Rising Heat aims to be a next evolution of horde survival twin-stick shooters

A sprinkle of Geometry Wars and other twin-stick shooters, a dash of Vampire Survivors styled upgrades - Rising Heat thinks it's going to be special.

So special in fact the developers claim it's going to be the "next evolution of horde survival". That's…a pretty bold claim huh? One I thought I should check out as part of my ongoing quest to play everything resembling some sort of survivor-like game. I'm a sucker for quick action, lots of upgrades and watching numbers go up.

Here you're flying a ship with floaty physics that you need to take into account. It's very much a twin-stick shooter, or should I say twin-stick smasher, as a big part of it is the tackling system. Yeah you have weapons you can fire, but your ship is directly a weapon too. You will dash repeatedly into enemies to cause all sorts of chaotic explosions.

The upgrade system is pretty interesting too in its design. You buy and attach modules to your ship when you level up from the shop, and you're able to fuse together two of these modules to make them more powerful (and save on your limited active slots) to reign down more destruction. The fusing system is essential as a lot of modules have debuffs as well as buffs, with fusing reducing the debuffs. The first fusion attempt is free, so it's always worth doing and you can re-fuse to re-roll at a cost as many times as you want for each module fusion until you get what you want.

On top of that there's an integration system for these modules. You only have 5 active slots to place modules in, but you have a bunch of additional integration slots,where you can pay up to make modules available for use outside of your active slots. It can be a little bit of information overload but it's all pretty simple once you get going.

Lots of stats to think about too so it will take a while to go through and figure out what sort of build you want to make, but that's part of the allure of it. All the modules, stats and the action together make it really interesting. I'm not sure if it's anything close to the evolution they're marketing it as — but the modules system is quite fun to play with.

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The co-op mode is part of what's going to make this one rock. You each have a ship on the field, linked together by any energy beam and it can end up pretty crazy thanks to this system. Possibly one of the best co-op experiences in a survivor-like game so far.

With different ships, pilots, hacks and maps to unlock through the full game, I am most definitely excited for more.

Game Highlights:

• Dynamic movement: Master a dynamic momentum-based movement system. Line up multiple enemies to execute a flurry of precise tackles, dealing devastating damage while bouncing between a barrage of enemy bullets!
• Customize Your Loadout: Each cockpit has a limited inventory in which the pilot can upgrade, integrate, and fuse hacks together to create varied builds. Different strategies in the shop, hack positioning, action order, and even negative stats will help get the most out of every build.
• Plan of Attack: A strong pilot must plan out their runs, including which pilot, ship, hacks, and weapons to equip. As the aliens learn to adapt, how does a successful pilot stay one step ahead?
• Fly With a Friend: In co-op mode, two pilots are linked by a supercharged beam, creating opportunities for mass destruction…assuming they’ve got each other’s backs.

If you love arcade-styled action, twin-stick shooting and arena-styled shooters then I think Rising Heat has a lot of neat ideas bundled together. The demo is worth checking out right now and the game works perfectly on Linux with Proton 9.0-4 tested.