1993 Space Machine
I confess I purchased this mainly for the nostalgia factor. After completing 1993:SM I can say the tagline “celebrating games like Gradius, R-Type and Life Force” is realistic but tends to underestimate some bullet hell elements that are present in game.
Bullet hell did indeed surface in year 1993 but was not a popular subgenre until the second half of the decade. What we have here, to summarize, is a mostly classic horizontal shooter, with occasional incursions in bullet hell territory - especially in some overcrowded passages where complex bullet geometries and bullet wave patterns tend to show up, challenging you to not only shoot but dodge, too. I’d say the classic/BH ratio is 80/20, but your mileage may vary.
– Real player with 19.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Gun Customization Co-op Games.
1993 Space Machine is short, simple but very fun 2D side scrolling Shoot Em' Up. The game is easy to pick up and play - You guide your space ship through five stages in your mission to defeat the final boss.
That is not to say the game itself is easy. Stages rapidly increase in difficulty and you will soon find yourself fending off multiple enemies and stage hazards. There are two classes of ships to choose from - A small, nimble but weaker ship or a slower ship that can tank more damage and carry more weapons. Personally I prefered the former, they were just generally better at avoiding enemy projectiles and stage hazards. I would recommend trying both types of ships and seeing which you prefer.
– Real player with 13.1 hrs in game
Saturday Morning Rogue
Saturday Morning Rogue is the top-down 2D roguelike where custom crafted weapons are the only way you’re getting out alive. Pick up persistent custom weapons and armor of past players that are now stuck in Saturday morning forever. If you’re going to defeat the villains of each realm and destroy the corporate machine you’ll need to build some serious equipment of your own. Want more damage? do it. Need to push yourself across the map with explosive recoil? Go wild. The power is yours to create terrifying tools of destruction or hilarious weapons that never should have left the toy aisle!
You’ve been sucked into your favorite Saturday morning cartoons and must fight your way through the Hierarchy’s boomer bots in the zaniest bullet-hell challenge this side of Sunday. Thwart the Hierarchy’s plan to steal the power of your imagination and feed the cereal laden action figure printing machine. Start at the bottom and defeat their plot for profit by climbing the ladder and pushing bosses down another rung. It’s time to weaponize imagination!
Features:
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Create extremely customizable weapons and armor that appear forever in the game, dropping from enemies for other players to use.
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Every stat is yours to fine-tune. Modify damage, recoil, critical hit rate, and many more to craft the ultimate weapon!
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Explore twisted procedural levels from the LepreFaun’s playful maze forest to the Boomer’s corporate castle and the Bone Apple King’s dungeon of empty bowls.
Read More: Best Gun Customization Colorful Games.
GUN&DUN
What a magnificent game. The best i have ever played in my life. This is a life changing game and this game was so good it impregnated me even though i am male. Every second i played this I shat my pants with glee. 100000000000/10
– Real player with 0.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Gun Customization Action Games.
GG Dev Kid…GG
– Real player with 0.3 hrs in game
Tower of Doom
Edit - There is a game-breaking bug where the game does not register that all the mobs have been killed so youree left standing in the middle of an open map with nothing going on. The game has no pause or menu button so the only way to fix this bug is to restart the game through the VR menu etc. This bug happens mostly on the first level but it happens on others rarely. I have encountered it roughly 25% of my runs.
These other reviews are full of poo. Buy this.
Tower of Doom is a great arcade game. It would appear these other reviewers dont understand the mechanics of the game. (scroll to the end for gameplay tips and observations)
– Real player with 7.1 hrs in game
pretty sweet game! The guns kinda give me a borderlands vibe since they have rng stats/abilities. The enemies have a good amount of differences to them in appearance and types and there’s even more types of guns. I really like how you can keep upgrading your weapon to make it last longer and that you have 4 weapon turret spots to place guns you want to keep or to put a new gun while you’re working on upgrades for it. I think it has potential for lots more too! ( i’d love to see more boss or mini boss encounters.)
– Real player with 6.9 hrs in game
Miner Gun Builder
I enjoy being able to have a second account on my PC to really get to go through the entire early game, it’s pretty fun especially since I know basically all the tips and tricks beforehand lol. But to newcomers, this game can be very confusing with descriptions in some places or some things may not entirely make sense so I HIGHLY recommend joining the Discord server to be able to ask any questions to us (I am Fwuffy Doge). :3
– Real player with 271.8 hrs in game
Works as advertised - a surprisingly deep and fun game to just run on the side while doing other stuff. And then you get a new ship and you don’t even realize it took your full attention for an hour. So many details to optimize:
-Raw Damage
-Number of projectiles
-Bullet trajectory
-AOE
-Piercing
-Bouncing
-Critical chance
-More I’m forgetting
And that’s on top of the maze you have to create in each ship to get from the projectile generator over to the gun points. Good stuff.
