Asynchronous Gameplay

When you start an asynchronous game of Galaxy, you're paired with 5 random human players. This creates a 6-player lobby consisting of you, plus 5 other humans who have already completed a run at a previous time.

Similar to racing ghosts in Mario Kart, every decision from their past run has been saved and is replayed turn by turn. You'll progress through the game fighting their saved boards, while simulated fights between the other players determine heart damage across the lobby.

The opponents will be a similar skill level to yourself, determined by a hidden "matchmaking rating" (MMR).

You continue playing until you either run out of hearts or defeat all others in the lobby.

Notes

• Asynchronous opponents you face are always on the same turn as you.
• If an async player's run ended on an earlier turn, their board will normally remain "frozen" from their final live turn, aside from some repeatable on-board buff effects, which may continue buffing.
• Heart damage is calculated based on the current async lobby, not the original run. Any damage they took during their own game is ignored. (This is also true for effects like Thing in the Ice).
• Currently, mid-fight effects that change the opponent's state do not persist. For example, if you give them a treasure mid-fight (see White Whale), they will not have it next turn unless it was already in their original run.
• In friend lobbies only, if there's an odd number of players left in the lobby, one player will face an "Evil Twin" - an exact copy of another player's current board. The Evil Twin does not take heart damage, since it isn't a real player.