As is common in many games of this style, you begin with only one playable character available. There are three in total, but the other two will gradually unlock as you progress through and complete more stages.
Once your character is selected, your next task is assigning them a role. This choice determines your starting weapon loadout and provides a unique perk that affects your gameplay style. For example, choosing the soldier role will grant you an experience boost, allowing you to level up faster, while selecting the sniper offers enhanced critical hit damage.
Initially, you’re limited to a fighter equipped with a gun and a shotgun. However, additional roles and loadouts become available as you continue playing and leveling up your character. The game features a progression system where new roles are unlocked every three or four levels.
It’s worth noting that each character has their own independent progression track, which means you'll need to level them up separately to reach the maximum level cap of 20. This can be time-consuming, but the game includes a helpful feature to speed things along: at the start of each run, you’ll be given a choice of three randomized missions. Completing these optional objectives provides bonus rewards and helps you advance more quickly.
The core gameplay takes place in compact, single-screen arenas. Each stage has a set time limit, and your objective is simply to survive until the timer runs out and defeat the boss. Stages must be completed in a linear fashion; beat one to unlock the next. Enemies spawn from the edges of the arena, and a red flash warns you where they’ll appear. Some enemies immediately enter the playing field, while others lurk along the borders.
One of the standout mechanics in this game is the way movement is handled. Unlike traditional control schemes, your movement is dictated by the recoil of your weapon. The lore explanation is that your ship’s propulsion system is broken, and now you must rely on the force of your gunfire to move.
It’s an unusual mechanic at first because you need to fire in the direction opposite to where you want to go, but it becomes second nature with practice. The type of weapon you’re using also affects movement speed. The pistol, for instance, allows for more rapid shots and thus finer control, while the shotgun’s powerful blasts send you flying farther but have a longer cooldown.
You carry two weapons during a run, both of which reload after each shot. Reload times vary depending on the weapon type, but the reload process is generally quick. You can even use the recoil to smash into weaker enemies or bounce off walls, but tougher enemies or environmental hazards will still deal damage.
Progression comes through experience orbs dropped by certain defeated enemies. Once your XP bar fills up, you get one of the two upgrade types: perks or stat boosts. Perk events are a bit special because they clear the entire screen of enemies. Stat boosts, on the other hand, leave the arena as it is, letting you continue the fight as soon as you add a point to a selected stat.
Perks vary in rarity and can provide bonuses such as increased damage, faster reload speeds, or the ability to make bullets ricochet. Some perks also come with trade-offs, so you’ll need to weigh the pros and cons. What sets this system apart from similar games is that you must choose which of your two weapons to apply a perk to. Each weapon only has three upgrade slots. To manage this limitation, there are three additional hull slots that grant their bonus to both weapons. Some perks, like area-of-effect sparks that circle your ship, are hull-exclusive and can’t be applied to weapons, and some unique weapon perks don’t work on the hull.
Stat boosts are color-coded and grant both offensive and passive benefits. Increasing strength enhances overall weapon damage and makes you more effective against enemies of the same color. Vitality increases your health, movement speed, and reduces reload time, while also adding a small amount of vampirism, letting you heal from kills. Intelligence boosts experience gain, and luck improves how often experience orbs drop. Each stat point carries multiple bonuses. Though it’s tempting to stack strength for pure damage, the vampirism in vitality is often essential for survival due to the game’s unconventional movement and high contact damage.
While the game increases difficulty for each unlocked stage, it also includes an accessibility menu where you can tweak enemy damage, movement speed, and experience gain. This flexibility allows players to tailor the challenge to their preferences and skill level. The main menu also gives access to achievements screen and a logbook where you can see the requirements for unlocking perks that later show up in future runs. The logbook also has entries on enemies, roles and skills, and they unlock when you encounter them.
