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17 Sep 2026
| Published | Title | Build |
|---|---|---|
| Boss Overhaul, Varied Waves & Clearer Combat Boss fights have a new look and a more distinct rhythm, with clearer warnings and more varied enemy arrivals. · Boss overhaul: Ten redesigned boss families with detailed ships, animated weapons, distinct attack sequences and new charging sounds. Bosses also have more varied movement and feints. · More varied waves: Enemy formations follow different curved flight paths and arrival speeds, with b… | 25169120 | |
| The Swarm Has Evolved: A Major Nova Swarm Updatemajor Nova Swarm has had a serious overhaul. I've rebuilt the fleet and the worlds you fight above, made destruction more satisfying, and worked on the opening minutes and performance. I'm proud of how far it's come, and your feedback helped get it here. Watch the new gameplay trailer on the Steam page. Give it 50 seconds and see the overhaul in motion. Ready for a closer look? Curious about what kee… | 25150873 | |
| Nova Swarm: Distinct Powerup Art & Clearer Pickups Powerup clarity update The newer powerup roster has received a full visual pass. Each icon now has its own silhouette, central symbol, and mechanic-specific visual language—so you can tell what you’re grabbing at a glance, even in a crowded wave. Highlights · 20 newer powerups now use finished, distinct artwork. · Survival-critical pickups are easier to recognize: Extra Life keeps its unmistaka… | — | |
| Cabinet Wonders: bugfixes and visual improvements Cabinet Wonders now have a much better framed presentation and linger longer during the natural break between waves—without pausing or freezing the game. · The previous wonder presentation were oversized, ugly and paused the game unintentionally. · Input, projectiles, timers, and wave progression keep moving normally while a Wonder is shown. · Every Wonder keeps its unique authored artwork, now… | — | |
| Nova Swarm Patch Notes: Endless Rank, First-Run Clarity & Combat Polish Hi pilots, This minor update adds a permanent long-term climb and continues the work on making Nova Swarm easier to understand without lowering the pressure. Endless Career Rank · Career Rank no longer stops at Rank 40. Earned XP can now keep raising it indefinitely. · Rank 40 remains the final unlock, reward and combat-power milestone. Higher ranks are status-only and provide no gameplay advan… | 24757559 | |
| Nova Swarm Patch Notes: Clearer Menus, Safer Warnings and Better Run Reports Menus and onboarding · Rebuilt the main menu around a large, focused START PLAYING action, with a clear first-run cue that guides new pilots straight into Mayhem Tactical. · Removed the permanent Pilot Orders board from the main menu. Orders now live in the Hangar archive and appear contextually during runs when they matter. · Improved typography, spacing, contrast, text-to-frame clearance, and… | 24707244 | |
| Nova Swarm Patch Notes: Cleaner Combos and Powerup Pairing A small follow-up patch is now live. What Changed · Boss fights now act as clean combo boundaries. Your combo ends when a boss encounter begins, boss hits no longer keep the timer alive, and combos built from support ships do not carry out of the fight. · Compatible timed powerups can now run together, normally as one offense effect and one support effect. · Picking up the same timed powerup no… | 24637691 | |
| Nova Swarm Patch Notes: Cleaner Combat, Controls and Hangar Clarity Combat clarity · Final deaths now show the impact and fatal cause clearly, clear lingering hazards, and transition into Game Over without the red vignette seam or secondary combat messages covering the moment. · Game Over, results, and leaderboard transitions now stay composed while data loads instead of dropping to a black screen. · Score, combo, survival, mission status, and high-score chase… | — | |
| Nova Swarm: Tactical Builds, Overrun & Clearer Combatmajor Nova Swarm has changed dramatically since its June 9 launch. The game is still built around fast restarts, learnable boss patterns, bullet-heavy combat and the pull of one cleaner run. But the current version offers much more to master: run-long Tactical builds, a pure score-attack ruleset, Overrun from Sector 51, 30 ships, 60 Cabinet Wonders and a major overhaul of combat clarity, controls and… | — | |
