Everything you need to write about Solvane

Solvane: The Iron Reach is a top-down pixel-art space game about building a base that holds off raids, exploring alien worlds on foot, and following ancient alien structures toward the only way home.

A black hole throws a lone hauler into an uncharted galaxy of rifts, wrecks and castaways. Solvane: The Iron Reach is a top-down pixel-art space game about mining asteroids, building an automated base with belts, power networks and drones, and defending it from Warden raids. Land on alien worlds, explore them on foot, and follow the ancient Solvanes toward the Iron Reach, the only rumored way home.

Solvane: The Iron Reach is a top-down pixel-art space game made by one person in GameMaker. A black hole swallows an ordinary hauler and throws it into an uncharted galaxy, home to rifts, wrecks and generations of castaways who arrived the same way.

Players mine asteroids and haul the ore home to a base they lay out themselves. Conveyor belts, extractors and power networks feed smelters and assemblers, drones tow and repair, and turrets, walls and batteries upgrade through three tiers. The Wardens, ancient machines that guard the Iron Reach, raid the base as it grows, whether the player is home or not.

The ship is built from 75 hulls, engines and weapons. Planets can be scanned from orbit, landed on and explored on foot across nine planet types, each with its own creatures and weather, and bosses wait in the dark between them. The story is told through scattered alien structures called Solvanes, contradictory rumors and a galaxy that never quite explains itself.

CosmoConifer is a one-person independent studio in Las Vegas, Nevada, founded by self-taught developer Anthony Ellis. Its first game, Solvane: The Iron Reach, has been in development since 2016 and is coming to Steam in 2027.