Steel Empire: Two Aircraft, Forward and Rear Fire, and 20 Firepower Levels

Two Aircraft, One-Way Flight, and Forward or Rear Fire

Steel Empire offers two aircraft for its side-scrolling combat: the Etopirica (ET-02R), a small, fast plane, and the Zappellon, a slower but more resistant zeppelin. The choice sets speed against resistance rather than simply changing the vehicle’s appearance. Taking the Etopirica means flying the faster of the two craft; choosing the Zappellon means accepting slower movement for greater resistance. Both belong to the same steampunk setting, where shooting enemies and dodging obstacles form the core of the flight.

Flight direction and firing direction follow different rules. Your craft flies in only one direction, but its weapons can shoot both ahead and behind. Rear fire therefore lets you attack the space behind the aircraft without reversing its flight, while forward fire covers the space ahead. This distinction applies alongside the aircraft choice: the faster plane and the more resistant zeppelin both operate within that one-way flight structure. Moving onward does not restrict every shot to the direction of travel.

Experience, Health, Bombs, Extra Lives, and 20 Firepower Levels

Steel Empire ties increasing firepower to collecting special power-ups and advancing through a level-up system with up to 20 levels. Experience points are among the pickups available during play, giving progression a collectible component rather than making shooting the only task. The documented firepower ceiling is therefore a level limit: building your attack strength means working through that progression, with 20 levels available in the system.

The pickup list also includes health, bombs, and additional lives, so experience is not the only resource to collect during a stage. Health belongs to a separate survival rule: emptying the health bar costs a life, after which play continues normally. Additional-life pickups sit alongside health in that resource mix, while bombs form another collectible category. Together, these pickups accompany the firepower progression rather than reducing every collection opportunity to experience alone.

Four Difficulty Settings and the Rules for Lives and Continues

Steel Empire offers four difficulty settings, letting you choose a setting suited to your skill level. Alongside that selection, the game gives you a limited stock of lives and continues. These are separate resources: losing your last life is the point at which a continue becomes relevant, rather than every lost life requiring one. The survival rules therefore distinguish between carrying on with lives remaining and using a continue after the life stock has run out.

After all lives are spent, using a continue restarts play at one of two positions: the beginning of the stage or its midpoint. Your progress through that stage determines which restart point applies; this is not a freely chosen destination. A continue thus returns you to a defined point within the stage rather than simply carrying on where the final life was lost. Continues are limited too, and exhausting that remaining resource ends the game.

Stage Bosses and Between-Level Choices: Switch Craft, Replay, or Save

Steel Empire divides its levels into several stages, each with its own boss to face before progression to the next level. Boss encounters therefore belong to the individual stages, rather than appearing only once at the end of the larger level. Completing a level also opens a chance to change aircraft. You can switch craft at that boundary or proceed in the one you are already flying, so the aircraft selected earlier does not have to remain your choice throughout the game.

The same between-level break offers a replay and a way to save progress. After completing a level, you can watch a replay instead of immediately proceeding into the next part of the game. Saving is another option at this completion point, alongside changing aircraft or continuing with your current craft. These choices give the level boundary two distinct roles: it marks the transition beyond the completed stages and provides an opportunity to review play or record progress before moving on.

First published Nov 4, 2026.