How a chapter is built
Each chapter is one run: three sectors, each a short chain of objectives shown on the card at the top of the screen. Kill objectives count only ordinary enemies, timed objectives count down, and mini-boss and boss objectives show a health percentage. Between sectors you pass a jump gate and pick a route (chapter 7 has no gates). The last objective of the last sector is always the chapter's boss, covered in the boss guide.
Every chapter restarts you at level 1, but later chapters make enemies tougher and hit harder. The extra toughness and damage ease in over the first four minutes of a run, so the opening sector of a late chapter is gentler than its last.
| Chapter | Enemy health | Enemy damage |
|---|---|---|
| 1 The Breakaway | x1.0 | x1.0 |
| 2 Scavenger Reach | x1.3 | x1.15 |
| 3 The Drift | x1.5 | x1.25 |
| 4 The Dimming | x1.65 | x1.3 |
| 5 Halcyon's Echo | x1.8 | x1.35 |
| 6 The Gulf | x1.95 | x1.4 |
| 7 Last Light | x2.1 | x1.45 |
Chapter 1: The Breakaway
New rule: protect the Meridian, and use wrecks as cover.
- Kepler Drift. Destroy 70 rogue drones, then hold a drifting asteroid belt off the Meridian for 32 seconds. Chevrons show which side the rocks come from; fly between the belt and the freighter and break the big rocks first. She pays salvage equal to a tenth of the hull she keeps. Then the Warden frigate: its shield eats every shot fired from outside the bubble, so fly inside to hit the hull, and watch for the bubble pulsing red before a ring of shots with one gap.
- Shipyard Wreck. Old hulls block shots both ways. Four turrets wake when you come within range and fire three-shot bursts after an orange aim line. Then clear 110 enemies and face the Twin Lancers: they lock red lanes through you and charge together. Slip between the lanes, then punish them while they recover, when they take 50 percent more damage.
- Convoy Core. Clear 150 enemies on the approach, then SENTINEL-9.
Chapter 2: Scavenger Reach
New rule: hazards hurt pirates as much as you. Make them work for you.
- Junk Ring. A magnetised hulk pulses: rings collapse inward as a warning, then it pulls for about three seconds. Full throttle escapes it and the afterburner makes it easy, while pirates caught in the pull are crushed against the hull. Survive 30 seconds of faster pulses, then hunt the salvage tug, which beams up loose crystals and, with none nearby, drains the experience you already hold. Kill it and everything spills back out.
- Ion Storm. Lightning lands on marked circles after a short warning. It hurts you, and it deals 260 to every ordinary pirate under it. Lure packs under the circles; three kills in one strike pay 5 salvage. Kade's storm cutter drops strikes behind it, makes a pass through you, then vents for 2.4 seconds, taking 60 percent more damage. Save your burst for the vent.
- Pirate Haven. Three searchlights sweep the rim. If a beam catches you, a shell lands where you are heading moments later. Then Kade duels you himself: he circles, strafes along a telegraphed line dropping mines, and is open for a moment after. You only need to wear him down to 30 percent. Then DREADMAW.
Chapter 3: The Drift
New rule: the nebula burns. Shoot gas while enemies are inside it, never while you are.
- Dead Nebula. Gas pockets have a dashed orange edge. Any shot ignites one: it deals 260 to ordinary enemies inside and 520 to mini-bosses, burns you too if you are in it, and sets off neighbouring pockets. Then guard the Meridian's refuel by shooting clamp drones off her hull, and drive off ASHFALL's first pass: its flak lights its own gas trail, so light the trail while the tanker is in it.
- Broken Line. The flagship fires broadsides down marked lanes. They hit everyone, so lure mutineers into them. Then the Meridian herself breaks formation: hit only her two engine pods, never the hull, before Ilse's countdown runs out. When it does, her batteries fire on the engines, so stay clear.
- Ashfall's Wake. Cut four siphon clamps. A cut hose whips around and burns on contact, so keep clear. Clear 120 enemies, then ASHFALL.
Chapter 4: The Dimming
New rule: light is a weapon and bait. Starshells pull the swarm in, then burn it.
- The Dimming Edge. Ilse lobs in starshells. Shoot one to light it, get clear, and let the brood swarm it: the burn deals 420 to the brood and 900 to a mini-boss. Without the mouse held, auto-aim turns to a starshell when lighting it would pay off. Burn 20 with starshells, then kill the Lightdrinker, which eats unlit shells to heal. Light one when it is close.
- Hive Lattice. Burning strands cage you in. Cut five hive nodes and fly round the strands, not through them. Then pull the swarm off the Meridian's lights for 40 seconds by lighting starshells near her.
- The Choir's Throat. The song arrives in rings, each with a gap. Where a ring touches you it deals damage and silences every gun for 1.5 seconds, so fly through the gap. Then hold inside three relay rings, six seconds each, while ORA listens. Then the Hush Queen.
Chapter 5: Halcyon's Echo
New rule: the Hush rebuilds what it catches. Every wreck is a future enemy.
- The Echo Field. A violet heart lands on a wreck; you have nine seconds to shoot it before the wreck flies out as a hunter. Stop six. Then the Dragline, a dead tug swinging a wreck on its tow line: a red circle marks the slam, and while it reels in it barely moves and takes 70 percent more damage.
- The Long Line. Silence four dead beacons; every call brings a pack. Then cover Kade while he pulls charts off a hull. When his shield breaks, his work stops.
- The Revenant's Wake. Killed enemies fall as husks that knit again after a few seconds. Fly through them or shoot them. Then the Revenant.
Chapter 6: The Gulf
New rule: you tow the Meridian yourself.
- The Shelf. Guard her while the flagship tows, until lampreys bite the line. Fly to her bow clamp to hook her to the Lifeline. Fly ahead to pull; the line gives only a little stretch. Lampreys crawl down the line to chew the clamp: let it go slack, then burn away hard so the snap flings them off. The Undertow, an eel, bites the line and cannot dodge while it does (60 percent more damage). Snap the line during a bite to shake it loose, and it stalls taking double damage. Let a bite run four seconds and it bites through.
- The Drop. Violet rings mark where a mouth will rise: drag the Meridian clear. Then lead the swarm away from her for 25 seconds by staying outside the ring around her.
- The Hollow's Pull. Something below breathes in. Burn against the pull and let it swallow the brood. Then the Hollow.
Chapter 7: Last Light
New rule: no more routes. Get every ship through.
- Harrow's Gate. Clear 40 enemies at the mouth, then send 26 ships through one at a time. Grips reach out of the dark and seize ships; shoot a grip to free her. Let one hold eight seconds and it tears a cargo pod away.
- The Choir Sings. Destroy the violet echoes that fly where you just flew, and pick up what they drop until six of ORA's memories are home. Then hold 32 seconds while a river of wrecks drifts past: moving wrecks crush, still ones are cover.
- Last Light. The Gate's beam sweeps the field and burns any Hush it touches, and it stings you too. Let it clear the brood, then face THE CHOIR.
The epilogue, Other Sky, has no fighting at all. Fly the Lifeline home to the Meridian.