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16-bit space shooter

Vortex: Guardians of the Abyss

Earth has fallen. Chase the guardians into the Abyss.

Buy · $4.99 $7.99 How to play in your browserWatch the trailer

Enter the Vortex

An old-school vertical shooter with RPG depth. Fight through the single-player Story from ruined Earth into the Abyss, or bring two to four pilots for couch co-op on one screen or online co-op with friends. Level up, branch every weapon through The Way, and break guardians like One, Enxio and Veyrath.

Visit the Vortex website

Official trailer

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How to play

Goal: Fly up through each chapter, level up, and break the guardian waiting at the end.

  • Grow stronger

    • Every level gives you points to spend in The Way.
    • Branch each weapon down its own path.

  • Guardians

    • Every chapter ends with a guardian.
    • Learn its moves, then break it.

  • Play together

    • Couch co-op for 2 to 4 pilots on one screen.
    • Online co-op with friends.

Controls

  • Move

    Keyboard
    WASDorArrow keys
    Controller
    Left stickorD-pad

  • Fire · hold

    Keyboard
    Space
    Controller
    A

  • Ultimate · tap

    Keyboard
    X
    Controller
    X

  • Charge · hold, then release

    Keyboard
    X
    Controller
    X

  • Convergence

    Keyboard
    QE
    Controller
    LBRB

  • The Way · spend level points

    Keyboard
    Tab
    Controller
    Start, then The Way

  • Pause

    Keyboard
    EscorP
    Controller
    Start

On a phone, drag with one finger to move. Touch with a second finger for the Ultimate; hold it to Charge.

High scores

Top 5
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  2. 2tranpl31,777,691
  3. 3ethan721,933
  4. 4nate43,657
  5. 5sangcstg43,654
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  • tranpl Verified ownerSep 26, 2026