| Nova Swarm Patch Notes: Keyboard Remapping, Wonder Audio and Interface Fixes Keyboard controls · Added keyboard remapping for movement, focus, shooting, dodge or phase, and pause. · Shift can now be rebound directly. · Custom bindings persist with your settings, while Reset Keyboard restores the defaults. · Fixed overlapping controls and buttons in the Settings remapping panels. Cabinet Wonders · Every Cabinet Wonder now begins with a dedicated revelation sound. · A wor… | — | |
| Nova Swarm Patch Notes: Sixty Wonders, Smoother Bosses & some bugfixes Sixty Cabinet Wonders The Cabinet has found fifty more things it probably should have left alone. · Added 50 new Cabinet Wonders, bringing the total collection to 60. · Wonders can now appear at safe transitions every third sector. · Recently seen Wonders stay out of rotation, keeping repeat sightings uncommon. · Every discovered Wonder is permanently archived in a new Threat Codex category and… | — | |
| Nova Swarm Patch Notes: Overrun & the New Command Deck Nova Swarm has more ways to fly now, so the command deck has been rebuilt to make those choices easier to understand before launch. Overrun Overrun is a new late-game mode for pilots who want to start where a normal run is already getting unreasonable. · Reach Sector 30 in Mayhem to unlock Overrun. · Overrun begins at Sector 51 with zero score and no skipped-sector rewards. · Choose between Pur… | — | |
| Nova Swarm Patch Notes: Tactical Drafts, Premium VFX & Final Transmissions This update is a major clarity and visual-polish pass for Nova Swarm. Tactical choices are easier to read, combat effects are richer and important HUD information gets room to breathe. Tactical Draft rebuilt Tactical Draft cards now put the important decision first: the augment name, its category, a plain-language explanation, and a clear Choose action. When a value can be calculated honestly,… | — | |
| Nova Swarm Patch Notes: Cabinet Wonders & Combat Clarity Ten Cabinet Wonders Pilots, this update adds more wonder to the swarm while tightening several systems that player feedback helped us pin down. Cabinet Wonders now draw from ten rare spectacles. Alongside Ghost Fleet Salute, Starwhale Constellation and Aurora Crown, you may now encounter: · Singularity Bloom · Celestial Koi Procession · Prismatic Supernova · Warp Cathedral · Quantum Eclipse · N… | — | |
| Nova Swarm Patch Notes: Better Dodges, Builds and Tactical Choices This is a focused update built directly from recent player feedback. Hangar launches Starting a ship from the Hangar or Ship Details now enters Mayhem Tactical, matching the recommended main mode. Mayhem Pure remains available from the main menu. Dodge Pulse Dodge Pulse now activates when the phase ends instead of when the dodge begins. This preserves the full invulnerable dodge and graze windo… | — | |
| Nova Swarm Patch Notes: Aces, Nemesis Protocols & Rival Wings Tactical Draft gave every run a build. This update gives the battlefield something new to do with it. Nova Swarm now layers optional Side Directives, marked Ace hunts, Nemesis Protocols, and coordinated Rival Wings into the existing arcade run Tactical Directives One optional Side Directive is active at a time, with live progress and the promised reward visible in Mission Status. · 10 objective… | — | |
| Nova Swarm Patch Notes: Tactical Draft & Run-Build Update Tactical Draft: every boss clear now asks a question The biggest addition in this build is Tactical Draft . After defeating a boss, you choose one permanent augment from three offers. This is not a vending machine for tiny percentages. The choices are meant to steer the run: damage routes, mobility tricks, survival tools, pickup control, combo pressure, and builds that get pleasantly strange af… | — | |
| Nova Swarm Patch Notes: Pilot Orders and Clearer Powerups Follow-Up Patch - Pilot Orders & Powerup Clarity This update is a focused onboarding and feedback pass built from recent Steam Feedback & Suggestions. The goal is simple: help new pilots learn the important Mayhem mechanics, and make spent defensive or charge powerups stop looking like they still have value. What Changed Pilot Orders · Added Pilot Orders to the main menu as optional starter com… | — | |
