This update is packed with some of the biggest gameplay improvements we’ve made so far, all inspired by your feedback. Thank you to everyone who has been playing, streaming, sharing screenshots, and telling us what you’d love to see next. 🐾

Think you’re the better pilot? Our brand-new Competitive Co-op Mode is now live!

Every match randomly spins through the game’s levels, so you’ll never know which battlefield is coming next. To keep things fair and balanced, we've stripped it down to the basics:

• No weapon pickups

• No health or shield pickups

• Pure skill, quick reflexes, and a little bit of luck

The last cat still flying wins! 🐈‍⬛

One of the most common pieces of feedback we’ve received has been around gameplay readability, especially during the game's more intense moments.

We’ve gone through every single stage and carefully rebalanced the visual depth, making it much easier to distinguish between:

• Backgrounds & foreground elements

• Enemies & incoming projectiles

Alongside this, we’ve added extra polish across every level to make the cosmic action clearer, cleaner, and even more satisfying to play.

One of the biggest surprises during development has been just how much everyone loved our original Mono Mode. What began as a simple accessibility feature has grown into something much bigger.

Instead of hiding it away as a menu toggle, we’ve turned it into its own distinct way to experience Astro Burn. Now, when you launch the game, you’ll choose between two editions:

• Purrismatic Edition - The colourful, vibrant adventure you know and love.

• Meowchromatic Edition - A beautifully handcrafted monochrome version with its own unique atmosphere.

The inspiration came from the Mad Max: Fury Road - Black & Chrome Edition, which proved that shifting the visual presentation can completely transform the experience. That’s exactly what happened here - Meowchromatic Edition genuinely feels like a fresh way to play. Sometimes the best ideas come from solving an entirely different problem!

Finally, we’ve added our brand-new Pet Gallery! Thanks to our amazing Kickstarter backers, you can now browse a growing gallery of the wonderful pets that helped bring Astro Burn to life. Every portrait is a huge thank you to the incredible community that has supported this game from day one.

As always, thank you for helping shape Astro Burn. Every piece of feedback, bug report, and suggestion genuinely helps us make the game better. We can’t wait to hear what you think of this update... and to find out who is crowned the ultimate Competitive Co-op champion! 🐾

Shmups are known for being visually intense, fast-paced, and packed with flashing colors. But for many color-blind and visually impaired players, that beautiful cosmic chaos can make the action incredibly difficult to follow.

After receiving some fantastic, detailed analysis on an early build from accessibility advocate Ned Shoaei, spending months reading research papers, and drawing inspiration from industry advocates like Jarvs Tasker, we decided it was time to take action.

Coming to our Early Access update today, we are introducing our new 'Mono High Contrast Mode' toggle!

This isn’t just a lazy color overlay. To get this right, we are manually going through each layer of every level in the game to:

• Adjust Contrast Ranges: Creating high-contrast, monochromatic palettes to drastically improve visual clarity.

• Prioritize Gameplay Sprites: Hiding or softening certain background details so your eyes can focus instantly on what matters - your ship, the enemies, and the projectiles.

It is a incredibly time-consuming process, but the results are so worth it.

Not only does it make the game significantly more comfortable to play for color-blind pilots, but it also gives Astro Burn a really distinctive, gorgeous new retro artistic look! 🖤

To access the mono mode, go to Options > Gameplay and toggle the switch for Mono Mode. Remember you can access the options screen anytime by pausing the game.

We can't wait to hear your feedback on how it feels in action. Every hurdle overcome means one more platform - and one more group of players - who can safely join the mission to rescue those kittens!

Over and out,

Astro Burn Team