Store data
- Store status
- Coming soon
- Scheduled release
- 28 October 2026
- Positive reviews
- —
- Total reviews
- 0
- Release date
- 28 October 2026
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Blackstar Ranger is a high-octane and immersive first-person space combat game created by a solo developer. From the seat of your advanced fighter, you will complete contracts for BLACKSTAR, the most esteemed Private Military Faction in the solar system. With full HOTAS support and 6DOF capability, you will battle emerging threats intent on consolidating power throughout the system.
Strap in tight, deep space fighter combat is visceral and chaotic. It takes a special sort to live up to the title of Blackstar Ranger.
Take on various heart pounding, highly replayable contract missions. Tangle with space fighters and capital ships to keep the company gratified while earning your reputation.
The Blackstar training range provides a place to gain instruction on the various systems of your advanced fighter as well as put them and your weapons to the test.
Full 6DOF (six degree of freedom) control with compensated and uncompensated Newtonian physics modes. These can be easily toggled during combat.
The combat is designed primarily around the use of HOTAS, but the game also supports gamepad and keyboard/mouse controls. All controls are bindable with calibration and customization options. Support for the use of up to 6 controllers simultaneously.
Player immersion was a primary design philosophy. The in-game UI is MFD and holographic based. No overly cluttered HUD keeps gameplay immersive.
Head tracking integration through the FreeTrack protocol.
Physicalized projectiles ensure a realistic gunnery experience.
Fully voiced NPC radio dialog and cockpit AI, with optional subtitles.
Built-in MP3 player with bindable controls. Listen to your own collection of MP3s in game. The system will automatically reduce the music volume during NPC radio calls and return it after the voice communication is complete. Never miss any critical information.
Ultra-wide screen support for menu UI elements. In-cockpit UI uses physicalized world elements and not overlays.
Progression stats keep track of your pilot accomplishments. Victory badges are displayed on your cockpit dash to show off your fighter victories. A demerit system keeps the player honest, punishing them for things that Blackstar deems undesirable. A dedicated stats page is available to review your accomplishments.
Extensive user options, each with explanation. Options to control the audio level of many in-game sound effects. Gameplay options such as target radar arrows, auto-targeting, rotational brake dampening, subtitles, and more.
Difficulty levels to tailor the game to your playstyle or ability.
Steam achievements.
The Blackstar Ranger Demo features the first two contract missions from the full game. In the first mission you will be tasked with defending Minerva Station from incursions of pirate fighters. The second mission will require you to deal with a pirate cruiser and fighter elements blockading a logistics station. These missions are highly replayable and an excellent showcase for how overall combat will feel in the final game.
The training range is also included in the demo. Here you will get instruction on your fighter systems from the AI trainer. An in-cockpit menu will allow you to select topics about your craft that you would like to learn. The training range also allows the player to test out systems and weapons on training drones and turrets. You can hone your skills in a non-lethal environment before ever accepting an official contract.
If you enjoy the demo, please consider adding the game to your Wishlist so you get notified when the full game releases.
It’s time for the late stage demo release. The Blackstar Ranger retail release date is set for October 28th at 10AM US Central time. The game will be priced at $15.99 USD with a 10% launch discount for the first 7 days. The demo will remain permanent and be updated along side the retail build when needed.Features/BUG FixesIn the controls menu the little button that’s used to invert an axis now has the text “INV” in addition to the circled arrows to make its intent more clear.Added error handling and attempted recovery in case of save file corruption. Each valid save will have a backup that is updated along side it. The system already covers missing save files by auto-creating new default saves but there was no such recovery path for a corrupted save file which could hang the loading screen. If a corrupted save is ever encountered you will see notices on the main menu detailing the sit...
Read full update on Steam ↗This will likely be the last demo update as I push toward the retail release. All the systems for release are now set, and I will begin further polish of missions and existing systems. The permanent demo will be updated alongside the retail version, when released, to ensure the quality remains comparable.Adjusted the volume for the additional AI voice lines added to the tutorial in the previous update. The new lines had a higher volume than the existing audio files and were quite jarring.Made another pass at making the AI fighter materials more visible to the player.The targeting lead pip scale was reduced by 20%.Adjusted the rotational damping behavior of the mouse steering system. When the input is below half of the max input, the dampening will increase. This serves two purposes; It increases the rotational braking power after a hard turn to curb overshooting the intended stopping...
Read full update on Steam ↗Added a slight delay to reactivating weapons after using the RESUME button from the pause menu. This keeps the weapons from firing when resuming the game when your fire button is the same as your menu select button.Fixed an issue with the enemy fighter materials that made them look darker than they should at short to medium distances.I finally got around to refactoring the missile launch physics. Before, a missile was spawned off the rail under the right-side wing but did not inherit the players ship velocity. This could make the missile look like it was coming from all manner of places on the ship during heavy strafing. Now the missile inherits the players ship velocity for a short period until its own propulsion overrides its inherited momentum. This makes the missile fire look more consistent when doing lateral thruster maneuvers. This also makes dumb-fire missiles less accurate wh...
Read full update on Steam ↗Fixed a bug in the Nanite Repair System logic that incorrectly detected the proper damage level that allows the system to be activated.Fixed an issue when using mouse steering and trying to rearm. Letting off the throttle, when not using throttle locking, would fail to trigger the repair bots unless you physically hit the throttle down key after the throttle had already auto-declined to zero.Added a randomizing starting point for the player for each mission. Not all missions in the full version will have this feature. It will only apply to those where the player would have the option of how to enter the area or where to wait for an attack.AI skill settings for fighters have been reworked to only include defensive armor and damage output based reductions and had their maneuverability handicaps removed. Enemy missile damage and ballistic turrets will also scale now with difficulty level...