Admittedly, the UI definitely needs some work. The game itself is almost a puzzle that you unlock as well as you get further, the captains, the endless missions, the random new weapon slot you forgot you can unlock by scrolling down more.
– Real player with 93.3 hrs in game
Space Elite Force
Summary:
(longer version below)
Space Elite Force is a pretty neat and lite side-shooter, offering some builds/customization and a fair amount of gameplay. It doesn’t come without drawbacks, but they’re minor, so at the end of the day, depending how much you pay for it, you can get a pretty decent local co-op game without regretting it.
| Achievements: | Cloud Saving: | Trading Cards: | Workshop: |
– Real player with 7.0 hrs in game
Reminescient of games like R-Type and Gradius, this shootem will bring back fond memories. It is a masterpiece and a game done right in this genre. It is 99 cents well spent. I would’ve gladly paid for $5 or more for it. Exceptional development.
| Pros | Cons |
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shmup
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in space
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upgrades
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great graphics
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great audio
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joystick
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active developer
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- joystick, because keyboard does suck in this game
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– Real player with 4.4 hrs in game
Space Force Squadron
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/20344/
The year is 2500 A.D., the earth was invaded by spaceships controlled by an A.I. The Space Forces manage to track the enemy HQ, and send the space squadron on a mission to end this invasion and thus save the earth.
Space Force Squadron is a horizontal arcade-style 2d shmup game, where you choose between 4 pilots, with different attributes each. Defeating enemies earns you points that can be used to buy upgrades for the ships, and also to repair them when you fail a mission.
Characteristics
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The game has 8 playable missions
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4 characters to choose from
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Challenging achievements
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Compatibility with x360 control
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Runs in window mode only
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Arcade style (good for casual play)
Velvet Guard
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Review by Sven Evil - Steam’s largest local 4-player curator! See 100s of more local 4-player reviews at my curator page !
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Sometimes you unexpectedly find a real gem. This game is such a hidden gem. A small, but very polished game that I never heard of before, but understood in seconds and had fun with immediately!
The premise is simple: Kill your opponents, like in Towerfall or Duck Games. You got only one bullet. After shooting it, you have to retrieve it before you can shoot again. The different levels contain death traps, like spikes or lava. Also each character can choose a super ability, like the possibility to kill opponents by jumping on their heads. You also have a few options to select and gamemodes to choose from - and then the fun starts!
– Real player with 5.6 hrs in game
An awesome multiplayer game to play with your friends, to a good price too. There’s even possiblity to play online with Parsec!
– Real player with 5.2 hrs in game
Antibody
You are the cure.
Sanguon, an otherwordly and newly discovered planet, has found itself the hotbed for a highly infectious alien lifeform. After intercepting a distress call from the surface research colony, you conclude the infection rate will outrun your efforts to contact your fellow humans. It is up to your piloting skills and the peculiar cleansing capabilities of your allied Chonklers to save Sanguon - and indeed the universe - from Viroid assimilation.
Multitask to victory.
Efficiently and continuously reposition your Chonkler companions to impede the rising infection. But stay alert, as your friendly critters are completely defenseless and will need your maneuverability and firepower to keep them safe as increasingly dangerous waves of enemies amass to attack.
Their loss is your gain.
Viroid corruption siphoned by the Chonklers can be converted into power-ups by your ship. Radar improvements? Piercing shot? Do you save up for big upgrades, or do you enjoy a flurry of smaller ones? The choice is yours.
A blast from the past, in the present.
A love letter to shoot ‘em up classics like Gradius, R-Type and Defender. Undeniably gameplay driven and thoroughly indulging in 80’s sci-fi pulp, Antibody is sure to excite arcade enthusiasts.
Blasters of the Universe
I play on the Oculus Rift and it works perfect with only 180 degrees of freedom.
This is my all time favorite VR game of the about 130+ titles I’ve played so far. It was much better than expected on the video.
The gameplay is amazingly perfect! Bullet hell is a very good discription of this game. There’s always shots and enemies somewhere and you have time to react to everything going on. I truly feel that it’s my own fault for doing something stupid and I get better all the time. All the shots coming at you makes it super immersive. The formations of the shots makes it very interesting how to tacle them. Finding a spot to stand where everything flies around you feels awesome.
– Real player with 30.8 hrs in game
BOTU is a wave shooter set inside a retro themed arcade game - it’s conscious about you playing a VR game.
You have a gun and a shield. As you progress through the “campaign” you unlock more shield types and components for the weapon customization. As you make kills, your weapons special ability charges - this brief effect (also customizable) can be anything from a powerful ray to invulnerability.
There are 4 levels in the campaign, each ending with a boss fight. Once a level is unlocked, you can also play it in endless mode. On top of that there’s a challenge mode which runs for a few days, with a predetermined weapon and shield. There are global leaderboards for all levels/modes.
– Real player with 21.8 hrs in game