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Love a twin-stick shooter? How about one that features apparently clever AI? Check out Space Bandit, which has a demo available right now.

On the surface, it looks like any other indie roguelite shooter with simple controls, pixel graphics and some procedural generation to keep things interesting for multiple runs. Where it gets interesting though is the AI. The developer said that the AI will "always work together to flank you, they'll call out your position to each other, they'll revive each other and generally make you suffer". After playing a few minutes of it, I can confirm it's a little challenging and actually thoroughly entertaining.

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While the action is intense and the weapons are fun to use, the environment is also your weapon. You're in space, and so if you run out of bullets you might get a chance to smash a window and vent all your enemies out into space. I'm quite a fan of the teleport system too, that allows you when it's ready to teleport through enemies to another spot and watch them explode as you do it — glorious.

This is one to watch, do give the demo a try.

Check it out on Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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8 comments

nerdachse May 5, 2022
Wow, this looks awesome!
M@GOid May 5, 2022
You said twin stick but the footage looks like it was made with mouse and keyboard in mind. I was burned before by this, but since it has a demo, I will give it a try before buying it.
Pengling May 5, 2022
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Wishlisting this one - looks like it's right up my alley!
nerdachse May 6, 2022
Quoting: M@GOidYou said twin stick but the footage looks like it was made with mouse and keyboard in mind. I was burned before by this, but since it has a demo, I will give it a try before buying it.

From one of the top comments on the YT video the developer got the feedback that currently you have to use the mouse and keyboard for certain inputs, is aware and will attempt to improve the controller inputs!
anewson May 6, 2022
strong hotline miami vibes here. I will say that one of the things that is missing in this footage and made hotline miami so fantastic (and that they botched in the sequel) were doors. Doors split up each level into a processions of miniature tactical puzzles and prevented you from getting blasted by offscreen enemies. Doors were great environmental weapons, and also allowed for varying levels of stealth. Let us all take a moment to appreciate all the things doors do.
aystargames May 17, 2022
Quoting: anewsonstrong hotline miami vibes here. I will say that one of the things that is missing in this footage and made hotline miami so fantastic (and that they botched in the sequel) were doors. Doors split up each level into a processions of miniature tactical puzzles and prevented you from getting blasted by offscreen enemies. Doors were great environmental weapons, and also allowed for varying levels of stealth. Let us all take a moment to appreciate all the things doors do.

Yep totally agree and I push this to the extreme in Space Bandit by making all the maps fit on your screen so can never be shot off camera.
aystargames May 17, 2022
Quoting: M@GOidYou said twin stick but the footage looks like it was made with mouse and keyboard in mind. I was burned before by this, but since it has a demo, I will give it a try before buying it.

Yep I'm a mouse and keyboard guy so I never know how to tune games for controllers. But the game does have full controller support. Would be awesome if you could jump on the game's Discord and give your opinion of the controller support as is.


Last edited by aystargames on 17 May 2022 at 11:22 pm UTC
anewson May 18, 2022
Quoting: aystargames
Quoting: anewsonstrong hotline miami vibes here. I will say that one of the things that is missing in this footage and made hotline miami so fantastic (and that they botched in the sequel) were doors. Doors split up each level into a processions of miniature tactical puzzles and prevented you from getting blasted by offscreen enemies. Doors were great environmental weapons, and also allowed for varying levels of stealth. Let us all take a moment to appreciate all the things doors do.

Yep totally agree and I push this to the extreme in Space Bandit by making all the maps fit on your screen so can never be shot off camera.

I forgot to mention how awesome the sound design is in that trailer... the thudding bass, the squealing metal sound when the action starts, the M1 garand ping, and of course the change in audio when there's a decompression. Really nice work.


Last edited by anewson on 18 May 2022 at 5:33 pm UTC
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