Changelog

41 releases
v1.5.0Clearer squadron and radio · Build 192026-10-27
  • Squadron cards fit every language: roles and upgrade notes shrink to fit instead of running off the card.
  • The wingmen's radio box wraps longer lines and grows to fit them, and their repair timer no longer covers a pilot's name.
  • Pickups collected together stack their callouts instead of printing over each other.
  • Boss Challenger's lore text has its own panel, and a number stays on the same line as its unit.
  • Ossarch's eyes burn red through his Cataclysm and Upheaval, and shades rise out of their pools.
  • A boss's long lines move below the wingman strip.
  • Update every pilot to build 19 to play together online.
v1.5.0Squadron and guardian updates · Build 182026-10-26
  • Recruit and develop wingmen, with squadron management, pilot portraits, radio chatter and combat support.
  • Updated guardian attacks, difficulty scaling and reactions to player combat tactics.
  • Expanded ship progression and improved combat feedback, HUD and audio.
  • Updated localized text and game assets.
  • Improved online saved-run recovery and bot reliability.
  • Update every pilot to build 18 to play the new gameplay rules together online.
v1.5.0Lineages · Build 172026-10-25
  • Every ship has a lineage: fly it to earn its marks, I to V, from the experience you gain in it. Each mark adds something of its own, shown on ship select and The Way's SHIP page.
  • From Mark III each ship has a signature ultimate (L3, C, or the SIG button): Vanguard's Holdfast firing line, Bulwark's Bastion dome, Swift's Courier Run and Wraith's Nightfall.
  • Twin Burst is different every time: ten shapes and seventeen finales, from meteor storms and supernovas to golden light and the guardians' own moves. Which one plays depends on the ultimates you and your crew fire together.
  • Fire your ultimates together for a PERFECT SYNC: the closer, the harder it hits. The burst now lands where you fired it.
  • Big hits on bosses are called out with their number.
  • Bosses fight through every phase: no burst skips one, and no crew ends a fight in seconds.
  • Enxio's relic waits for you before the breach, and relics nobody can take turn to medals.
  • In co-op, each pilot's row shows its shield and health icons and its spare ships.
  • Fixed online desyncs caused by the Hydra Lens relic.
  • Update every pilot to build 17 to play together online.
v1.5.0Wingmen · Build 162026-10-24
  • The Vulcan's wing drones are wingmen now: they fly out to hunt enemies on their side, come back to your wings, and circle your ship while you fire an ultimate.
  • Your ship shows its upgrades: every point in The Way changes a part on the SHIP page, and in flight it carries longer guns, armour plates, missile pods and a bigger engine flame.
  • SPECIALS are earned: a weapon's POWER or INTERCEPT, and its level-up cards, open once The Way reaches tier III.
  • The HUD shows spare lives as small ships under your score, keeps the heart for health, and lights an EMP icon when your ultimate is ready.
  • Noctaris's Abyssal Maw now turns its beam and vortex after you; the hull-plate cover is gone.
  • Oblivar's self-destruct: his eye bleeds red and cracks before the final blast.
  • Story saves the moment you beat a boss.
  • Update every pilot to build 16 to play together online.
v1.5.0Steady Upgrades · Build 152026-10-24
  • Losing a life no longer takes your weapons: every weapon keeps its upgrades, and LIFE LOST shows on screen so you know it happened.
  • The Way's upgrade trees now climb in order: fill a tree's tier before its next one opens. Points from saved runs that no longer fit go back to spend again.
  • A weapon's SPECIALS open in The Way once it reaches tier II, the same as on the level-up cards.
  • Continue keeps your ship's hull as it was, and Chapter Three saves keep their Crown upgrades.
  • Boss Challenger: a pilot who joins partway through a fight arrives as well armed as the crew, and saved Crown upgrades and Mastery come back with your loadout.
  • iPhone and iPad: Vortex starts on iOS 27, and menus keep clear of the camera on the folding iPhone.
  • Update every pilot to build 15 to play together online.
v1.5.0Every Screen · Build 142026-10-21
  • Ship select, The Way, level-up cards, the LORE card and Options now fit every screen shape, including foldables and tablets: nothing sits under the buttons any more.
  • THE WAY button on the level-up cards is smaller and sits clear of your HUD.
  • On phones and tablets, the co-op seats appear only when a controller connects: one for you and one for each controller, up to four pilots.
  • Phones no longer mistake their own fingerprint readers or buttons for a controller.
  • Android: faster, smaller release build, ready for 16 KB-page devices.
  • Update every pilot to build 14 to play together online.
v1.5.0Tiếng Việt · Build 132026-10-18
  • Vietnamese: the whole game in Tiếng Việt. Pick it in Options > Gameplay > Language, or it follows a Vietnamese device.
  • The Game Over screen has Options, so you can change settings before you continue or restart.
  • Zhaktis's legs stay joined to his body while he stalks: they swing from his hips instead of looking cut off.
  • Update every pilot to build 13 to play together online.
v1.5.0Two Relics & a New Soundtrack · Build 122026-10-17
  • A second relic slot opens at level 100: wear two relics at once, each with its full stats, wards, powers and special.
  • Every pilot now has their own lives in co-op. A pilot out of lives sits out; the run ends when nobody is left flying.
  • The HUD shows health as bars only, and each crewmate gets their own health bar and lives.
  • Local co-op runs save: Continue after the crew goes down, or pick the run up later from CONTINUE on the title.
  • Co-op balance: ordinary enemies gain 10% health per extra pilot (at least one point), mini-bosses 25%.
  • A new original soundtrack by Michael Tran with real guitars, brass and horn: a new title song, new Chapter One and Chapter Three music, five-minute Chapter Two and alien ship themes, new guardian and Council fight music, and the Chapter Two super-boss themes re-recorded. Music plays louder.
  • The Viewport setting moved out of the pause menu; set it in Options from the title.
  • Update every pilot to build 12 to play together online.
v1.5.0HP Growth & Uninterrupted Rewards · Build 112026-10-17
  • Maximum HP grows by 1 per level, with defensive relic capacity bonuses and current/max HP on the HUD.
  • Automatic upgrade choices and relic cards wait until ultimates and boss death sequences finish. Earned rewards remain queued.
  • Health capacity preserves damaged fractions through relic changes and older save migration.
v1.5.0Co-op Recovery · Build 102026-10-17
  • Vrtra transformations stay synchronized between players and the server.
  • Council checkpoints preserve the correct encounter so saved crews can resume.
  • Players can use their own upgrade cards and The Way together; cancelling no longer traps the menu.
  • Three- and four-player ultimate chains join the shared burst. Boss ultimate damage scales from solo to co-op, with a 50% maximum per linked burst.
