Solaroids

Solaroids is a fast, fun, solid iteration on a well-established formula, and gets a lot of things right: [list] [*] [b]Difficulty:[/b] It's easy enough for a kid to pick up, but with a reasonably high skill cap. For perspective: beating the initial 10 levels would be considered a "good" run, and would be maybe 2,000,000 points. The current global high score is nearly [b]600,000,000![/b] [*] [b]Controls:[/b] The controls feel just right, and there are multiple control schemes available depending on your preference. Personally I like the "twin stick shooter" style the best. [*] [b]Replayability:[/b] It's an arcade-style game that lacks a progression system, but the daily/weekly/monthly/global leaderboards are enough motivation to keep coming back for another game. [*] [b]Features:[/b] The set of features and content isn't extensive, but all of the gameplay elements it does have are polished (especially by Early Access standards) and cohesive. None of them seem extraneous or half-baked. [*] [b]Graphics:[/b] The display options are a nice touch. Options include original sprites, vector graphics, and CRT emulation that can be added to either mode. While not yet finished as of writing, the vector graphics mode is my personal favorite so far. It's also fun to just mix up the options between games to add some variety. [*] [b]Destructible ship components:[/b] Picking off turrets and missile launchers from enemy ships is satisfying, and also adds a bit of strategy: it gives you the option to prioritize disabling their weapons as quickly as possible rather than completely destroying them one at a time. [*] The game is clearly a labor of love, and the developer is responsive to player feedback. More on that later. [*] Finally, the game feels relaxing even though there's a lot going on at once. [/list] That last point is important. Part of the fun factor comes from feeling like there are really no cheap deaths; in other words, when you lose a game, you think [i]"I totally could have dodged that missile/cleared a path over there/shot down that ship first instead of chasing that powerup."[/i] This lends itself well to that "just one more quick game" feeling, rather than making you want to ragequit. To illustrate by contrast, I'm not a big fan of manic shooters (with a couple exceptions). Even though they're skill-based more than luck-based, and satisfying to win, the game of "stay on the one pixel on screen that isn't a bullet" makes deaths feel cheap. That means that after several tries, I'm more likely to give up in frustration rather than feeling like [i]"hey that was fun, I'll try that again soon."[/i] Solaroids feels more like the latter. Another noteworthy point is that the developer is very responsive. If you take a look at the issues and feature suggestions in the Steam discussions, you can see that the majority of them have been fixed and implemented with relatively quick turnaround time, and the game is noticeably better off for it. The aforementioned "twin stick shooter" style controls that I like, for example, appear to be largely based on player feedback. Solaroids doesn't forge any bold new innovations in the space shooter genre, but it doesn't have to, it's just fun. At $10 USD I think it's easily worth it at full price.

This is a Twin Stick shooter and a really well made one. It's basically a high score challenge where you can play solo or local multi player/co-op. I couldn't find any online multi player mode. The game is really cool. It has loads of different pick-ups that give you all sorts of different abilities from rapid fire to increased manoeuvrability. It has a great sound track and a cool array of enemies. It's quite simple to play, you have three lives and you need to stay alive as long as possible while grabbing all the drops everything you blow up leaves behind. Watch the video and see for yourself.... https://youtu.be/pzB5gERregI Thanks for watching, please like, subscribe and comment.

This is a great throw back with some modern twin stick controls you should try out, even if you're a hardcore fan of the classic. As always, its better with friends. we need more couch co-op like this.

Met the developer at a gaming convention! Really cool guy and game (especially since its a in-house engine!). Very adrenaline inducing.

Давно хотел оставить отзыв, и номинировав Solarids как "ЛЮБИМОЕ ДИТЯ", понял, что время пришло! :) Очень зацепила игра, и уже больше года нет-нет, да захожу полетать и отвлечься от повседневных проблем сюда. Игра не требовательна к ресурсу ПК и идёт даже на моём полумёртвом хламе, что безусловно радует! Игра медленно, но развивается (не забываем, что разработчик у игры ОДИН!). Конечно, хочется больше контента внутри игры, но того что есть хватает, чтоб отвести душу в космосе. А ещё надеюсь и жду, что удастся расширить игру для других платформ! Желаю дальнейшего развития и успехов разрабу! <3

Recommended for Asteroids and shooter fans - you can just use classic controls to start with but will need to assimilate the extra controls to do well - looking forward to the updates, especially the option for plain starfield classic background !

Does what it says on the tin, it's a reboot of Asteroids. I just don't think that gameplay translates into something I want to play in 2021. Also no update since July of 2021 so this appears to be a dead game rotting in the early access bin.

It's Asteroids with a heaping handful of modern mechanics. I've been following it in Early Access for over a year and the progress is excellent and regular. Excellent game.