
ASTROLANCER combines top-down shooter and shoot 'em up gameplay into one action-packed experience! Devise your own playstyle with a huge variety of weapons. Hardcore and casual players alike are welcome!
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Languages: English
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Reviews
Themes across 44 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
Reviews
A good retro inspired game. The Guardian Legend was a fun game back on the old NES and this game brought out a lot of that! Some stuff could be expanded upon better but I loved going through this one! I should go back on harder difficulties...
I started playing the NES at 5 and there was a game that was always my favorite. This game was always unknown by anyone I talked to and even online. But at some point this game became a "hidden gem." It was about time! "Guardian Legends." No other game felt like it. Fast forward about 30 years. Someone created a game similar and it is very enjoyable. "Astrolancer!" It is a fun game and a great stroll down memory lane. I hope the creator finds it reasonable to make a sequel!
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Hours played at review time, across 44 reviews with recorded playtime.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
As somebody who's been a passionate fan of The Guardian Legend since owning the NES cartridge as a kid, this immediately caught my attention. And it doesn't disappoint! Everything I would have wanted from a remake/sequel/reimagining of TGL is here: more varied areas, more modern shmup mechanics, the works. I think the lance dash with I-frames is an excellent addition, especially given the game leaning more into modern Bullet Hell. I love the retro graphics and music, and I enjoy the storyline and its moral ambiguity. I have a few quibbles, but they're very minor: I would have liked a more even split between the "labyrinth" and "corridor" sections, as the game focuses primarily on the "labyrinth" areas. The game is also significantly more linear than The Guardian Legend, being divided into stages rather than a fully interconnected map. Having the option to toggle the strafe, rather than it being a separate game mode, would have been nice. And the difficulty ramp between normal enemies and "Bullet Hell" bosses is very steep. Again, though, these are minor and personal quibbles and I still immensely enjoyed the game. Overall, though: If you are or were a fan of The Guardian Legend, pick up this game immediately.
ASTROLANCER is a solid first effort from Studio Hexeye. It has a lot of things pulled from classic NES games as well as modern Space SHMUPs where the mechanics and gameplay types combine for a satisfactory experience. PROS: +Solid, consistent art style with impressive pixel art for cutscenes and bosses. +Finding upgrade currency via secret walls feels rewarding, and I enjoyed deciding on your upgrade path throughout the game's levels. +The levels are pretty perfectly paced. They're not too long or too short, and the SHMUP sections feel like a good break from the top-down sections and vice versa. + Good soundtrack, although a little one-note at times. + A good spread of difficulty options for people who want the game to be easier or harder. + It's cheap! $6 USD is a great price. CONS: - Contrary to the bosses and main character, the generic enemies and levels do not stand out much. They're numerous but unmemorable. ~ The top-down sections, while generally good, begin to feel pretty samey and they take up more of the game than the space shooter segments. I personally was expecting more of a 50/50 split, where it's actually like 75/25. I don't have much to complain about with ASTROLANCER. I think it's worth the money for what you get, and I enjoyed playing it! I hope this dev makes more fun action games and not a farming sim or something. 8/10
This game does exactly what good retro games should do: captures the nostalgic aesthetics while not being afraid to embrace QoL features. Great character designs, fun boss fights, lots of weapons, there's so much to love about this game. It's not a very long game, but it doesn't need to be. $6 is an absolute steal for this.
A very simple yet engaging game that offers a lot of replayability and depth despite it's short runtime. I's quite challenging, and I'd recommend the game to anyone familiar with Blaster Master Zero or SHMUPS. he story is also a lot more interesting than you'd be lead to believe at the start.
not always sold on "the guardian legend (1988) by way of more formalistic game design", but the top-down levels nonetheless absolutely shred anything its spiritual predecessor was doing in that regard and the scrollers, while pretty humdrum, end with bosses that heavily invoke modern bullet-hell while still feeling somewhat distinct from the CAVEs and touhous of the world. the more direct inspirations, as well as some niche incidental interactions, really sell it as the successor to a strange, oddball NES adventure stg. really sweet little thing
Hidden gem achada na sale de shmups. O jogo mistura uma espécie de run and gun top-down com shmup, com gráficos que remetem a jogos da era 8 bits. As fases são todas no estilo top-down, com sub-bosses e um boss maior no final. Após enfrentar esse boss, ele tenta escapar do planeta e o jogo muda para o estilo shmup, re-enfrentando ele no final da fase. Os padrões de tiros dos bosses mudam a medida que o HP deles é reduzido. As fases exploratórias contém diversas áreas secretas, onde pode se achar novas armas e itens que permitem upgrades ao final delas. Muito bom, bem competente e divertido. Jogado no Normal que é bem tranquilo. A dificuldade mais alta tem um incremento considerável, com mais projéteis na tela, projéteis mais fortes e com mais tiros teleguiados para o jogador.
Such a fun and challenging game, really glad you put the cheats in so it can be reasonably finished. Really enjoyed all of the references and designs similar to The Guardian Legend on the NES, especially one of the forms of the end boss. ASTROLANCER is *the* spiritual successor to The Guardian Legend, great work!!!
This was absolutely awesome! It wears its inspiration well but even if you have never heard of The Guardian Legend and just like good retro games or shmups in general you owe it to yourself to give this one a shot. It exceeds in every area and I can't recommend it enough! Hopefully sequel?
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