  • Update every pilot to build 10 to play with the matching server and bots.
v1.5.0Weapon Cadence · Build 92026-10-15
  • Weapon upgrades increase firing rate consistently across all seven weapons, including Drain.
  • Controller handling improves, including Android TV remote filtering and controller assignment.
  • Includes the visible crews, smoother wingmen, The Way navigation, guardian balance and boss audio improvements from build 7.
  • Online co-op requires compatible builds; update your crew to version 1.5.0 build 9 to play with the latest production bots.
v1.5.0Visible Crews · Build 72026-10-14
  • Player ships stay visible when joining a crew already in flight.
  • The Way opens on a hub of eight pages, with a shared header and prompts that follow your controls.
  • Guardian health is balanced across each chapter, and boss music stays clearer above combat effects.
  • Includes smoother, survival-aware wingmen, rescue improvements and online synchronization fixes.
  • Online co-op requires all pilots to use version 1.5.0 build 7.
v1.5.0Boss Music · Build 62026-10-14
  • Boss warnings lift the music and soften effects; boss fights keep the music clearer above the battle.
  • Browser pilots can join running crews directly from a server snapshot, including during boss fights.
  • Includes the smoother, more survival-aware wingmen from build 5.
v1.5.0Steadier Wingmen · Build 52026-10-14
  • Wingmen fly smoother routes, make fewer abrupt direction changes, and account for their hull and shields when avoiding danger.
  • Bots save shield energy for a downed crewmate and fly close enough to collect useful health, shields and rescue hearts.
  • Online crews stay in step through the Slag Tender’s death and boss acid attacks; visual effects no longer alter shared combat.
  • Valid dead-star crew checkpoints restore correctly, and lost crew runs keep their stage progress.
  • Pause > Options opens on your own device, so volume and display changes stay local to you.
v1.5.0Online, Rebuilt · Build 12026-10-11
  • Online play stays in step: The Way and the level-up cards now open on your own screen, so browsing upgrades no longer pulls a crew out of sync.
  • Smoother busy fights: crowded battles and lots of on-screen text cost far less each frame.
  • The browser version starts much faster and fetches the rest of the game as you play.
  • Boss Challenger online: take a guardian on with a crew.
  • Never short a pilot: open rooms fill with crewmates, and you can ask for a wingman to join your room.
  • Online Co-op is easier to find, with rooms grouped into tabs.
  • Online play is now for genuine copies of Vortex only, to keep every room fair.
v1.4.3The Dead Star · Build 12026-10-10
  • Online play: the World Eater's entrance no longer throws Mac, iPhone, iPad and browser players out of step with the server. The rocks and meteors he hurls out of the black hole now land in the same place for everyone, so a server-hosted run carries straight on from Morthul into his fight instead of stopping to resync.
  • The same hidden flaw is fixed in Cineris, the Iron Lattice, Izen, Vrtra and on the dead star's surface, where a few of their shots, girders, craters and creatures could start out differently on different machines.
v1.4.2The Dead Star · Build 12026-10-09
  • One version everywhere: the browser, Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, iPad and Android all carry 1.4.2, and the build count starts again at 1.
  • Online play holds together: fixed games that fell out of step with the server and had to resync, including at Thalok and in One's final form. Players on 1.4.2 are only ever matched with other 1.4.2 players on the same build.
  • Damage numbers ride over the boss you hit and fly off in little arcs. Critical hits are bigger, last longer and shake.
  • Streak bombing: every blast now sends a short red ripple through space around it.
  • Voraxis's and Gravemarch's great lance fires as three rays, without the rings that didn't fit it.
  • Boss Challenger: Voraxis, Noctaris, Morthul and Khionar fight in their own parts of the Abyss, as in the Story.
  • On the dead star, the ground no longer slides when the view zooms out: craters stay put and arenas stay under their bosses.
v1.4.0The Dead Star · Build 82026-10-08
  • ONE RETURNS: a new guardian card in Boss Challenger. Beat One there on Easy, Normal, Hard and Insane, and One's final form from the dead star opens as a fight of its own, with its own trophy, lore and moves. The locked card shows which of those wins you still need.
  • Boss Challenger stages: guardians met along the journey now fight where they belong, by Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Earth, the Sun or the alien ship, instead of all in the same place. Tap the stage on a guardian's card (or press R, or click a stick) to fight at a random stage instead.
  • Relics are much easier to see: The Way's RELICS page shows bigger cards in a grid you can scroll, with the picked relic's details beside it.
  • Fixed: after you beat a guardian in Boss Challenger, another boss could appear in the moment before the results.
v1.4.0The Dead Star · Build 72026-10-08
  • Achievements: a new ACHIEVEMENTS page under Options lists all 100, worth 1,000 points in all. Each shows its medal, its points and how far along you are, and hidden ones stay secret until you earn them. It works on every platform, offline.
  • Beat the Clock: solo Story runs and guardian fights are timed. A clock sits under your status in the HUD, each chapter's split flags up as you clear it, and the end of a run shows a new personal best or how far you were off it. Your best times are under Options > BEST TIMES, on each guardian's card in Boss Challenger and on the chapter select, all saved on your device.
  • Game Center on iPhone, iPad and Mac (App Store versions): sign in to earn the achievements on Game Center too, climb its leaderboards, send challenges, invite friends to play together, and back up your progress to iCloud.
  • Mini-bosses no longer fly straight at you so often. They ram much less, and before a ram they now brake, swing their nose round onto you and flash, so you can see it coming and slip aside.
  • The HUD shows your score and level with small icons instead of words.
  • Wired controllers in X-input mode in the browser: an 8BitDo (or any Xbox 360-style pad) plugged in by USB now works in the browser version on Chrome and Edge, as Switch-mode pads already did. The button in the bottom-right corner is now CONNECT CONTROLLER; pick the controller once and it connects by itself after that.
v1.4.0The Dead Star · Build 62026-10-07
  • Switch controllers in the browser: a Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, or a pad in Switch mode such as an 8BitDo, now works in the browser version on Chrome and Edge. Move the mouse and click CONNECT SWITCH CONTROLLER in the bottom-right corner, then pick the controller; after that it connects by itself whenever it's on.
v1.4.0The Dead Star · Build 52026-10-07
  • A new opening: the Anhhisoft seal now draws itself when the game starts, its spark popping in with a glint, and "An anhhisoft Game" is written in beneath it. Tap or press any key to skip it, as before.
