Stardust Galaxy Warriors: Stellar Climax
I’ve had half of an eye on Stardust Galaxy Warriors since it hit Steam Greenlight. I bought it, and my impression of it then was that it was an alright introduction to shmups. I’d hoped to get some of my friends into shmups by playing this with them, but due to my IRL friends being non-gamers, this didn’t pan out. I’ve attempted to get myself through some of the achievements every now and then, so I’ve put an hour into this game “here and there,” and then I put the game down again because I wanted to play something else - I must admit that this game was not made for someone like me. Yet somehow, I keep finding myself playing this game alone, and every time I pick it up I am not disappointed. This game has, so far, been the highlight of my quest through my backlog.
– Real player with 36.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Shooter Side Scroller Games.
To start off, I highly recommend anyone that enjoys side scrolling shooters to purchase this game, it is a must have. Feel free to keep reading if you want to know my reason.
I’m not a hardcore fan of shoot-em-ups, I didn’t even know what the word “shump” meant until today, but what I do know is that this game is really fun.
The game is very easy to pick up and play, the controls and mechanics are simple and none of that convoluted stuff, which I feel is a great thing. I don’t want to spend an hour learning about wierd game mechanics when all I want to do is just destroy enemies.
– Real player with 21.4 hrs in game
AngerForce: Reloaded
I recently picked this gem up for $4.50 USD.. I spent that much on a cup of coffee each morning, so I didn’t really think twice about grabbing this as from what I was able to see, it looked like a really good tate shooter (vertical scrolling/shoot’em up).
Did I get my monies worth?
A resounding YES!
As some of you on my friends list might of guessed, I am a fan of Space Invaders. It was one of the first games I had my hands on when I was still only a baby macroni in the late 80’s early 90’s, that along with other classic’s like Duck Hunt, PacMan and Mario, filled my childhood with joy. I found the Raiden series mid 90’s along with Star Fox and it was around that time I realized I just love shooters.
– Real player with 54.2 hrs in game
One is my favorite shmups on Steam.
This game is a really beginner friendly way to get into the genre because the difficulties and the levels curve out nicely. And on the highest difficulty even veterans will find some challenge.
The four characters play very different from another which is great to mix up gameplay.
Movement is interesting as well: by holding one of two buttons you can enter fast or slow mode. Slow mode makes it harder to evade certain projectiles but it fills up your special meter.
– Real player with 23.9 hrs in game
Audio Infection
As a music enthusiast in general and as someone who loved playing games like AudioSurf, Beat Hazard & Swarmlake, I found this game appealing. I played without VR equipment, and that’s, besides using either the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, perfectly possible!
The game offers a handful of visually pleasing areas where you start listening to (your own = possible) music, and try not to get infected; e.g. the lower your accuracy and/or level of mastery, the more damage you will take, and the more infected your audio gets = lower music levels, but the enemies and their battle sounds will then take over the place. So you’d better listen to some garbage music, or you will get annoyed if you fail at shooting ;properly!
– Real player with 2.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Shooter Music Games.
Love the game so far, havent played it too much but its really fun to play. People might say at first its not a game they like, but its really fun to grind points and lvl up your weapons. Eventually you will have better weapons and then you will see difference in the game. I enjoyed my time playing and it also kind of calmed me down :o
– Real player with 1.8 hrs in game
Broken Sky
Broken Sky is a heck of a lot of fun. I was ready to review this several weeks ago but glad I waited; it’s come a long way since then. The core mechanics were already solid but he’s put tons of work into balancing and added loads of cosmetic and QoL touches.
A great little retro shooter that faithfully recreates the arcade experience. A series of challenges and frequent ship and equipment upgrades keep the game moving and feeling fresh. Very moreish.
For more niche curation, follow me at: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/27440015-CSH-Picone/
– Real player with 11.9 hrs in game
I’m really enjoying this game, it has a nice retro Arcady feel to it with loads of options and achievements. The game has loads of unlockable content and challenges with addictive gameplay that gives you that “just one more go” feeling when you succumb to the alien forces. The first page of the game is interactive and allows you to set up you plane and game options using the terminals. And yes! You can pet the dog! 😉 Enjoy your flight!