Read full update on Steam ↗This is mostly a security update for the Unity Engine.Recompiled the demo after an engine level vulnerability was disclosed by Unity and subsequently fixed with a Unity editor update.Reduced the holographic HUD brightness by 20%.Cheers!
Read full update on Steam ↗This may be the largest demo update yet, so here goes.Thruster control can now be bound to an axis. This was actually in the last update but missed the release notes. NOTE: Currently the axis works just like a button, the thrust is either on or off and the axis will NOT have fine control. This may change later but will require a rewrite of the thruster system. I wanted to at least get in for the players who have requested it.Refactored the player bullet impact function when the projectile hits an enemy fighter specifically. The old system spawned the hit effect at the point of impact, but with the speed of combat the target had moved well clear of the impact zone which made the effect spawn far out behind it. The new system detects and relocates these hits to where they look more natural.The key bind system now supports binding single modifier keys (shift, control, alt) independently...
Read full update on Steam ↗Time for a new demo update. I want to keep the demo in-line (as much as possible) with internal changes that I think would allow a potential buyer to get an accurate assessment of the game. Progress has been slow since Feb Next Fest due to real life issues. It’s tough working on this solo, but I’m ready to make the push toward the finish line.Release Notes:1) Additional refinements to the mouse steering system. It's finally in a place I'm happy with. I personally don't use mouse controls in my space sims but I have become pretty proficient with this iteration.2) At player request, I've added a subtle and unobtrusive tracking overlay for fighters that are in front of the player but not the current target. It will make fighters, that are some distance away, easier to spot against the blackness of space. This can be turned off in the options menu if desired.3) All radar and tracking HUD...
Read full update on Steam ↗This is a small QOL update: Continued refinement to the mouse steering system for those without joysticks. The combat in BSR is geared toward HOTAS control, but the game has a mouse steering system as well that I haven't been completely happy with. This update scraps the more math-based sensitivity ramp that the previous system had and now uses a curve-based approach. The increase and decrease in sensitivity when dragging the mouse gizmo is now much smoother and less dramatic. I'm not a mouse using space simmer, but for those who are, I hope this feels better. REMEMBER: The lower difficulty levels (Level1 and Level2) will lower the AI maneuverability and armor rating that will help when using mouse control. Added a new option in the graphics list, at player request, to toggle the ambient space dust if desired.
Read full update on Steam ↗Fixed an option menu bug in the demo that caused all radio button options not to save their state on menu exit. This was accidently introduced in the update build a week ago. Thanks to Steam user "Dating" for bringing this glaring issue to my attention.
Read full update on Steam ↗RELEASE NOTES: This "should" be the final build before the February Steam Next-Fest. Removed the old target arrow system that relied on an overlay canvas and wrote a new system. The new system moves the pointer into 3D space. This makes it more graphically in line with the rest of the holographic HUD. Reworked some menu UI elements. Enabled the intro text screen. It will only play on the first session run. (unless you do a full character reset) The Private Messages screen is now active with the default message included. It will not receive any new messages in the demo. The Compendium page layout is now visible when the button is selected but has not been populated with any information. A new option to unlock all contracts has been added to the options page. The normal flow of gameplay is the player unlocks the next contract after completing the previous. This being a single player exp...
Read full update on Steam ↗The second mission has been permanently unlocked in the demo. This will give players a chance to experience what it's like to battle a single enemy cruiser. At player request, the throttle system has had some changes. Now HOSAS players who want to use their throttle stick for forward and reverse can now do so. When the throttle stick is setup in the calibration window as -1 to 1, by setting the zero slider to the center, the negative portion of the axis will now fire the reverse thruster. This can also be used with keyboard control as long as the Throttle Locking setting is not active. The left MFD will show three red throttle marks at the bottom when the reverse thruster is engaged. The left, right and reverse thrusters have been buffed to give them the same strength as the up and down thrusters. Additional changes to difficulty levels. Now levels 1 & 2 will scale down the AI fighter...
Read full update on Steam ↗IMPORTANT NOTICE: You will need to update your difficulty selection in the options menu for this build. * Reworked and added difficulty levels to include AI scaling for those not using HOTAS controls. * Fixed incorrect scaling of ballistic impacts on player ship. * Made ballistic rounds fired at player easier to see. * Updated turret firing parameters that were accidentally changed in the training area during a script update.
Read full update on Steam ↗Steam currently lists 28 Oct 2026 as the release date.
It’s time for the late stage demo release. The Blackstar Ranger retail release date is set for October 28th at 10AM US Central time. The game will be priced at $15.99 USD with a 10% launch discount for the first 7 day…
This will likely be the last demo update as I push toward the retail release. All the systems for release are now set, and I will begin further polish of missions and existing systems. The permanent demo will be updat…
Added a slight delay to reactivating weapons after using the RESUME button from the pause menu. This keeps the weapons from firing when resuming the game when your fire button is the same as your menu select button.Fi…
Fixed a bug in the Nanite Repair System logic that incorrectly detected the proper damage level that allows the system to be activated.Fixed an issue when using mouse steering and trying to rearm. Letting off the thro…
This is mostly a security update for the Unity Engine.Recompiled the demo after an engine level vulnerability was disclosed by Unity and subsequently fixed with a Unity editor update.Reduced the holographic HUD bright…