Stellar: Galaxy Commander is a PVP Puzzle Game by Candy Crush Developer King

Stellar: Galaxy Commander is a PVP Puzzle Game by Candy Crush Developer King 

Stellar: Galaxy Commander is King's next midcore match-three soft launch, this time combining strategy and space combat with the kind of colorful puzzles seen in something like Candy Crush Saga. This is King's second soft launch puzzle game with a focus on gamers as well as casual players, after Legend of Solgard. Both may be puzzle games, but Stellar is aiming more for a Clash Royale style of PVP gameplay and progression structure. 

 Stellar pits two ship commanders in battle against each other on dueling puzzle boards in space. Each player gets two moves per turn, where they can play a set of atom ships on the board, launching up from the bottom to the game board, while spinning the pieces horizontally or vertically. The pieces work like Puyo Puyo with gravity pointing upward, and the atoms can separate and fall apart when put in play. It is also possible to remove an atom ship from play, but this costs a turn.

Attacks commence after both players make their moves. Atom ships will only attack if three of them are in contact with one another. They will shoot upward through their column, hitting ships in the way, with the goal of hitting the enemy character ship on the other side. The goal is to place ships and matches in such a way to protect from damage while dealing it out.

  

There are special ships that can help on offense and defense. Matches of four ships will form what are known as Melds. A vertical line of four will form a Beamer Meld, a ship that shoots a powerful shot upward through a single column. A two by two match will form a Bomber Meld, which does powerful wide shots. A horizontal line of four ships forms a Reflector Meld, which can serve as a shield against enemy shots. The offensive melds only last for one turn. The ships that form the meld disappear from the board.

Clash Royale's game structure influences Stellar: Galaxy Commander, as the different ships are upgradeable through card packs. Right now, only the four colors of single atom ships and the three classes of meld ships (one for each color) feature upgrades. Different heroes with special abilities are also available, and they feature upgrades via cards as well.

Stellar is unlike Legend of Solgard in that it features PVP combat as a core part of the game. While there is a single player campaign to Stellar, competing against other players in puzzle battles is the focus, instead of the PVE focus of King's other soft launch puzzle game.

King's Stellar: Galaxy Commander is a bit easier to download right now than Legend of Solgard, as it is on the App Store as well as Google Play, but only in the Netherlands and Indonesia.