v1.4.0The Dead Star · Build 42026-10-06
  • A new app icon: the spiral vortex on its own, larger and darker at its eye, without the ring around it.
  • Vrtra's slashes turn to face you again: her fire slash as the demon and the Kept Knight's dark slash now swing toward wherever you are, instead of only straight down.
  • Vortex is coming to Android: the game now builds for Google Play, with touch controls, controllers and online co-op.
v1.4.0The Dead Star · Build 32026-10-06
  • The World Eater, reworked. He now bursts out of a black hole in a meteor shower: rocks, flaming meteors and red-hot debris wheel out of it as he comes through. Maelstrom drags in everything around him, swallowing rocks, shots and smaller ships and blasting them back out; you can still fly out of the pull. A new move has him bring up rock, slag and live ships, even a mini-boss once he is badly hurt, and he does it more the more he is hurt. He only copies himself once he has lost half his health.
  • Boss Challenger fights the World Eater and the Iron Lattice in their own corners of the Abyss, as Story and Arcade do, instead of beside the planets of Chapter One.
  • On the dead star the view now waits until a guardian has reached its spot and the ground has stopped before it opens out, so guardians no longer seem to ride the ground in.
  • The leaning stone gate at the start of the dead star is gone. It could stand right over a guardian's arena, covering Bahamut's throne in Boss Challenger.
  • Online: if the server drops your connection mid-run, the game now rejoins your crew by itself, and the server keeps your place for you. A brief stall in the browser no longer gets you dropped.
v1.4.0The Dead Star · Build 22026-10-05
  • Options > LEADERBOARD now opens Vortex's own leaderboard on games.anhhi.net (the top 100 pilots, by platform, with your rank), rather than the game's page.
  • The title menu is cleaner: its rows sit straight on the starry sky, without the dark boxes behind them.
  • Vortex now carries its maker's mark: "An Anhhisoft Game" with the Anhhisoft logo opens the game (tap or press any key to skip) and heads the end credits, which now simply say THANK YOU FOR PLAYING above the names.
  • Smooth from the first minute: the game now reads each stage's enemies, pickups, effects, boss art and sounds ahead while the screen is calm, and music plays from its file as it goes instead of loading whole tracks at once. New encounters and boss arrivals no longer hitch, most of all in the browser.
  • The Story prologue has its own music: dread as the stars go out, panic as Earth falls, and resolve as the crew strikes back, leading straight into the journey theme.
  • Losing a single-player run now offers Continue from the area you last reached (a Chapter One leg, a Chapter Two area or a dead-star encounter), as well as Restart and Main Menu. SAVE & QUIT still resumes exactly where you left off, and runs saved on the dead star now resume there.
  • Thalok's sea is see-through again, instead of showing dark bands over the fight.
  • The Missile upgrade's homing drones fire silently, so they no longer drown out your main gun.
  • Online rooms: you can make a new room straight after leaving one, empty rooms close within seconds, and if you make too many rooms in a short time the create buttons show a countdown. The lobby also tells you when a game has already started or ended.
v1.4.0The Dead Star · Build 12026-10-05
  • Chapter 3, The Dead Star: after Veyrath falls, the crew dives through the burning sky of the collapsed star behind him and fights across its surface. There are four areas (the Cinder Shelf, the Dim Corona, the Glass Rim and the Collapse), each with its own land. Every guardian is reached over a stretch of ground in its own element and weather, then fought on its own arena.
  • The dead star's land is alive: lava fills its rifts, geysers and fire vents erupt, meteor storms crash down, ancient glowing monoliths stand over the plains, and beetles, magma maws and cinder centipedes crawl below. Chasms drop away into darkness, and the ground stops moving whenever a boss or mini-boss holds the field.
  • New enemies for the dead star: seven kinds of burned flyers (Char Rooks, Cinder Kites, Slag Moths, Pall Bearers, Scorch Wyrmlings, Husk Skiffs and Smoke Buoys) and the Crown's escorts (Pyre Riders, Brand Harriers and the Soot Galleon, a burning war-galleon that firebombs the field). They bank into turns, fire the way they face, catch fire and crash.
  • Thirteen new guardians: the Warden, Khepraax, Grathul, Haloth the Orrery, Cineris, Sirrha, Vaelcorr, Ossarch and Orvanth, plus the Council of Four (Azero, Herald of the Storm; Bahamut, the Last Sun; Izen, Architect of the Collapse; and Vrtra, the Enveloper). Between them come three new mini-bosses: the Slag Tender, the Pyre Warden and the Obsidian Ray.
  • The Council fight back to back to end the chapter. Bahamut's fall breaks the star apart, the crew climbs into space, and they face Izen in the shattered sky and then Vrtra before a black hole.
  • One returns for its last fight at full power, a liquid shape with new moves in every form. When it is beaten it gives itself up, and its light grants every pilot the Eclipse.
  • The game now has an ending: beat Vrtra, fly into the light at the heart of her black hole, and the credits roll with THANK YOU FOR PLAYING.
  • Chapter Two gains two guardians. The World Eater is a colossal armoured worm that swims through space and time. The Iron Lattice is a tumbling cube of riveted girders that tears itself apart and bolts itself back together. Each has its own theme, and new Harrow and Obelisk mini-bosses come before them.
  • Guardians make an entrance: they stride in from the top or crash down from the sky into a crater of rock and dust. Some have entrances of their own: Grathul bursts out of the ground, Ossarch lands on one knee and rises, and Cineris and Orvanth float down.
  • New Chapter 3 music: "The Dead Star" plays as you fly and "Council of Ash" in boss fights. Each Council member, One, the Orrery and Vrtra's later forms have their own themes.
  • Guardians speak: Veyrath, Ossarch, Azero, Bahamut, Izen (one voice per form), Vrtra, her Kept Knight and One (as a machine) voice their big moments, with the occasional taunt. The Council's last words now show on screen. You can turn voices off under Options > Audio > VOICES.
  • Two new weapons drop from Chapter 3. The Ice shot fires snowballs that slow targets, burst into chaining snowflakes and build up to a freeze. The Drain casts barbed hooks on blood-red wires that latch onto enemies and drain their life to heal you, and a full blood meter lets you throw a Blood Burst.
  • The Crown, tier IV of The Way, opens at the dead star. It adds one-point capstones for every tree and weapon Mastery, which gives a specialized weapon its other branch as well.
  • The Eclipse is the fourth ultimate: tap L+R for the Convergence, or hold to close a dark violet circle that pulls in enemy rounds and fires your weapon up out of the field.
