This game is a reverse-bullet-hell roguelite shmup in which you use cards to fight off waves of aliens across a series of stages. One full playthrough lasts about 60 minutes.

As the current version is not entirely finished, the controls and rules are not adequately communicated in the game itself, so here they are:

Controls (in-game):

WASD to move
ESC to open options
TAB to open inventory
In inventory: arrow keys to scroll through unlocked card slots
C to open character menu
E to interact with level fixtures
1-8 to activate ability cards

Rules:

You can equip cards to empty slots in your card belt through the inventory
Some cards are weapon cards, which means they attack automatically when you press left click
Others are ability cards which must be activated by pressing an associated number key based on their position the hotbar - this number is indicated at the corner of the hotbar slot
You gain cards by opening card packs dropped by enemies
When you have three of the same card with the same rank, they fuse to produce a single card of the next higher rank

There are windows and mac executable versions provided in the download section.

One fateful day...

A group of four unsuspecting college students come into contact with a mysterious crashed alien spaceship. Inside is a prerecorded message which reveals to them that they have been selected by the Kardrians, an extinct alien race, to take on the mantle of the Zemstars.

Historically, the Kardrians selected one champion from each of planet Kardria's four moons to become a Zemstar, a warrior who wields ancient magical artifacts known as the Kards. The Zemstars used the power of the Kards to enforce peace, and to retaliate against invaders.

The galactic conquerors that wiped out their race are now headed towards Earth, and it falls upon Maja, Daria, Estera and Kasia - the first human Zemstars - to use the power of the Kards to defend Earth and avenge the Kardrians.

Zemstar Assault was originally made in one month (Feb. 15 to March 15, 2022) for the Magical Girl Game Jam 5! It's my first formally published game and my first game jam game, and although the vision I initially had for it was quite a bit bigger, I'm happy with how it turned out and it was a fantastic learning experience. Thanks so much for checking it out - I'd be really happy if you could let me know what you thought in the comments! <3

Many thanks to Shreybae (@shreyba.e on instagram) for providing the lovely title screen and character art, along with most of the map tiles! Zemstar Assault wouldn't have been possible without her help and support :)

*This version is NOT FINISHED! There are still several things we wanna add so give us a few days (or weeks)! These additions include:

Additional music tracks
Augment cards (cards that can be attached to weapon cards to enhance them)
Intro cutscene explaining the story
More perks and cards for each character
Better optimization

Thanks for playing! :]

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