Press Kit

Description

Every ship has a weak spot.

Most games give a ship a health bar. Ship Busters gives her a hull, planks, masts, sails, guns and a powder magazine, each one destructible on its own. Where you hit matters more than how hard. Players arc their shot over the water, watch a plank splinter and fall, then do it again until the enemy can't fight back.

The signature mechanic is the Broadside. Every gun reloads on its own clock. Fire them one at a time to chip away, or hold your fire until the whole flank is ready and loose them together in a single volley that caves a hull in. Knowing when to hold and when to fire is the game.

Eight kinds of ordnance each ruin a ship in their own way, and a hit on the magazine runs fire cell to cell until the whole ship comes apart. Twelve gear sets of six pieces each let players build a gunline that holds the range or a hunter that closes fast and hits first.

At launch there are two ways to play: a campaign of 49 battles across seven seas, and live multiplayer duels in the Arena. Coming soon: Gauntlet, Daily Challenge and Dungeons. Gauntlet will throw endless waves at you, the Daily Challenge will give every captain the same fight on the same seed, and Dungeons will be a run-based mode with its own encounters and rewards. Ship Busters launches on October 29, 2026 on Windows and macOS (Steam), iOS, Android and web, free to play everywhere. In-game purchases are optional, and nothing sold is needed to finish the campaign or win a duel.

Features

• Fully destructible hulls. Hull, planks, masts, sails, guns and the powder magazine each break on their own. Sections collapse, sails tear, fires spread, and a magazine hit chains through a ship and sinks her.
• The Broadside. Guns reload on their own clocks. Charge your ready guns and fire them as one synchronised volley.
• Eight ways to ruin a ship. Round shot, grape, chain, hotshot, mortar, piercing shot, harpoons and stuck bombs, each with its own way of doing damage.
• Seven seas to sail At launch A campaign of 49 battles, seven in each sea, every sea with its own waters, its own enemy classes and its own way of trying to sink you.
• Live multiplayer in the Arena At launch Duel other players directly. The newest part of the game, and the part most likely to keep changing after launch.
• Gauntlet, Daily Challenge and Dungeons Coming soon Gauntlet will throw waves at you until you break. The Daily Challenge will give every captain in the world the same fight on the same seed. Dungeons will be a separate run-based mode with its own encounters and rewards.
• Twelve sets, six pieces each. Cannon, hull, sail, mast, ram and keel. Mix pieces for the stats you want, or run a full set for the bonus, across speed, hull strength, raw damage, dodge and ambush damage.
• Battle specials. Full Broadside, Chain Volley, Rail Fire, Mortar Rain, Storm Call, Brace & Patch, and Ramming Speed, plus signature specials that belong to a single ship.
• A painted fleet. Hulls run from the starter Sloop to the Man-o'-War, alongside ships like the Red Dawn, the Celestial and the Sea Dragon.
• Built to learn. A guided tutorial and a set of accessibility options.
• INVO gold that travels. The premium currency, gold, can be sent to another captain or moved to another supported INVO game. How gold works.
• Free to play. Purchases are optional, and nothing sold is needed to finish the campaign or win a duel.

INVO Gold

Gold is the premium currency in Ship Busters, and it runs on INVO, built by Invo Tech Inc., the developer of Ship Busters and the company behind INVO. Players can buy it, send it to another captain by phone number, or transfer it to another supported INVO game, including to their own account there. The recipient does not need to play Ship Busters.

Every send is confirmed with the sender's passkey, and the recipient collects with their own passkey. Until then the gold is held by INVO.

Purchases and transfers work in every build, including Steam, where transfers are approved on a phone or in a browser. The Next Fest demo has no shop, purchases or transfers. Read how gold works.

After launch

Balance and content will keep being updated after launch, tuned in the open alongside players. The game is planned to grow in four directions:

1. The campaign. Finish the seven-seas map with the remaining stages, enemy ship classes and encounter types.
2. The collection. Complete the full run of 12 gear sets, six pieces each, with their set bonuses.
3. Online play. Grow the online Arena, where players duel each other directly.
4. Everything around the edges. Gauntlet, Daily Challenge and Dungeons, a wider ordnance table, deeper accessibility options, and more languages.

Feedback runs through the Steam discussion boards and the community Discord. Ship Busters is free to play at launch and after it.

History

1. Jul 2026Development of the current game begins.
2. Aug 2026Desktop builds for Steam begin, and iOS beta testing runs through Apple TestFlight.
3. Oct 19-26, 2026The free Ship Busters Demo is playable on Steam for Windows and macOS during Steam Next Fest.
4. Oct 29, 2026Launch day: full release on every platform at once, Windows and macOS (Steam), iOS (App Store), Android (Google Play) and web, free to play everywhere.