  • Switch weapons with L / R (Q / E) as soon as you carry two kinds; on touch, tap the weapon in hand. You can specialize any weapon you have picked up, POWER now lifts a weapon one tier, and weapon capsules no longer swap the weapon in your hand.
  • The Charge is now safe to hold for 5 seconds at its first rank, rising to 10 seconds at full rank.
  • Combat goes deeper. Every weapon deals an element some guardians resist or are weak to, and lighter, faster ships land more critical hits, which shatter like glass. Damage numbers and a running damage total show your hits, and both can be turned off under Options > Game.
  • When two pilots' ultimates go off within moments of each other they chain into a Combo Burst. Two pilots together launch the Twin Burst, a ring of fire and ice that traces a blazing star across the screen and calls down a storm of asteroids.
  • New use-once pickups: Overdrive, Chrono, Lucky Charm and Magnet turn up during runs, and Aegis, Nova and Ultimate Battery drop only when a boss or mini-boss falls.
  • Guardians now punish. Heavy blows can leave your ship Crippled (half speed and fire rate), Weakened or Confused, and guardians can land critical hits on you, more often later in the journey. Ships show what is wrong with them through smoke, sparks or dizzy stars, along with small icons under the shield bar.
  • Guardians no longer give away most attacks with warning rings, aim lines or landing marks. Watch their wind-ups and listen for their sounds instead. Strikes aimed at the screen still show where they will land.
  • Relics, part one: 14 new relics bring the total to 30, including the Bound Heart, which may drop from One's last fight. Every relic now has a second power, many have a special of their own, and rarer relics leave a brighter aura round your ship.
  • Relics, part two: every relic has a rare purple EPIC version with a lasting extra boon. Relics are attuned to their guardian's chapter, so they give only part of their power against earlier guardians.
  • Relics, part three: a relic you find opens as a full trading card that lists everything it does. Only the Eye of the First pierces Guardian Wards now, and relic tiers stay hidden so you discover rarity by playing.
  • Boss Challenger: your level now carries from fight to fight up to 250, with hidden bonus levels beyond that. Guardians match your level and fight at their full potential, and most of them use every move from the start.
  • Boss Challenger gets a page for each chapter, and Chapter Two's named guardians move to its own page. Each challenge now opens with a light-speed jump and a flight down an avenue of glowing columns into the guardian's arena, and the guardian has lines it says only here.
  • Boss Trophy cards now drop into the crew's space and float there until your ship flies into them. In co-op every pilot gets a card of their own.
  • Story: replay any section of a chapter you have beaten, starting with a fitting level and loadout. The new STAR MAP traces your whole journey and lets you start from any place you have reached.
  • The Way opens on a new SHIP page: your ship as a worn 16-bit sprite carrying your upgrades, relic and ultimates. You can turn it to see it from every side, and tap any section to jump to its page.
  • A new Options > ACCESSIBILITY tab adds colour-blind palettes, larger ship sizes, a ship outline with a marked hit point, a hit alert, calmer flashes, background dimming and dark backing behind enemy shots.
  • Pause > Options now opens the full Options menu during a run. Video gains LIGHTING, DETAIL and SHOW FPS settings.
  • A fresh look: lighting throughout, repainted planets and Sun, new 16-bit art for small ships, flyers, missiles and asteroids, ships that turn and break apart into pieces, and vortexes that twist the space behind them. Falling meteors can now be shot down.
  • Much smoother on phones and every Apple device. Busy fights draw far faster, there are no hitches when sounds or a boss's art first load, memory use is lower, and the buzz from repeated long sounds is gone.
  • Controls: clicking either stick or pulling a trigger all the way counts as a press of fire. A stray second finger no longer presses menu buttons or spends your ultimate, and if P1's controller disconnects the game pauses and hands control to the keyboard and touch.
  • Other fixes: STAY in the "Leave online game?" dialog no longer leaves, a Charge cut short by a menu releases properly, and long four-player online campaigns are more stable. Your shield no longer dings when hit; the crack and a soft thud mark it.
  • Chapter 3's bosses, minis, moves and lines are translated into Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Spanish.
  • The Warden: a flying stone pyramid whose eyes track you and fire lasers. It springs a surprise every few seconds (the Plunge, Eyes Unbound, the Tomb, Mirage, the Crush, the Gaze, Curse and Sand Sink), hits back when pressed or hidden under, and falls in among a meteor storm.
  • Khepraax: fights on foot in a canyon gorge, dropping in once its walls have risen. He kicks his heavy sphere down the lane, crosses the sky as a sun (Sun Path), and Stomps, Hurls the crust, Bulldozes, burrows and kicks burning grit, all twice as hard and at a quicker pace.
  • Azero: the herald rides bursts of wind and casts with his Rod, and at 75% a storm takes him and the hippogriff bursts out. His wind carries ships, rounds and pickups, and he adds Static Charge and Blackout.
  • Grathul: a 3D crust wyrm that bursts out of the ground anywhere on his arena. He slithers across the field and dives back in with a splash of dirt and a shockwave that strikes and slows, and every third move he calls down a Meteor storm, which he also does at 50% and 5% health.
  • Haloth, the Orrery: swings on a pendulum from a trolley above the field. Shooting its rings turns them, and lining up its captured worlds fires the Syzygy. New moves include Planetfall, Kepler's Waltz, Midnight, the Still Hour and Rewind.
  • Cineris: a real three-phase boss that flies in full motion and fires between moves. It brings Moonlure, Ashborn Host and Mothball Tempest, calls an Ashen Cataclysm at 50%, burns as the Inferno Moth below 30%, and makes a Last Flight at 1%.
  • Bahamut: the Sun-Warden rises from his throne behind an aura you must break first. When he falls, his arena breaks into a sea of lava, where the phoenix fights with Lava Dragons, a colossal dragon at each fifth of his health, the Heart of the Sun and the Ash Egg.
  • Sirrha: the glass hydra sows crystals all fight long, and her light bounces off them, splitting into more lasers at every crystal it hits. Shoot crystals to break the chain. Crystal Storm comes at 75%, 50% and 25% health, and Converge at every 10%.
  • Vaelcorr: moves like a fortress with real momentum and lands in a colossal drop. His five guns fire constantly, his core whirls to spray rounds all round, his moves run 50% faster with half the rest between them, and he launches meteors (more on higher difficulties).
