You might not think in today's age of gorgeous breath taking graphics, than a game with retro visuals could suck you into playing for hours. If that's the case then you've probably scrolled right pass the glory that is Steredenn. It's a space shooter where your only real goal is to destroy all of the waves of space pirates that you'll encounter.
For all the details on this retro arcade shooter, keep scrolling.
8-bits of Awesome
Steredenn isn't a game where you're going to find super realistic graphics that steal your breath. Instead it delivers retro 8-bit-style graphics that will grab you and suck you in regardless. The graphics add to the retro feel of the game that may conjure up memories of playing games at the arcade.
The game boasts hundreds of enemies, and 25 beautifully painted environments that each show a different aspect of space. From seeing Earth hanging out on the left side of your screen, to vivid green swirls of the universe, each one is gorgeous and a bit different.
You'll find plenty of enemies that you need to shoot through as well. Each wave will throw all sorts of baddies at you, from chainsaw ships to mines that you'll want to destroy before you run into them. Each one is distinct from the others and has their own design that you can clearly pick out, even when thirty plus enemies are attacking you at once.
Shoot the pirates
Steredenn delivers a rollicking fun space shooter that is easy to pick up and play. There are four different modes of play, and because the game randomizes levels, you'll never get exactly the same experience twice. There are hundreds of enemies, dozens of weapons, upgrades for your ships, and more.
The Play and Superplay modes are the main ways to play the game. Play is the normal story mode, and Superplay opens up after you have completed the game once. The Daily Run lets you compete against other players — you get a single chance to play through a set of levels and rack up the highest score possible. Players all over the world compete on the Daily Run with the same levels, enemies, and weapons. The final mode, Arena, allows you to fight against level bosses in a more controlled environment.
Play mode is made up of waves of enemies who get progressively larger, and nastier. As you move through each wave you'll need to dodge the shots from enemies, along with the occasional meteor and chunks of asteroid getting in your way. You start out with just a simple blaster, but you'll find bullet, energy, contact and heavy weapons as you destroy the waves of space pirates in your way. However make sure you pay attention to what you equip, as you can only hold on to two weapons at a time.
Each wave ends with a boss battle, but much like the levels, you shouldn't expect to encounter the same enemy twice. The boss battles are just as random as the mass of enemies you'll need to fight through to get them. As you might guess, each boss gets progressively harder as well as progressively larger. If you die though, you'll need to start all over at the first wave.
At the end of each wave, after you've destroyed the boss, you'll be able to choose from a few different perks. Each time they are a bit different, and each one will help in different ways. This means you can choose between new weapons, upgrades to your weapon damage, shield regeneration and even score enhancers. These perks are how you upgrade your ship adding things like a bullet autocannon to help you mow through the next wave of enemies.
Conclusion
Steredenn is an absolute blast of an adventure through space, where your only real goal is to destroy all the space pirates before they destroy you. It's addictive, fast paced, and fun —even when the learning curve is a little bit steep. Overall it's fantastically fun and well worth your time.
Pros:
- Randomized enemies and bosses mean the game doesn't get old
- Fun and addictive
Cons:
- Arcade style means when you die you start over
- Getting the hang of the game can be a bit difficult
Steredenn is not necessarily the type of game that would catch your eye as you scrolled through new games, and that's a real shame. For a fraction of the price of a triple A title, you get a fantastic experience that can easily eat up hours and hours of your time. It's a wickedly fun arcade shooter that is very reminiscent of retro arcade games, which should be up the alley of plenty of people. You can pick it up for just $12.99 on the Xbox Store.
This review was conducted on Xbox One using a copy provided by the publisher.
