Whisker Squadron: Survivor

Do not buy. The developer has admitted on LinkedIn that the studio is essentially shut down and the team has been let go due to funding issues. They slapped a "1.0" label on this game to call it "finished," but it’s an unfinished product used to squeeze the last bit of cash out of backers and fans. The main open-world game that this was supposed to fund is now a ghost ship. Total lack of transparency and a betrayal of the community's trust.

The developer released a 1.0 "final" release and closed down their studio. They didn't post anything on steam about it and ruined both mechanics and tone of this game. It feels like a release was done so the developer could wash their hands of a failed project. There's very little to this game as of the final release and it's super repetitive. You run through all the content in the game really fast and I hope you enjoy playing through the same "3" levels for the "rougelike" elements. Also accept that the bugs in the game will never get fixed. The game has nice art and music, but for $20 it's a straight scam. Even on sale I would recommend someone find literally any other game.

This was supposed to be the prequel to a fully fledged shooter game in the vein of Star Fox. Unfortunately, the developer insisted on making a lot of changes that were mostly disliked by the community, and the game kept limping along until... the studio closed down and they didn't mention this anywhere but a LinkedIn post that most users would never see. The CEO is now working on a new project, while everyone who helped fund this game and the development of the full version has been left in the dust. If there was ever an argument for not supporting early access... it's this game. A shame. Because it was fun and showed promise.

I can see and appreciate the effort, but the result is not good. What we have here is a short on content, incoherent mix of a runner, an on-rails shooter and an action roguelike, built on repurposed tech to a substandard quality. You could see in the trailer everything nice about Whisker Squadron, so I'm going to be fully disagreeable here. First, the obvious. This is not a survivors game, in any way, at all. Putting "Survivor" in a title was a ♥♥♥♥ move: they don't have the necessary vibes (I mean, it's a frantic shooter), and what they actually borrowed doesn't cohere with the rest at all: gem collecting conflicts with the main gameplay, and missable gems aren't exactly appealing. Meanwhile, it doesn't even seem to be a good marketing, given how crowded is the survivors market now. The action part here is on the fence between a runner and a shooter, unable to pick a side, resulting in suffering. On a runner side, we have cluttered maps you're supposed to maneuver through, and a "tight boost" mechanic encouraging you to rush through narrow openings. On a shooter side, we have enemies shooting you at angles, and a combo mechanic encouraging you to kill enemies regularly. Nobody forbids enemies from disappearing from you for the combo cooldown duration - yes, combo has a cooldown. Nobody forbids enemies from shooting you from around the corner. Have fun. Meanwhile, enemy variety is meh, weapons variety is also meh, and weapon limits - one primary weapon, one secondary that requires pickups for ammo refill - are kind of insane. Tying together moving and aiming (one stick/mouse to rule them all) is... a design choice, I guess. Boss phase changes and stage selection break the remains of the flow. Graphic design here is hostile to the player: you often stop detecting enemies/projectiles in your own weapon fire VFX. Also, color coding - blue vs. lilac, really? - is weak enough to require full color sight to tell apart enemy fire from pickups (say, XP vs. lasers) even in normal situations. Also, it's hard to judge distances here (both for collisions, pickups and weapon effects) On the roguelike part, you have all the standard trappings: XP/levels/upgrade choices, extremely watered down Slay The Spire-style map, all wrapped into the standard unlock-/numerical metaprogression. Upgrades are, for the most part, tied either to "tight boost" or combo; a half of them either outright useless or situational, most others are boring, hilarious cheese is non-existent. Map is also boring, the stage variety boils down to what powerup stages you pick, and how many "hard" battles you fight (hards are hit-or-miss, powerups tend to be either underwhelming or strictly necessary). Metaprogression is, again, boring: the unlocks don't change gameplay too much, numerical bonuses don't either - there is nothing transformative like +projectile count or +perk level. There is simply not much content here. The balance is off in extremely unfun way: for example, one type of powerup stage gives a random bonus of +50% to primary weapon damage, with one alternative being a bunch of metacurrency. Seriously? Meanwhile, there are persistent and annoying bugs, such as parts of your build randomly disappearing or simply stopping working. Also, 100% grind is obnoxious.

Its ok but lets be frank, its not worth anything near 20€. It was a sideproject to their main game and actually never supposed to be their main focus and thats noticeable. I say you can get it when its below 10€.

I'd only reccommend this game if you find it on sale as it feels like only just a extra-mode in a Starfox-like game rather than a full game. The reason I say that is due to how repetitive the enemies and levels are, which makes sense for a rogue-lite but is counter to what makes a game like Starfox good. Starfox 64 is known as a timeless classic because of the tight level design, voiced character dialogue, and branching paths all leading to a memorable experience. In this game you will be flying solo down trench the whole time. Whisker Squadron: Survivor is still pretty fun once you get a decent build going, but it takes a while to get there as your first 5 or so runs will put tutorials for mechanics at the start of each one. The result is that when you first start the game it feels very barebones as most of the fun features to play aren't available until you fail a few runs.

very disappointed so far. concept is fine, gameplay is ok. really lacking on variety and options. this feels very early access. I got this on sale and kind of regret it.

The beta was fun, not sure what happened when I came back. I wouldn't recommend it in its current state.

I would not recommend this. Feels too "floaty" like I'm just running into a wall over and over. I'm not a fan of having the weird enemy spawns mixed with avoiding the terrain like this. Pluss how a run does feels like it lives or dies on how lucky I get with enemy type and spawns. So much spawns jut barely in front of your face. I feel like I'm given the bare minimum of weapon upgrades per "level". I'm never allowed to be OP because the enemies scale to your damage.

Roguelites can be hit or miss for me. I'm not opposed to them but it's not a style I'm inherently drawn to either. But Whisker Squadron: Survivor got its hooks in instantly and never let go. Near six hours and a fully completed run later I can safely say I adore this game. To start with the most important part, this is an excellent Star Fox style shooter. Tight controls, punchy weapons with a great enemy roster to use them on, and a super charming cartoon cyber-neon aesthetic with a killer soundtrack. It's the perfect foundation for the progression systems to build on, hitting that "just one more run" sweet spot. Each of the three acts features a randomized branching layout, letting you prioritize stages with bonus conditions or opportunities to collect additional powerups. There's a wide array of upgrades you can collect during runs and some of them can open up some really fun new twists, like boosting through tight spaces to gain health or using your spin block to reflect projectiles back at enemies. Runs aren't radically unrecognizable from each other but there's good room for customization that gives each run personality. Like any game built on randomization sometimes you'll be at the mercy of the RNG more than others. But no run ever felt truly unwinnable. Between runs you can also unlock more permanent boosts to basic stats as well as new weapons, ships, and pilots at specific milestones. Progression comes at a fairly steady pace. I can see some folks potentially burning out on the game quickly if they're the type to really grind for unlocks. You won't be buying everything in a hurry. But if you focus on playing for fun and letting things open up as you go, you'll find a healthy selection of new toys waiting for you each time you feel tempted to try another run. Playing for fun really is the key here because the game is a joy. This is one of my new arcade favorites, and I can see myself picking this up for a run here or there for a long time to come. I'll be first in line when its currently unnamed sequel takes off.