  • Izen: three forms. The council elder casts his mathematics (Proof by Exhaustion, Equation of Ruin, Lagrange Points and more), the dragon is bound in its accretion ring at 75%, and at 50% it breaks free to Maul, Pummel, Pounce, roar a War Cry and finally Rampage. He fights high in the sky over the shattered star.
  • Ossarch: a stone giant who stalks the whole field. His crushing blows break shields, his Stone Guard drinks ultimates and throws them back, a shadow double copies his moves from 50%, and below 30% he rages with burning eye lasers.
  • Orvanth: half as big again, swinging on real chains. Its new songs are Crescendo, Note Barrage, Resonance, Harmonics, Echo, Sustain, Paper Storm and Bell Toll, its Requiem comes at 50%, and it hits harder as its life runs out.
  • Vrtra: a relentless finale. She fights as a naga queen, then a demon pair with her Kept Knight, then a fused four-armed demon, and finally a three-headed hydra fought inside her black hole, where each head must be cut off on its own. Team moves (Twin Candles, The Hours, Hold the Light) leave her exposed and can also be won solo.
  • One: its last fight has 120,000 health. Each shape moves along its own geometry with new moves (Rewind, Grid Lock, Path Lances, Starfall, the White Hole and the Eclipse), all fired from its eye.
  • The World Eater: Devour, Breach, Coil, Sand Breath, Time Echo, Maelstrom Maw, Deep Dive and World Gravity at every quarter of its health. At 1% comes its Last Meal: it bursts apart from end to end.
  • The Iron Lattice: tears itself apart at every quarter of its health and bolts back together, and raises a ricocheting Auto Defense at every 15% lost. It also uses Pile Driver, Rebar Rain, Cage, Wrecking Ball and Unfold.
  • Gravemarch: his gun carriages run in along rails from the ship's sides, and one more mans the battery for every 5% of health he loses. Each carriage fires its own laser.
  • Veyrath: his cover is now floating chunks of abyssal rock that stop his Burning Gaze, and he now spits fireballs straight at the screen.
  • Thalok: his sea ripples and bends, his arm slams come more often and every slam's shockwave hurts, and his Devil's Eye is painted in full.
  • Nyxara: a move every 4 seconds, with Pounce, Drop, Acid Spray, Cocoon and Web Storm. Her front legs guard her head and catch ultimates, and her physical attacks can cripple.
  • Enxio: his die is thrown like a real one, bouncing and skidding before it lands, and his Frost Sight fires an ice laser into the screen.
  • Voraxis: rigid armour-plate wings and a sweeping Emerald Lance fired from his nose.
  • The Mothership and Ashkara: the Mothership now and then flies a rocket straight at the screen, and Ashkara lands with five huge shockwaves.
v1.1.0Boss Challenger · Build 2862026-09-29
  • Free Play is now Boss Challenger: rematch any guardian you have beaten, solo or online, at full power. Each win earns its Boss Trophy and a star rank from one to five, and beating every guardian on Insane unlocks the Challenger-only Pain rank.
  • Boss Trophy cards show every guardian in new full-body art, with reveals that sound like handling real cards; the end of a run announces every trophy you earned.
  • LORE cards turn each guardian's moves into a deck of trading cards you can flip through.
  • Guardian Wards come to Boss Challenger, and a Weekly Challenger bounty features one guardian with a twist each week.
  • Bring your own loadout to Boss Challenger: spend your points, keep your unlocks, and it is saved between fights.
  • A and S rank relics now carry a second power.
  • Planets have depth and their real features, the 16-bit way.
  • The twin-stick aim card arrives at level 5, and Oblivar's Last Bloom now comes at 3% of his health bar.
  • Online runs save automatically every 15 seconds. If reconnecting fails, Saved Runs restores Story or Arcade progress with your score, upgrades, weapons and relics, and your original crew can rejoin with their loadouts.
  • Reconnecting to a long online run catches up faster, and recovery downloads no longer use up the lobby's ordinary allowance.
v1.1.0The Devil's Eye · Build 2852026-09-29
  • Thalok has new tricks: he can plunge the sea into darkness, sweep it with a crushing water jet and trap you in a cage of tentacles. Push him hard enough and his eyes merge into one enormous devil's eye.
  • Enxio now rolls like a die, light blazing from every face, and whatever number he lands on rains down on you. When he falls, his whole legion falls with him, and his health bar is back.
  • Veyrath fights beneath a vast dead star that slides into eclipse as he weakens, and his swoop now leaves fireballs erupting in his wake.
  • The Abyss fleet has been rebuilt as menacing shape drones, spheres, triangles, stars and cubes, that light up before they fire their own shapes at you, and they are tougher to bring down.
  • The Tazer now fires from the nose of your ship and arcs to anything on screen, quicker with every jump.
  • Every chapter plays out with unique guardian fights, Skarn shows up in every run, and Chapter 2's guardians go by their true names.
  • The music swells when a guardian arrives and settles again once it falls.
  • Boss buffs and debuffs now show as icons beside the health bar, and the mini-boss version of Enxio is now called Enxio Shard.
  • Screen-filling cover now rises only for Noctaris and Veyrath.
  • Online sessions ride out brief account-service hiccups without dropping you from your run.
v1.1.0Stones of the Abyss · Build 2842026-09-28
  • Veyrath has a new defence: he can sense your ultimate coming and raise a ring of ancient standing stones from the Abyss that drink its power. Break the stones, or get in close.
  • Veyrath no longer hides behind a shield dome, and once his wings, tails and head are gone his reinforcements arrive one at a time.
  • Online co-op runs at full speed on slower or jittery connections, and a rare desync during some boss bursts is fixed.
  • Smoother performance in big boss fights.
v1.1.0Take cover · Build 2832026-09-28
  • Take cover: when a guardian unleashes an attack that fills the screen, themed cover rises between you and it: ice pillars, obsidian slabs, blast shields, shards of Enxio's cube and more. Tuck in behind it to ride the attack out.
  • Cover stops enemy rounds too, but it wears down, so don't count on one spot for the whole fight.
v1.1.0Relics online · Build 2822026-09-28
  • Online co-op: every pilot now brings their own relic collection and the relic they're wearing, so the whole crew hunts with their best finds.
  • Relics found in an online run are still yours to keep.
v1.1.0Boss relics · Build 2812026-09-28
  • Boss relics: every named guardian can drop its own relic, sixteen in all to collect. Wear one at a time from the new RELICS tab in The Way; each one boosts your ship, adds a power of its own and hits certain bosses harder.
  • A relic falls from the sky under rays of light and wakes in a ripple that clears the field before you claim it. Story runs, chapter finales and the rare Hunter's Lodestone all improve your chances.
  • Bigger boss rewards: named guardians now also leave a weapon capsule for every pilot and an extra point for The Way.
