Best Retro Twin Stick Shooter Games on PC

#Funtime

Nice twin stick shooter, with different map types. good although short sound track. tries to have rogue lite elements like ship upgrades, and while they are cool, i was able to unlock all of them right away (with the exception of 1 tier3 unlock). it almost feels as if those unlocks should just be like PowerUp drops during the game. but overall so far i have had a #Funtime

– Real player with 8.3 hrs in game

Read More: Best Retro Arcade Games.

Great game; this game gets more and more dynamic as you progress through the levels. It can get quite intense but the relaxing sound-track adds a nice balance. It seems to be well optimized for PC because it runs smooth and takes little storage. My favorite level so far is 10; maneuvering around the asteroids is good fun and makes a great scenery. I look forward to exploring the rest of the levels and arcade mode.

– Real player with 8.0 hrs in game

#Funtime on Steam

Ampersat

Ampersat is a shooty, slashy, RPG-y game mixing old-school/retro and modern sensibilities. A blend of influences from Gauntlet and Smash TV to Zelda and a dash of Angband, this is a handcrafted adventure with much appeal to fans of Roguelites. A labor of love from a solo developer, Ampersat distills some favorite childhood gaming experiences into a fresh, fun hybrid that sees you killing a lot of monsters, finding a lot of loot, freeing captured letters (um, what?) and growing from a world-weary warrior mage into a powerful smashing/blasting machine!

Main Features

More than 50 handcrafted levels, many with exploration and light puzzles
Optional endless procedural area
Original gameplay elements based around freeing and capturing letters
Flexible character progression with extensive skill tree
Hundreds of unique pieces of loot find, buy, sell and augment
Upgradeable town hub
Tackle stages in the order you choose
50 unique creature types with individual AI, 10 fiendish bosses
Drop-in local async co-op (and online using Steam Remote Play Together) - suitable for young players to team up with their parents

You may notice the main character and enemies are ASCII letters - yes, this is an aesthetic throwback to the original Rogue games, and the blending of these with colorful 3D top-down environments was the idea that first spawned Ampersat. Likewise, Commodore 64 SID chip sound effects are used alongside real-world music for a distinctive experience. But just what is an “ampersat?” It’s the leading contender for the official name of the @ symbol, of course!

Overview

Gentlheim has been invaded by Lord Z, who has surrounded the village with 5 extraplanar towers and the dungeons beneath, filled with evil creatures. Even worse, he has stolen language itself from the townspeople! As the warrior mage Ampersat, you must venture deep into the dungeons and high above the land in the treacherous towers, defeat countless minions and restore language to Gentlheim so the townsfolk can communicate properly and help you defeat Lord Z himself.

Gentlheim

Gentlheim has shops to buy and sell goods; an Inn to heal up, level up, and stash gold to retrieve after death; and a deep Well leading to randomly generated procedural levels. There are various structures you can pay to upgrade and, as language returns to the village, townsfolk who may need something… Gentlheim hides a few surprises for the inquisitive gamer and provides a hub area to approach different stages in any order you like, or revisit levels you’ve already beaten.

The Well is where the “roguish” aesthetics are turned up to 11, providing short, sharp, loot-gathering deep delves once you repair it. There’s an old rumor that something very special is buried at the bottom of the well… but no one has ever reached those depths.

Co-op

Ampersat’s async co-op is true drop-in, drop-out at any time. The second player controls a fairy that hovers around Ampersat and also launches attacks. Will you trust them with your best spell? No? They might steal it anyway… While the fairy’s shots aren’t as powerful and contribute to overheating, it has the huge advantage of being invulnerable. The perfect partner… if you can get along.

Read More: Best Retro Action RPG Games.

Ampersat on Steam

Cosmoscope

Brilliant wee game!

The progression is done really well. New enemies and abilities are dealt to you at a nice pace and the ways to counter them are intuitive. The game brings in new situations and changes dynamics with each new chapter, which keeps it fresh and builds upon your existing knowledge. It has a really unique concept I haven’t seen in any game before with the Kaleidoscope but still has a really retro feel. Like arcade games of old!

Plus the soundtrack is amazing, not distracting but really sets the mood and keeps you in the zone!

– Real player with 10.6 hrs in game

Read More: Best Retro Arcade Games.

great soundtrack and quick to get into. just fun in a new spin on a mix of genres!

