You are Roy Becket, a young pilot with dreams of becoming as skilled as his adoptive father. When a galactic war with an ancient mechanical alien race reaches its boiling point, Roy is forced to spring into action and take control of an otherworldly bipedal war machine in hopes of saving what's left of humanity. Joining Roy is a young girl who claims to have escaped the clutches of the nefarious aliens. Forever altered through horrible experimentation, she now possesses the very abilities humanity will need to push back the doomsday clock. Together, they must battle an unrelenting army alone and reunite their shattered family. The End of All Things is in sight. At the edge of eradication stands Astebreed.
Nintendo Switch has plenty of shmups to its name, so Astebreed finds itself rubbing shoulders with some of the best retro and modern examples the genre has to offer. With its shifting planes and the constant switch between ranged and melee combat, it manages to offer just enough extra spice to help it stand out, although the lack of an English dub makes...
Astebreed is a good game that makes you see quality over quantity in a whole new light. The game is stunningly beautiful, to the point that you would mistake it for a triple-A title. However, the game is absurdly short and severely lacks in content beyond the story mode.
With as many bullet hell shmups as I’ve played over the years, including ones that have dabbled in different perspectives of various kinds, I’ve simply never played anything like Astebreed. It’s visually full of detail that you’ll blow by and struggle to appreciate as your screen is full of targets, but for all of that intensity the gameplay rarely...
If Japanese indie developer Edelweiss wasn't already on your radar, consider this your wake-up call.
Edelweiss is to be applauded for applying modern day game design to a genus long in need of a 21st century lick, and while it might not totally rejuvenate an interest in bullet hell shooters, it would be foolish for fans of the genre to ignore a game as polished and slick as Astebreed. Granted, there's a limited audience for this type of game, and it's...