  • New and reworked guardians: Zhaktis the mantis stalks on his legs with raptorial claws; Morthul, Rage of the Deep, crashes onto the field and burns hotter the angrier he gets; Noctaris, Titan of the Deep, opens a flower-petal maw; Khionar the Frost Weaver brings snowstorms and ice; the alien ship's gun battery fights beside Gravemarch; Umbra Maw's severed tentacles crawl back and latch on.
  • Every guardian has a title, the planet tour follows the solar system inward, and mini-bosses vary from run to run.
  • Co-op: any pilot can pause and open their own Way, and runs now recover from sync hiccups without leaving the game.
v1.1.0Store ownership and sign-in · Build 2802026-09-27
  • Mac downloads now keep your linked account signed in after restarting the game.
  • Added Microsoft Store purchase verification for online co-op, including refreshing ownership checks when reconnecting.
  • Apple packages declare all five supported languages, controller support and Mac Game Mode.
  • Includes the previous audio-settings fix, widescreen and 4K rendering options, ship paints, and multiplayer recovery updates.
v1.1.0Volume fix · Build 2782026-09-27
  • Changing the volume in Options > Audio works again: it no longer resizes the window or switches the screen mode, and your new levels take effect right away.
v1.1.0Your language · Build 2772026-09-27
  • The game now speaks Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Spanish: menus, options, ship select, the HUD, the online lobby, level-up cards, story pages and boss taunts.
  • It follows your device's language on first launch; change it any time under Options > Gameplay > Language.
  • Boss, ship and weapon names stay as they are in every language.
  • Small fixes: long translated words in the HUD shrink to fit, and mixed Latin and CJK text lines up neatly.
v1.1.0Made for your screen · Build 2762026-09-27
  • Online co-op looks great on desktops: landscape rooms now use a widescreen field that fills 1080p, 1440p and 4K screens edge to edge, with the art at the same size as solo play.
  • Screens of other shapes, like a Mac's, no longer get black bars: the edges glow softly with the game itself.
  • New Video option: choose AUTO, 1080P, 1440P or 4K for how sharply the game draws, and which resolution fullscreen uses.
v1.1.0Your colours · Build 2752026-09-27
  • Pick your ship's colour: every ship has five clean colours to choose from on the ship select screen (Q/E, LB/RB, or tap a swatch). Each pilot picks their own in couch co-op and online, and the game remembers your choice for each ship.
  • Everything from build 274 is included: reconnecting to your crew after a dropped connection, game-server hosting for online rooms, and host controls that pass on smoothly.
v1.1.0Stay with your crew · Build 2742026-09-26
  • Choose Game server or My device when creating an online room. A compatible game server is recommended when available; the room creator joins the server alongside the crew.
  • Lost connections show a 30-second crew countdown. Short outages restore the accepted game history and check matching game state before resuming, with progress and a restoration countdown.
  • If a pilot cannot reconnect, the remaining crew continues and shared host controls transfer to the next connected pilot. Rejoin previous crew brings returning players back to their room; Deploy to run catches them up to the battle.
  • Active players see when a returning pilot is reconnecting, has rejoined, or could not reconnect. A synchronization failure returns the crew to the same lobby with its room code and settings intact.
  • Private server diagnostics retain input histories, game-state checksums, disconnect causes and server-simulation timing to help investigate multiplayer failures.
v1.1.0Guardians reforged · Build 2732026-09-26
  • Save and continue: Story and Arcade runs save as you fly, and SAVE & QUIT in the pause menu keeps your exact place on the journey. CONTINUE on the title shows each saved run (ship, stage, level, score, lives, time played); a fight in progress starts again from its warning.
  • Nyxara is rebuilt as a real spider, four times the size: a painted body with a fanged head and eight red eyes on eight jointed 3D legs that step one after another. She walks in over the top of the screen during the warning, spitting purple webs that erupt in fireballs.
  • Nyxara's Silk Canopy is different every time (orb, spiral, funnel and tangle webs, and she spins all four before she falls), then burns: fireballs chain along every strand. She also opens her abdomen and launches a salvo of 20+ rockets, one at a time, each with a warning before it lands in a spray of explosions; she keeps up her normal fire through her specials, stops walking once her legs are gone, and dies in a burst of scattered body parts.
  • Voraxis is now the flagship: half as big again, whole to the end. Strip his six turrets first, then his hull can be hurt, and he flashes white when hit, with a short rest between flashes.
  • Voraxis's new moves: a Main Cannon beam that sweeps down the field; Deep Lances, green lasers rising from far beneath you, with a sweep left to right, back again, then fanning out at the crew, building to a crescendo of explosions; defensive drones launched from his two hulls that hold a line and fire slow heat-seeking missiles; and slime silos that loft rockets on green flame, lock on and burst into creeping slime (touching it costs two hits).
  • Green flames roar from four engine mouths on Voraxis's back and change height and shape with each attack he fires.
  • Oblivar calls one more ghost vortex each time he cringes, and no old ship sprite is left behind when he dies.
  • Every boss kill showers the crew with 10 to 20 medals, badges and bonuses, more for bigger bosses and longer fights.
  • Experience is now separate from score. Pickups and trophies add score only; kills add both. The first defeat of each guardian in a run gives exactly enough experience for two more levels, so builds grow through the journey instead of maxing out early.
  • Skarn's four special attacks now play in every form.
  • The website adds Korean, a Guardians and Council bestiary with in-game captures of Nyxara, Skarn, Oblivar and Voraxis, and mobile menu fixes.
v1.1.0Online co-op · Build 2722026-09-26
  • Build 272 packages the current 1.1.0 release source for macOS (Apple silicon and Intel), Windows, Linux, the browser, and iOS development devices.
  • Skarn transforms through four alien forms, each with its own special attack, faster fire and guardian-level health, with more room to fight and a new reveal.
  • The website adds Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Spanish, plus Guardians and Council reference pages and layout fixes.
  • Oblivar, elder of the abyssal sea, fights alone now, with moves of his own: every tenth of his body lost he throws his arms at the crew and they crawl after you (kill one and he grows it back); every 15% he cringes and calls Deep Space's Ghosts, purple-black eruptions that blow apart three times their size; every 25% Call of the Deep sends swirling vortexes hunting you, hurling any ship they catch.
