Learn with Nova

The XS Space Guide

Flight school, ships, weapons and history

Everything on LarkSpark about XS Space, in reading order. Nova and the crew take you from your first drift to choosing a ship, spending your energy well, and keeping your Xenite when the whole arena wants it.

In this guide

Rules Fly with momentum, guard your energy, collect Xenite, and stay inside the circle.
Controls Every key for flying, firing, items and abilities, and how to read the arena screen.
Ships Eight ships in four elements, with their speed, turning, energy and starting gear.
Weapons Guns, cannon and mines, the special abilities, and every item in the inventory.
Strategy How to fly with momentum, spend one energy bar on everything, pick the right fights and still be alive to keep what you win.
History Sixty years of ships that keep drifting, from a lab at MIT to the arcade to an arena in your browser.
Glossary The words for flying, energy and Xenite, the arena, the weapons, the abilities and items, and the kind of game this is.

How to use it

If you’ve never flown, start with the rules and the controls. Your ship keeps moving until you thrust against it, and one energy bar pays for your shots and your survival. Those two ideas explain most of what happens in the arena.

Ships and Weapons are the reference chapters. Compare the eight ships before you pick one, and look up what an item does before you spend it. The strategy chapter then covers how to fly, when to fight, and how to use the storm and the rock.

The history follows space combat games from a university lab in 1962 to the browser, and credits the games that inspired this one. The glossary explains the words you’ll meet in the guide and in the arena.

Ready to fly?

The arena is always open.

Pick a ship and launch under your LarkSpark name. Nova and the rest of the cast keep the sector busy until other pilots arrive.

Play XS Space