– Real player with 2.5 hrs in game

Cosmoscope on Steam

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved

This is one of my favourite games on steam. It’s everything you could hope for in an arcade game, it’s fun, addictive and straightforward. You have your ship and you have your enemies, all various shapes and sizes. You shoot them and earn points. Higher combos unlock better weaponry, although I think the 2nd to last gun is better than the last and most powerful. Where this game really sells is in its visuals. Enemies dont just explode when you shoot them, it’s a literal firework show. It’s wonderful to look at. The more enemies there are, the more fantastic the lightshow becomes, when enemies explode in a dazzling array, the world warps and wriggles and bends and a million different colours explode onscreen making you go ooooh and aaaaaah.

– Real player with 61.3 hrs in game

Lots of people out there claim there’s no point in buying this because Geometry Wars 3 contains this entire game. As an avid fan of both games, let me clarify that GW3 does NOT contain GW. There is a mode in GW3 that replicates GW, but there are big differences. Visually, GW has a very unique look from GW3, but more importantly, the mechanics of GW are different. In GW you first have a basic weapon that automatically upgrades to one of two more powerful weapons. It then cycles between these two weapons (rapid fire and wave), and that’s what gives GW it’s charm and distinction from GW3. I actually go back to play this one quite often because I love the simple yet addictive, pick up and play gameplay. It’s never not fun trying to reach a new high score. I personally find this game to be very well balanced, and a lot easier on the eyes than other, similar games like Waves.

– Real player with 13.7 hrs in game

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved on Steam

Legion of Scorn

First, and quite possibly last, the game is pretty okay for one dollar, it doesn’t support HD resolution and the it only has the most basic of top down shooter game-play and a story that might as well not exist, but hey it’s only a buck and it works i guess, oh and the music is pretty alright too.

– Real player with 0.1 hrs in game

Legion of Scorn on Steam

Neckbeards: Basement Arena

Easy to get in to, but hard to master. Fun and fast-paced, especially so with the local co-op!

I haven’t seen anything quite like this on Steam before. A blend of challenging gameplay, creative level/enemy design, a variety of awesome characters to choose from. Not to mention the daunting task of 100 levels to conquer.

I’m not great at the game yet but I am slowly improving, fighting each cleverly designed boss as I go along.

I look forward to continuing to best the basements!

– Real player with 67.4 hrs in game

I’m so ZZWized right now. This is one of the best games I ever played. The music and the memes just come pouring through your screen like butter dripping off of a hot tub. Very cozy game and fun to play.

– Real player with 1.0 hrs in game

Neckbeards: Basement Arena on Steam

satryn deluxe

Satryn Deluxe is a fun reimagination of Robotron/Llamatron, an 8-directional twin stick shooter. Shoot all the baddies and collect friends to increase your multiplier. When you die you lose a life and half of your friends. Every 75,000 points a new powerup will spawn.

The levels are procedurally generated, the RNG is a bit strong with levels varying in difficulty and some containing much more friends than others.

It may or may not be the best to way to play it but the game does support (a one handed) controller+mouse in addition to the standard keyboard+mouse and dual stick controller. Which is nice because my dual stick is out of service for the moment and I don’t want to use the keyboard to move my character.

– Real player with 17.3 hrs in game

(Revised below.)

A love letter to Robotron 2084 and a great companion title for twin-stick purists who can tolerate only a little spin on a classic. Nice enemy variety and number of weapon drops will keep you engaged. The action is tight but this burns a little slower than its grandfather, quickly allowing new players to play for twenty or more stages after only a handful of runs. That’s okay; this isn’t a greedy arcade machine trying to eat all your quarters as quickly as possible. The late game challenge ramps up nicely and lingering around on one stage is clearly discouraged. All in all, this should be one of those ‘one more go’ games that will keep you up when you should be in bed.

– Real player with 15.4 hrs in game

satryn deluxe on Steam

Vector Assault 2

Fight off waves of enemies to reach the highest score possible. Choose from multiple ships with different weapon loadouts. Play various game modes and try out the different play styles each mode offers. Take on various challenges to test your skills and see if you can get the highest score possible.

Vector Assault 2 on Steam

Hyper Bullet

Hyper Bullet is a top-down action game replenished with agreeable vaporwave aesthetics, pure joy of combat and gunplay rhythm.

Best Retro Twin Stick Shooter Games on PC

#Funtime