Steph Thirion's Faraway launches after 16 years

Solo developer Steph Thirion and publisher Annapurna Interactive have released Faraway across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. Accompanying a launch trailer on YouTube, the release brings one of indie gaming's longest development cycles to a close.

Thirion first showed Faraway back in March 2010 at the Game Developers Conference as part of the one-button Gamma4 competition, right on the heels of his 2009 iOS puzzle game Eliss. It picked up an IndieCade finalist nod that same year and a 2012 Independent Games Festival nomination for Best Mobile Game, then spent the next decade and a half in quiet development before resurging with a firm release date on October 19, 2026.

Drawing constellations to stay alive

In Faraway, you control a shooting star hurtling through deep space while constantly running out of time. It's a one-button game at its core. Pressing the input tethers your spark to the nearest gravitational center, letting you orbit celestial bodies to build momentum before releasing to slingshot across the void.

Connecting those stars weaves an energy string that forms geometric constellations, harvesting the light needed to keep your spark from fading out.

"A little spark chasing more light, dancing across the cosmos. One star, then another, and another. Slingshots into pirouettes, curves into constellations, traces of a life meant to vanish in a blink."

The structure splits into an endless core mode and 16 handcrafted puzzle stages. In the main arcade mode, the universe generates itself in real time around how well you're playing, meaning stronger runs push you faster into tougher sectors of space and higher up the leaderboards. You have complete freedom over how you shape each constellation, though pulling off riskier maneuvers like tight orbital loops pays out bonus points and extra energy. I'm curious whether a single-button control scheme can hold up over hours-long sessions without giving your thumb cramps, though the 16 puzzle stages look like a smart way to teach advanced trajectory tricks without the pressure of a ticking clock.

Sixteen years of solo code

Thirion built the entire project himself under his Night Swim, LLC banner, handling the game design, custom programming libraries, and interactive music. Nothing is pre-rendered; the visuals and reactive audio generate from scratch in real time as you trace lines across the screen.

That 16-year gap between reveal and launch is wild even by solo indie standards. Faraway started life during the early golden age of experimental iPhone games, yet it arrives on modern consoles and the Switch 2 without looking dated, mostly because stark geometric lines and physics math don't age the way polygon counts do.

On PC, the system requirements are fittingly light: it only asks for 500 MB of storage space and a 2 GB graphics card from a decade ago, and it's already verified for the Steam Deck. PC players can also grab it at a 20% launch discount on Steam right now.