I cannot recommend this game yet - it feels like an Early Access game rather than a full release. That said, I am hopeful that further updates will polish this to a point where I can happily recommend it.
If you found this game, you are probably a fan of Tyrian. I'm not a fan of the shoot em up genre, but Tyrian is different, and I was really happy for another game that follows in its footsteps. At the moment however, it has several issues, both as a Tyrian successor, and from a general gameplay perspective:
[*] It's too easy to die. In Tyrian, your shield acts as a buffer to hits, and armor is where you're punished if you don't dodge enough ships, objects, or attacks. The problem here is your shield not only charges up very slowly, some attacks and enemies will deplete your shield and armor almost instantaneously, and it doesn't feel fair.
[*] The power cell system, while an interesting concept, needs revising. Unlike Tyrian where you could pop on a powerful generator and it took care of everything, you need to allocate different systems to different cells here. If you go with the default setup, you will get wiped fast. My biggest gripe about this is the shield recharge. Your shield will NOT recharge, or do it much slower unless you allocate it to power cells that ideally, only have your movement tied to it. I tried allocating shield recharge to 4 vs 8 cells, and the 4 cell charged while the 8 cell stalled, because in the latter, it was also tied to the front weapon. In other words, 4 cells exclusive to shields will charge faster than 4 cells exclusive to shields + 4 extra also tied to the front weapon... that doesn't make sense to me!
[*] The game advertises "Lots of ships, enemies and weapons", but so far I've seen a dearth in variety. I've hopped around a bunch of different locations on the map, and haven't seen any more than four different ships. There's a dearth in weapon variety, I've gone to locations in far corners, and see nothing but the same cheap starter weapons. Generators and shields are also lacking, and it's a real disappointment to travel across the galaxy to find there's nothing new to offer for your troubles. The same goes for enemies... I feel like I've seen most of the types the game has to offer already. EDIT: Per the developer response, yellow datacubes need to be found to unlock things. So it sounds like tackling new locations for the cubes will be the way to find them.
[*] Warp cells are another interesting concept, but feels like artificial impediment of progression and travel, as you are limited to holding 9 cells at a time, which seems like a ridiculous limit given each square of the map requires a cell, so you'll be using these up fast. I understand that limiting travel to 9 cells at a time may have been the intent, but why not let us hold unlimited warp cells, and just restrict the distance we can travel at once to 9? I don't want to be stuck in an empty space square, farming cells to get to my next destination.
[*] Another issue related to the above is the ridiculous difficulty you'll come across while traveling sometimes. There are certain areas where you'll be bombarded with massive numbers of enemies and attacks, and with the lack of weapon variety and punch even when they're maxed out, you won't stand a chance unless you're some sort of bullet hell expert. In fact, the risk of coming across these impossible fleets means you are punished if you attempt to travel on the map more than one square at a time. It's really unfun trying to go 9 cells at once, and then halfway through the difficulty spikes and you give up and go one at a time instead.
[*] The presentation also feels amateurish. If you've played Tyrian, you'll recognize some of the graphics from the game, touched up for the higher resolution, and I don't mind that. But the background blends in and isn't aesthetically pleasing, sometimes it feels like someone went a bit too hog wild with Photoshop, rather than developing a distinct style. The writing in the datacubes feels the same way. Datacubes in Tyrian had personality whether it was the characters or funny little ads. Here everything just feels... samey. I'm not sure how to elaborate without going on at length other than it doesn't feel like there are different voices. I'd love to see the art and writing get more polish once the gameplay deficits are out of the way.
If you are a Tyrian fan, don't let all of this put you off the game just yet, but for now, I'd suggest keeping watch for further updates so the experience is enjoyable, rather than playing and hoping you get to the point where it gets fun. If/when things get patched and updated, I'll update this review because I'd hate to deter proliferation of more Tyrian-like games. For now however, I'd suggest holding off if you're looking to get your Tyrian itch scratched. This is definitely more early access/beta than a complete game.