| Nova Swarm Patch Notes: Brighter Boss Fights, Slower Slow Time Follow-Up Patch – Readability, Pacing & Rewards This follow-up patch continues the readability and pacing improvements from yesterday's Run Report / Mayhem update. The goal is simple: make dangerous moments easier to read, reward strong runs more generously, and keep the arcade action intense without becoming visually overwhelming. Boss Support Ships · Boss support calls remain random, but boss… | — | |
| Nova Swarm Patch Notes: Run Report and Smoother Mayhem The focus this time is simple: make Mayhem a little less overwhelming, and make the end of a run easier to understand without cluttering the Game Over flow. What Changed · Added an optional RUN REPORT button on Game Over. · The full report is hidden by default, so restart, leaderboard, hangar, and main menu actions stay front and center. · Run Report summarizes the run with compact sections for… | — | |
| Nova Swarm Patch Notes: Cleaner Dodging, Better Rewards, Calmer Menu Voices This update is a focused feedback pass based on recent player notes. The goal is simple: make dodging easier to read, make near-miss rewards feel more intentional, keep reward text out of the danger zone, and let the menu keep its personality without the voices stacking on top of each other. What Changed · Added a clearer danger-point / hitbox visibility option in Settings. · Made the danger po… | — | |
| Nova Swarm Patch Notes: Focus Drift Control This is a small follow-up patch note after the Mayhem Update, built directly from forum feedback about late boss fights and dense bullet patterns. The request was pretty clear: Nova Swarm should stay mean, but the player needs a little more control when the screen gets tight. So the new control is Focus Drift. What Changed - Added Focus Drift: hold Ctrl on keyboard or LT on controller to slow y… | — | |
| Nova Swarm Update: More Mayhem, Full Reinforcement Waves, Hangar Fixes Hi pilots, This update is focused on making Nova Swarm feel more alive, louder, clearer, and meaner in the right places. Mayhem now has much more dramatic reinforcement moments, boss fights can be interrupted by full enemy waves, the Hangar is safer about old profile data, enemy projectile readability has been sharpened, menu navigation has more personality, and a stack of stability/readability… | — | |
| Nova Swarm Hotfix: Hangar, Reinforcements, And Ascendant Balance Patch note timestamp: 2026-06-25 12:00 CEST. This hotfix is focused on the feedback that came in after the last big combat-readability update: hangar progress should stay trustworthy, reinforcement waves should actually show up before the run is almost over, and the new late-game Ascendant ships should feel powerful without flattening the rest of the roster. What Changed · Fixed a hangar progre… | 23909622 | |
| Nova Swarm Update: Projectiles, Boss Fairness, And Mayhem Polish Patch note timestamp: 2026 06 24 17:06 CEST. The previous hotfix focused on Near Miss feedback, hostile bullet readability, and leaderboard polish. This update builds on that work with a broader pass on combat readability, fairness, feedback, and the way the game explains itself. The goal is simple: keep Nova Swarm fast and dangerous, but make the danger easier to read and the rough edges less… | 23895509 |
| Date | Day | Time | Patch title | Build ID | Branch | Depots | Download Δ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Sep 2026new | Mon | 19:41 | No patch notes · unannounced build | 25173832 | sector-continue-test | 1 | — |
| 7 Sep 2026new | Mon | 15:10 | Boss Overhaul, Varied Waves & Clearer Combat | 25169120 | public | 1 | — |
| 7 Sep 2026new | Mon | 14:30 | Boss Overhaul, Varied Waves & Clearer Combat | 25169120 | sector-continue-test | 1 | — |
| 7 Sep 2026new | Mon | 10:14 | No patch notes · unannounced build | 25164967 | sector-continue-test | 1 | — |
| 7 Sep 2026new | Mon | 09:10 | No patch notes · unannounced build | 25163288 | public | 1 | — |
| 7 Sep 2026new | Mon | 08:21 | No patch notes · unannounced build | 25163288 | sector-continue-test | 1 | — |
| 6 Sep 2026 | Sun | 10:21 | The Swarm Has Evolved: A Major Nova Swarm Update | 25150873 | public | 1 | — |
| 6 Sep 2026 | Sun | 10:20 | The Swarm Has Evolved: A Major Nova Swarm Update | 25150873 | sector-continue-test | 1 | — |