missiles
Plated Missiles (missiles cannot be destroyed)
Missile Tracking (faster missile turning)
Missile Reload (faster missile cooldown speed)
Single Shot
Quad Shot
Missile Defense (missile destroying counterpart to flak)
Bullet Speed (bullets base velocity is higher)
Shield Strength (number of hits for shield to be destroyed)
Shield Regen (speed that shield regens to full)
Laser (slows turn speed and has warm up while in use)
Ion Cannon (shoots ion shots that disable enemies for a time)
Ion Recharge (faster ion cooldown)
Cloaking Device (allows cloak to disable damage for a time)
Cloak Length (increase length of cloak ability)
Cloak Recharge (decrease time between cloaks)
Rammer (disables damage from hitting enemy when charged)
Drone Ship (spawns drones to fight for you)
Drone Construction (decreases time for drones to be constructed)
Done Equipment (increases drone stats)
Gun Turret (creates an automated turret to shoot at the nearest enemy)
Turret Cooldown (increases turret cooldown speed)
Turret Turn Speed (allows the turret to turn faster)
Missile Turret (creates an automated turret to shoot missiles)
Missile Turret Cooldown (increases missile turret cooldown speed)
Missile Turret Turn Speed (allows the turret to turn faster)
Healer Nanites (heals any fractional health bar to full)

Asteroids

Asteroids now spawn sporadically on the top and bottom of the map
Asteroids may also spawn in large groups and is noted above the wave number

New Enemies

Marauder (stays close to the player and shoots bullets)
Rusher (enters rush state and is much faster and cannot die from collision)
Ranger (stays far away from the player and leads fast, plated shots)
Shotgunner (pushes the player with large flurries of bullets)
Swarmer (a large group of drones that stay together)

Enemy Levels

Each enemy has a chance to be a higher level (1, 2, or 3)
Higher level enemies are faster, shoot more often, and are more likely to have shields
Level 1 is red, level 2 is white, level 3 is dark gray

Enemy AI

Enemy AI has been updated to path around asteroids (raycasting)
Enemies can turn faster to move around asteroids more easily
The Ranger has the unique ability to lead shots
The rusher also leads the player
Level 2 and 3 suicider lead the player

Threat Level

Once wave 50 is beaten with a character, a new threat level is unlocked
There are 15 threat levels per character where each level adds some difficulty
Each threat level adds to the previous making later threat very difficult

Character Colors

Each character can be five different colors (blue, green, orange, purple, yellow) which can be purchased
Each color other than the default gives a buff

Cooldown Bars

Each weapon has its own cooldown bar
Drone construction has its own bar
Health, hull upgrade, and shield display together making one cohesive bar

Level Bar

Current level, score, and required score for the next level is displayed in a progress bar
Currency
There is now currency that is gained based on enemies killed and is used to purchase other characters and character colors

Menus

All menus have been redesigned with selections
The pause menu in game now has a quick restart button
The main menu displays enemies that you have destroyed fighting drones
A game over menu displays all enemies killed and coins gained from each

Settings

Volume bar
Fullscreen selection
Control binding (hold tab to reset at any time)

Bestiary

A bestiary shows all enemies with stats and will fill once you destroy them
Color coded backgrounds based on total of that enemy type killed
Character Selection Menu
Once clicking start, the character selection menu will display with relevant information about each and threat level selector

Changes

Enemy AI has been updated to path around asteroids
Health is no longer integer based
Shields no longer get destroyed and regenerate slowly
Missiles now track 180 degrees to its front rather than 360 degrees
Wave numbers now display in the middle of the screen once enemies arrive
Waves will automatically begin after a certain time has passed to prevent running to regen
Enemy points per wave and start wave for each enemy adjusted
Plated missiles are more defining in color
Reactors on boss ships now flash and are brighter
Speed can now be upgraded five times instead of three

Fixes