I love 1942, Geometry Wars, DoDonPachi, Crimzon Clover, Radiant Silvergun, and Ikaruga. I love top-down shoot-em-ups, and while the genre is mostly a thing of the past, I’m a little happier when the newly released Cygni: All Guns Blazing gives us the chance to relive this delightful genre. There will always be something really special about making your way through bullet hell unscathed while the front cannons of your little ship shoot down enemy ships ten times your size, fast-paced midi-rock with just the right Japanese twist. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say I’ve spent 200 hours in Ikaruga in particular over the years.
However, it must be said that this genre will always be the definitive proof that I am not a “real gamer”. Despite all the time I have spent playing Treasure’s mythical classics, I have never reached the end of Silvergun or Ikaruga. However, I have tried thousands of times. So the question is: is Cygni just as difficult? No, it is not. Is it still challenging enough to have me cursing out loud for the last week? Of course. Welcome to Cygni Prime, the most inhospitable planet in the universe.
Developer Keelworks makes no secret of the fact that it wants to resurrect a dead genre with this game. The old form of top-down shooter arcade gaming is celebrated and honored here both above and below, and inspiration can be found in both Cygni in R-Type and Gradius, as well as the aforementioned Treasure classics. There’s also a story that I think works well as a framing element. Your name is Ava, you’re a highly trained fighter pilot, and your home planet of Cygni Prime has just been invaded by a very capable alien enemy. Ava is an Orca Starfighter pilot in a fleet that acts as the first line of defense against invading space villains, and her job is to shoot down as many of them as possible.
Advertising:
While Ikaruga in particular made a (clever) point of giving you as the player the ability to switch between a black and a white ship and thereby absorb enemy bullets (as long as they were the same color as your ship), Keelworks’ Cygni focuses on the dynamic between air targets and ground enemies. Ava has to shoot down spaceships of different sizes and types, while also moving and bombarding ground targets, which creates a special dynamic that I really appreciate. Thankfully, switching between different objective types works smoothly and has become a regular feature this time around, and I applaud the way they innovate within fairly tight limits here rather than trying to reinvent the wheel.
The enemies are very smart, much smarter than I initially expected. All of us who have played the classics of this genre know very well that enemies rarely do anything other than follow a predetermined “path”, something that you as a player are supposed to memorize. Here too, Keelworks breaks new ground, as all of Cygni’s invading space villains are equipped with their own artificial intelligence that is much more subtle than I have seen in any other game of this type. Enemies act intelligently and will dodge your attacks if you give away your strategy too early. They can often fly out of the picture to get reinforcements, like all bosses.
Advertising:
Cygni: All Guns Blazing Graphically, it’s exquisite too. I played it on PlayStation 5 and loved everything about it, from the Ikaruga-inspired aesthetic to the incredibly good fluidity, which only once or twice dipped to a level where the frame rate struggled for a brief microsecond (at most). The pace is fast, there are countless enemy ships to shoot at, plenty of content, and a well-done depiction of a space war that I’m learning just enough from. In my opinion, there are parts of the upgrade system that didn’t need to be there and parts of the game’s soundtrack that don’t quite fit, but these are minor criticisms for a game that generally entertains with the best of premises.