  • Oblivar's Last Bloom: at 5% he swells while pollen and disease crawlers fill the field, the alarm sounds, and missiles from space ignite it all in a chain of huge explosions that takes him with it. Get clear of the pollen.
  • Named bosses keep up with your crew: a boss you beat before still takes 70% off its health but never drops below what your firepower calls for, every featured fight is tuned (not only the planets), and your Charge is counted in.
  • The Charge hits bosses at full strength and grows with you: a full Charge is worth several seconds of your own guns, more with each CHARGE rank and each level.
  • Health and shield bars drain instead of snapping: what a hit took lingers as a pale trail, then drains segment by segment.
  • Survival takes more work: the safety after a hit is shorter, health drops repair your hull and only bank a life when it is whole, and Hull armor is a little lighter. Collect those drops.
  • Online rooms have a screen shape: the host picks LANDSCAPE or MOBILE PORTRAIT, the room list shows it, and phones turn to match for the match. Start online solo and have friends join a run already in progress.
  • The Mothership's sweeping eye beam now roars with a low, crackling laser drone for as long as it sweeps.
  • On iPhone the whole game stays clear of the Dynamic Island, the rounded corners and the home indicator in portrait and landscape, and a boss's name and health sit under your score when you hold the phone upright.
  • Online co-op: fly with up to three friends over the internet from the title's ONLINE CO-OP. Browse open crews or make a private room and share its invite link or code; players in the browser join the same lobby as the Mac, Windows and Linux versions.
  • The lobby is laid out like the title menu and works with every input: a COPIED check and a sound when you copy an invite, and a notice and chime when pilots join, ready up or leave.
  • Every pilot picks their own upgrades: each has their own build, level-up cards go round the crew one pilot at a time in their own colour, and The Way opens on the build of whoever asked. A pilot who joins mid-run finds the crew's points waiting.
  • Two pilots flying the same ship can tell them apart: each seat's colour (P1 cyan, P2 orange, P3 green, P4 magenta) glows around its ship with a P1–P4 tag, and the HUD's crew row lights up a pilot's tag while they have points to spend.
  • Anyone in the crew can pause, and the pause menu is theirs, WAY included; another pilot's Start takes it over.
  • Level-up cards no longer skip by accident: hold fire (or press Enter, click or tap) to pick, with a fill bar on the card. The first three level-ups explain what points and The Way are; Options > GAME > LEVEL-UP TIPS shows them always, or never.
  • The Way's tabs lead the screen: the buttons that switch them (LB/RB, L1/R1 or Q/E) sit on the tab bar, a dot marks tabs with points to spend, Ultimates have their own tab with what each rank does, and APPLY and CANCEL show their buttons, pulse when changes aren't kept yet and ask before throwing them away.
  • High scores from every version: link the game in Options > ACCOUNT and your best runs post to games.anhhi.net from Mac, Windows, Linux, the browser and iPhone. Offline, the best unsent score waits and posts later. The ACCOUNT tab also opens the leaderboard, your account and account deletion.
  • In online rooms you can report or block another pilot, and the host can remove one, from PILOTS.
  • The game still plays fully offline and DRM-free: single-player and couch co-op never need an account or a connection.
v1.0.1Titan launch2026-09-26
  • Begin the journey with a launch from Titan: depart the 3D bunker, follow the ship with a chase camera, and jump to Earth.
v1.0.0Launch2026-09-25
  • Vortex: Guardians of the Abyss is out: DRM-free on macOS, Windows and Linux from vortex.anhhi.net, and in the browser on games.anhhi.net for everyone who owns it. iPhone, iPad and Steam are on the way.
  • Two chapters: fight from ruined Earth past Mars, Jupiter and Saturn to Enxio aboard the invading ship, then through the breach into the Abyss to face Ashkara, Umbra Maw and Veyrath, Guardian of the Abyss.
  • Story mode tells the campaign between battles for a single pilot; Arcade drops you straight into the fight; Infinite Play loops the whole journey after the finale: from Veyrath back to Earth, with your crew, level and upgrades intact.
  • Couch co-op for two to four players on one screen, with separate or shared hulls, on keyboard, controllers, mouse or touch.
  • Level-up cards, The Way skill trees, five weapons that branch into POWER or INTERCEPT, and three shield-powered Ultimates: EMP, Charge and Convergence.
  • Every super boss has its own entrance, screen effect and original theme.
  • Missiles and rockets launch with new original sounds: a low ignition thump and a roar that fades as the missile flies off, and Enxio, Ashkara and Veyrath each fire with a launch of their own.
  • Every weapon sounds as fast as it fires: each shot plays its own attack instead of queueing behind the last, missiles land a low thump on every shot that tightens as Speed quickens your fire, and the Tazer zaps on every bolt.
  • Boss shields react: Vulcan bullets and Ricochet bolts glance off with a spray of sparks and a ding, other rounds sink in with a soft absorb, and the Tazer's lightning passes straight through shields to the hull.
  • One's first fight is kinder to young crews: every 7% of its health knocked off drops a shield or health capsule.
  • The Level 2 Charge is explained where you pick it: hold to draw enemies, shots and debris in and build damage for the release. You are untouchable for up to 10 seconds while charging; hold longer and it starts to hurt, with a ring around the ship showing how much safe charge is left.
  • Hits are felt: solo, the screen flashes red while you take damage; in co-op nothing flashes, the struck ship shakes instead. Controllers rumble with every hit, lightly for small ones and hard for missiles and boss blows.
  • One at the Sun has three times the health and shows off the Charge: at least twice it charges for five to ten seconds, pulling everything in, then releases a blast that can take at most half a ship's hull. It always opens a black hole before it falls.
  • One's long beams now come from its drones, which swoop in fast, fire and fly back out; its spinning beams alternate long and short, and its taunts stay on screen long enough to read.
  • Veyrath is easier to hurt (120,000 hull and 60,000 shield), keeps his wings until his last 10% so he fights with every move, and has a new attack, the Eruption: at 70%, 40% and 10% he raises his wings and hurls thirty or more great fireballs up from his feet into space, one after another, before they rain back down across the field in huge explosions.
  • Umbra Maw is a true super boss, with at least 100,000 health.
  • Fixed: when Enxio calls Thalok in, the octopus's swim no longer moves the journey on (it could send the crew back to Earth or crash the game).
  • Buying direct gives you a Vortex key: it brings back your downloads, and redeeming it on games.anhhi.net keeps the game in your account and unlocks the browser version.