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The Last Sideran›Events›Career Mode Has Arrived — Begin Zenia’s Story
In-game event

Career Mode Has Arrived — Begin Zenia’s Story

The Last Sideran · published 39 days ago

All eventsPlayers around this dateRead on Steam

Career Mode Has Arrived — Begin Zenia’s Story

This is one of the biggest updates to The Last Sideran yet.

For the first time, players can experience Zenia’s complete journey through a new story-driven Career Mode. Fight through escalating levels, unlock ships, confront powerful bosses, and discover what happened to the Siderans.

Arcade Mode was built around chasing the highest score. Career Mode gives every battle a greater purpose.

A New Way to Play

The main menu now offers two distinct ways to enter the fight:

  • Career Mode — Follow Zenia’s story, unlock ships, reach major story milestones, and fight beyond Rebirth.
  • Arcade Mode — The original score-chasing experience, preserved for competitive runs and high scores.

Career progress remains separate from the Arcade scoreboard, so the original competitive experience stays intact.

Experience Zenia’s Complete Story

Story chapters now unfold automatically as you advance through Career Mode:

  • The Last Sideran
  • A Leap of Faith
  • The Assessment
  • The Final Spike
  • Rebirth

Each chapter becomes available in the Story menu after it is encountered, allowing you to replay Zenia’s journey without affecting your active Career.

Story checkpoints are also saved during important transitions. If you leave during a chapter or major finale, you can continue from that point instead of replaying the entire run.

A Cinematic New Beginning

Every Career begins with a dramatically enhanced opening chapter: The Last Sideran.

Watch the Sideran capital transform as Zenia’s pilot logs reveal what happened to her people. A living crowd fills the plaza, citizens disappear one by one, and an overwhelming swarm of Spikes slowly consumes the sky.

The opening scene now features:

  • Hundreds of animated citizens and Spikes.
  • A richer and more cinematic presentation.
  • Improved pacing and atmosphere throughout Zenia’s pilot logs.
  • Major performance optimization for smoother playback across supported devices.

Progress Through Career

Career Mode introduces a longer journey built around survival and progression:

  • Collect star essence and unlock additional ships.
  • Advance through increasingly dangerous levels.
  • Encounter story chapters and bosses at major milestones.
  • Resume interrupted Career runs without losing your place.
  • Complete Rebirth and continue into the endless challenge beyond Level 10.
  • Record the highest Career level you have reached.

Completing Rebirth also unlocks New Game+, allowing experienced pilots to begin a new Career at Level 10 and immediately face the dangers beyond.

A Seamless Launch Into Gameplay

When the opening story finishes, Career Mode now transitions into the same complete launch sequence used by Arcade Mode.

The game’s loading screen appears whether you watch the story to the end or choose to skip it. MainGame remains covered while the starfield, gameplay systems, and visual effects finish preparing, creating a smoother transition into Zenia’s first mission.

Play Your Way

Career Mode and its story flows support:

  • Controller
  • Keyboard
  • Mouse
  • Touch controls

Story scenes can be advanced or skipped without changing input methods, and skipping a chapter still records it as completed for Career progression.

The Journey Begins

Career Mode transforms The Last Sideran from a pure score-chasing experience into Zenia’s complete story—without taking anything away from the original Arcade Mode.

The Siderans are gone. Their final pilot remains.

She is the last Sideran. The mission starts now.

More from The Last Sideran

Other announcements

All events
The Last SideranGame update26 Aug 2026Slightly eased Essence Rush difficultySlightly eased Essence Rush difficulty by increasing the time restored from stage and combat star essence, giving players more room to recover while keeping the mode tense.The Last SideranGame update13 Aug 2026Steam Update Notes - Career & Challenge UpdateStar essence is now safely banked when reaching Rebirth, even if you continue into New Game+. · Added and refined weapon power-ups, including the Crescent Round. · Improved ship weapon compatibility and ammunition balancing. · Improved controller navigation on the Career completion screen. · Steam star-essence achievements now unlock correctly at Rebirth checkpoints. · Additional gameplay, save…The Last SideranGame update13 Aug 2026Zenia’s opening is new, the guns hit harder, and the Cybernetic Runner no longerWhat’s new • New intro menu. A more mythical opening before you start a run; the void, Zenia, and the last light of the Siderans. • Weapon upgrades. Power-ups have more punch and a clearer feel in combat. • Cybernetic Runner. Signature bombs now fire with the weapon power-up, not instead of it. Grab Plasma Comet, Crescent Round, or another upgrade and you still drop both mines.