A BRANCHING NARRATIVE GAMEUN JUEGO NARRATIVO RAMIFICADO

EDGE OFEL BORDE THE FOLDDEL PLIEGUE

A girl is in danger.
The universe is breaking.
You have a ship.

Una niña en peligro.
El universo se rompe.
Tienes una nave.

Official Music

Original Soundtrack

Preview track from CONTRABAND: Edge of the Fold

Support the project and unlock the soundtrack download.

View soundtrack access
Downloads unlock with the existing All Four Epilogues bundle.
300+narrative scenesescenas narrativas
42ships to flynaves
6named bossesjefes
4unique endingsfinales

Original Soundtrack

Preview the current deploy track. Downloads use the existing support/package flow, no new Stripe product.

Testing note: MP3 files in public/music are public URLs. Use signed storage or protected server-side links before treating downloads as paid access.

What is this game?

You are an independent pilot. A mysterious girl in danger arrives with a job offer that doesn't smell right. Your choice starts a chain of events that fractures reality into parallel branches.

CONTRABAND is a browser-based narrative space game where every decision you make is recorded on the Rift branches. You can revisit any past decision to branch history from that point — the old version still exists, you just live in a new one now.

Think Loki, Galaxy on Fire 2, and Disco Elysium had a child. With real combat, a trading economy, crew management, and 300+ branching narrative beats that react to hundreds of tracked story flags.

Built by one developer. Free to play. No ads. Main path runs in any modern desktop browser — or grab the optional Windows installer. Open play/ and go.

DECISION POINT · Verge Station
DISPATCHER
"You've been flying cargo runs for eight years. Clean ones. This one doesn't smell clean. Girl in danger, no manifest, double pay, and a route that skims the edge of Black Fleet space."
→ Take the run
→ Peek inside the crate
→ Walk away

What makes it different

Rift branches

Every decision is recorded. Revisit any past moment and the story branches — the old version still exists, ghosted behind the new one. The new Branch Ledger lists every abandoned branch with its fork point and what you kept.

Four weapon archetypes

Pulse, beam, shotgun, and homing missiles — each changes how combat feels, not just the numbers. 42 flyable hulls from scouts through tier‑7 capital craft to the legendary Starforge, with variable weapon/shield/engine slots so loadouts matter mechanically.

Galaxy with memory

7 map regions grouping 34 star systems — with 21 locations that expose the full station service suite when you dock. Reputation with Guardians, Black Fleet, Cartel, and Fold forces actually reshapes the world: NPCs change dialogue, fleets hunt or stand down, and Haven reacts to your ledger.

A crew that talks back

32 hireable crew — engineers, gunners, seers, defectors, story-tied recruits, and folding-timeline hires. Each gives a real passive bonus (damage, heal, discounts, avoidance) plus dialogue pools keyed to warps, critical hits, boss phases, docks, and more.

Six named boss encounters

The Drossfield, Veth's Reach, Kallis Scar, Black Fleet Reach, Blacksite and Torx each house a signature antagonist with their own stat profile, intro line, defeat line and loot table. Bounties up to 600,000cr and drops include legendary components and ship unlocks.

Base building + Rift Resonator endgame

Claim the Asterion asteroid and craft 13 machines that produce resources, repair your hull, and unlock the Silent Rift. Build the Rift Resonator to trigger a three-step cinematic decision chain that ends with the Starforge — the game's rarest ship.

Four unique endings + Walk Away

Seal the Rift at a cost. Refuse to choose and live with all of them. Abandon your life for someone else's. Or burn the tree entirely. Plus a rare fifth outcome for pilots who build the Resonator and then refuse the Starforge.

No install, free forever

Open in your browser. Save locally or sync to the cloud via optional sign-in (Firebase). Pointer-lock combat targets desktop keyboards and mice; landscape touch flight ships from play-mobile/ · Ko-fi perks stay in HUD · Windows installer lives on the Downloads page.

No ads. No mandatory account.

See it in motion

The story so far

Learn the world

Explore the lore before you play — or after, to understand what you did. Full bilingual wiki (English + Spanish).

Questions pilots ask

Is this really free?

Yes. The campaign (prologue, four core chapters, side arcs, endings) is completely free with no ads. Optional paid DLC bundles soundtrack access and extras described in-market; skip them and the branching story stays fully playable.

How long is it?

A first playthrough is 6-10 hours depending on how much you explore. With four distinct endings and a branch revisit system, completionists have reported 25+ hours seeing all branches.

Does it work on mobile?

Production balance targets desktop: keyboard, mouse, and pointer-lock flight. Phones fit the landscape-only build at play-mobile/ (touch sticks + weapons layout). Progress still saves through the browser or Firebase like the desktop build.

Do my choices really matter?

Yes. The story has over 150 unique state flags that affect future scenes. Kill a character early and they stay dead — unless you revisit the branch. Protect Lyra in the prologue and she can become a unique crew member later. Betray the Guardians and the Black Fleet starts hunting you.

Is there combat?

Yes — real-time ship-to-ship combat with four weapon archetypes (pulse, beam, shotgun spread, homing missiles), variable slot loadouts per ship, and six named boss encounters with unique stat profiles and loot. You can also avoid combat entirely if you play pacifist — there's an achievement for reaching Chapter 3 without winning a single fight.

Can I save my progress?

Yes. Your pilot auto-saves locally, and if you sign in it also restores/syncs through Firebase so your progress and purchases follow you across devices.

Who made this?

A single indie developer, Dero Lavigne, built this over several months using a modular JavaScript architecture. No engine, no middleware — just a web browser and the Web Audio API for procedural music.

How can I support development?

Play the game. Share it with friends. Report bugs. If you want to contribute financially, there's a Ko-fi button in the bottom right corner of the game — every coffee counts.