Nova Slash Returns to Steam After Its Original Release Was Retired

Released this week, Nova Slash is back on Steam with a new £3.39 action-platformer built around rapid melee combat, roguelike progression and the destructive energy of a collapsed artificial star.

Developed and published by Icuzo Games, the new version follows Noven, a former militia leader imprisoned after resisting the authoritarian mega-country of Giaath. When an artificial star created through experiments on political prisoners catastrophically collapses, Noven survives after absorbing its radiation and emerges from the disaster as Veil.

That gives the game’s cosmic abilities a little more context than simply handing its protagonist superpowers.

Veil fights through five districts of Giaath, with bosses and combat augments changing how individual runs develop. Movement and combat are designed around fast slashes, evasive manoeuvres and energy attacks, while the platforming takes players through vertical environments between encounters.

The roguelike element appears to sit primarily around run variation and build experimentation rather than wiping away the game’s underlying story structure.

Nova Slash also launches with Steam Achievements and global leaderboards, although the Steam version is currently single-player. Icuzo recommends using a controller, with the store listing partial controller support for Xbox and PlayStation gamepads.

A free Steam demo arrived several days before release on 27 September and remains available alongside the full game.

The PC requirements are relatively modest by current standards. Windows players need 8GB of RAM, a GTX 970 and Windows 10 or 11, while macOS support starts at macOS 14 with either Apple Silicon M1 hardware or an Intel Core M processor. Steam currently lists 3GB of required storage.

Steam Deck compatibility has not yet been assessed by Valve, so the game remains officially marked as Unknown rather than Verified, Playable or Unsupported.

There is a much more interesting history behind this release than its new Steam listing makes obvious.

Icuzo originally launched Nova Slash: Unparalleled Power on Steam in March 2022. That version offered third-person combat, character customisation, parkour movement and a story centred on the same Noven concept, but it is no longer available to purchase.

The developer voluntarily retired it during 2026.

In a September update, Icuzo explained that Unparalleled Power had too many bugs, suffered from poor performance and lacked sufficient quality control. The studio said removing it was the right decision, particularly because another game using the Nova Slash name was already being prepared.

I think that admission makes the new launch more interesting than simply describing Nova Slash as another indie roguelike. The developer has been unusually open about what went wrong with its first Steam release and has effectively given the idea another shot rather than pretending that earlier version never existed.

I have nothing but respect for them in how they’re approached this.

The current project however, has followed a different route.

Development logs show the newer Nova Slash being actively rebuilt through 2025, including new weapons, character customisation, animation changes and extensive bug fixing before the game expanded onto mobile.

An Android version subsequently launched in early 2026 and has since passed 10,000 downloads on Google Play. At the time of writing, Google’s storefront shows a rating around four stars from more than 70 reviews.

That mobile version has also acted as something of a testing ground for ideas that could eventually influence the Steam game.

Updates have introduced Onslaught, an escalating survival mode, alongside character customisation and the playable character Cosmis, the Stellar, who can generate energy blades, fly and deal heavy damage.

There is an important distinction, though: those mobile features should not automatically be treated as part of the Steam launch.

The Android version already advertises online competitive combat, while Steam currently lists Nova Slash as single-player. Icuzo instead says multiplayer is planned as post-launch content for the PC version, alongside new game modes, skins, outfits, playable characters and additional unlockables.

Cosmis has been specifically teased as part of those future Steam plans, although the developer has not announced when the character will arrive or whether the PC version will reproduce his mobile abilities exactly.

That makes Nova Slash an unusual case where the mobile edition currently contains a multiplayer system that its newly released PC counterpart does not.

The developer says some multiplayer work was previously tested during development, which should make implementing it later more straightforward, but that remains a plan rather than a feature available today.

Nova Slash also appeared in the September edition of the Mundo Gamer Showcase shortly before release. The international indie event featured dozens of projects and ran alongside an official Steam event, giving the game additional exposure during its final week before launch.

Its storefront supports eight interface languages, including English, French, Spanish, Korean, Brazilian and European Portuguese, Russian and Simplified Chinese, with full voice audio currently limited to English.

At £3.39 in the UK, and $4.99 in the US, Nova Slash is positioned at the very low end of paid Steam releases rather than trying to compete at the price of a larger roguelike or action RPG. There is also no need to buy immediately just to see whether its combat works for you, since the free demo remains available.

The bigger question is what happens after launch.

Icuzo’s stated plans extend beyond patches into multiplayer, additional game modes, characters and cosmetic options. After retiring one Nova Slash release and rebuilding the concept through PC and mobile development, the 2026 Steam version feels less like the beginning of the idea than the developer’s attempt to get it right the second time.

Nova Slash is available now through its official Steam page for Windows and macOS.