Master the combat. Or break the game.
A third-person bullet heaven you can play two ways. Lean back and let your build clear the swarm, or lean in and parry, dash and combo through it yourself.
The swarm, and what you do to it
Gameplay footage. Reveal trailer coming soon.
Lean back. Or lean in.
Both use the same upgrades and reach the same power, and you can switch any time, even in the middle of a fight.
Lean back
- Your weapon fires on its own. You steer and point.
- Build an engine. Orbiting shards, turret familiars, chain lightning, homing shots and floating copies of your cast all fight for you.
- Never stop for a level-up. Bank them as Embers and keep fighting, or let Auto-Pick draft toward a Game Plan.
- Let them kill each other. Lead one faction into another and collect the XP from both.
Lean in
- Parry it. A good parry blocks. A perfect one sends the shot straight back at whoever fired it. That includes boss slams.
- Counter it. Back-to-back counters chain into bigger hits, and a perfect parry gives you a free dash that cuts through everything in its path.
- Break it. Melee combos fill an enemy's posture meter. Break it and take a tenth of its health in one hit.
- Take the trigger. Turn auto-fire off and fire every shot yourself, or hold fire to charge a Lance.
Skill doesn't unlock power in Soul Dust. It changes what you do with it.
The horde is at war with itself
Human survivors, mutant packs, walking horrors, a zealot cult, shielded machines and old nature gods. They fight each other on sight, and some can flip enemies to their side mid-fight. When they kill each other near you, you still get the XP.
Want more of that? Cards like Turncoat and Divide and Conquer make enemies betray their own side, and arena shops sell Cease Fires and War Proclamations.
Build something broken
- Over 170 upgrades that stack, level up and adapt to your weapon.
- Ten cast types: beams, lances, gravity wells, turrets, orbitals, boomerangs and more.
- Hero attunements: collect Soul Dust in a run and your hero's signature shot transforms at 100, 300 and 600.
- Cores: equippable passives with hidden pairings to discover.
- Wagers: bet your credits on the next arena. Clear it without a scratch for double or nothing.
Level up on your terms
In most bullet heavens, every level-up stops the fight. In Soul Dust you can bank it as an Ember and keep going.
- Embers ripen. Hold one through an arena clear and it only offers Rare cards or better. Hold it longer and a Legendary waits inside.
- Open them your way. At a shop or once a fight is over, one at a time or all at once.
- Bend the draw. Banish a card for good, or pay to take one a level higher.
Bosses that hold their ground
Each biome has a boss that patrols its own territory and makes nearby troops stronger. You choose when to pick that fight. Win it and the boss's whole faction comes back weaker. Every attack is telegraphed, and the big ones can be parried.
Bring a friend
A second player can join on the same screen with another controller and play any hero. Each of you gets your own level-up picks and your own Embers, and a downed partner can be revived. Playing alone? An AI partner backs you up.
A run is about 30 minutes
On a map that's new every time. When you die, your Soul Dust comes home with you and buys new heroes, casts and permanent upgrades.
- 12 playable heroes, each with their own signature shot and passive
- 6 enemy factions and 42 enemy types
- 5 biomes and 4 bosses
- Over 170 upgrades, 36 hero attunements and 17 cores
- Embers: bank your level-ups, let them ripen, open them your way
- Play solo with an AI partner, or with a friend in local co-op
- Full controller support, Steam achievements and leaderboards
From the arena
Wishlist Soul Dust
A wishlist is the biggest help an indie game can get. Steam will email you the moment it launches.
Where it started
Jump Shot Pro Basketball
A retro pro basketball management simulation for Windows, and the game Shot Out Games started with. It still lives on itch.io.