– Real player with 10.1 hrs in game
Dragon Blaze
This is my favorite games from PSIKYO! Great port even there’re something missing like restart button for stage.
What is stand out for me for this port and I really have to praise CC are the quality of sprite and sound just amazing!
this port even came with a manual no more wondering how game mechanic work for now fork who want to try the game!
Online ranking working fine! (Like now there’re like 70 people on ranking)
What I really want is a leaderboard for CO-OP and make steam remote play work with this game would be nice.
– Real player with 10.1 hrs in game
Dragon Blaze is a pretty good shooter, but it is one of the more difficult ones. I can withstand a lot of bullets, but Dragon Blaze is over the top. The game plays smoothly and is responsive at 60fps. Once again, the developer has created options for us to make it through an old school shooter such as unlimited continues, extra lives, etc. without throwing our hands up in despair. Allowing the Dragon to be released provides additional strategy for providing more offense. You’ll need the extra help.
– Real player with 8.6 hrs in game
Wreck the Insects
Wreck the Insects - An arcade-style shootem' up with a floral twist!
Play as Lilly, your average everyday overweight cat who wishes to have the best garden around! However, disaster strikes. Hoards upon hoards of unique, crazy types of insects begin to swarm around poor Lilly’s garden, like a fly to a light! Or in this case, a fly to a flower.
Lilly does not have her own life bar-instead, a player’s goal is to defend the flowers at the bottom of the screen. There are many ways to achieve this, and it’s up to you to find out the best methods for exterminating these creatures!
BorderCollie Blaster
Kira is back! In this arcade style shoot ´em up you´ll encounter different foes, defeat big alien bosses and collect power-ups and new weapons to fight your way through exciting stages and find the holy bone Kira (the star of the game) is looking for.
This game features hand placed enemy waves throughout the game, a digitized Bordercollie and bossfights at the end of each stage.
cherry blossom fleet
「In 1946, a full-scale counteroffensive operation was launched against the Japanese army, which has vast Pacific Ocean areas.
Shoot the enemy fleet, break in the iron-clad Pacific defense line and Show the American spirit.」
This Game Is A top-down 2d Shooter
Features
Simple gameplay that follows the good old 2D shooting game system
Three types of aircraft can be selected
Each has features such as wide range type, centralized type, and high power type.
Your ship is usually with a shot In addition, it has an emergency bomb and a support aircraft attack,
Support aircraft attacks can be participated in the attack by using the Charge gauge.
Support machines are also characterized by wide-range type, centralized type, and high-power type.
By combining it with your own attack, you can make more efficient attacks.
Controller&Keyboard Settings
DANMAKAI: Red Forbidden Fruit
Cute little STG that feels like a nice and huge love letter to Touhou (especially PC-98’s vibes). I will write my pros and cons with the expectation that the reader is at least somewhat fond of Touhou.
Pros:
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4 difficulties, 6 stages with an extra stage. Very Touhou-style
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Mechanic is simple enough to understand. The tutorial video helps.
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The difficulty is generally digestible. You can go ham on resources once you master the mechanic, but isn’t that true of most STGs and Touhou games anyway…
– Real player with 22.7 hrs in game
A hilariously unbalanced game with a bomb mechanic that can be spammed to hell and back. Once the player has figured out how, where, and when to bomb graze, its difficulty becomes trivial, and the game becomes a fun novelty. A veteran shmup player should be able to clear Lunatic in under 10 credits.
While there is little challenge to be found in the main game, there’s plenty of extra content to keep yourself busy with. There also seems to be a hidden condition for what I think is a TLB or something equivalent, but I’m too lazy to confirm it.
– Real player with 16.8 hrs in game
Ex-Zodiac
Ex-Zodiac is a fast-paced rail shooter with a stylized look reminiscent of early 90’s 3D games. Join protagonist Kyuu as she fights to free the worlds of the Sanzaru Star System, overrun by the intergalactic terrorist organization known as Zodiac.
FEATURING:
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A retro, colourful, low-poly visual style
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12 main levels (plus secret areas and side-paths)
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Multiple routes to complete the game
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Major bosses at the end of each level, each piloted by a member of the Zodiac
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A 16-bit style soundtrack by +TEK combining FM and wavetable synthesis