Zenodyne R

... with some caveats. Zenodyne R is a 2D shoot'em up and the second game created by indie team Grybanser Fox. Although Zenodyne was originally released as a freeware title, this remaster/remake irons out many of its rough edges while also taking valuable lessons from team’s previous release, Zenohell and even adding some new ideas of its own. All this while also staying true to creators’ vision of rampaging 90’s shoot’em up action – but not without some baggage. From the get-go Zenodyne R greets player with a vicious demeanor: waves upon waves of small popcorn enemies firing blindingly fast volleys of aimed shots at the player, larger enemies covering the screen with more elaborate, fixed bullet patterns… Even sniper tanks make an appearance, taking out less cautious players at the moments notice. It’s no big surprise players are constantly encouraged to burn through their ever so precious resource of screen clearing bombs when things get too hot to handle. Genre puri...

A high-octane and enjoyable arcade shoot-em-up romp reminiscent of the '90's. This type of game has been my go-to bread and butter forever, and Zenodyne R absolutely delivers. The gorgeous 2-D sprites and pixelated soundtrack are enthrallingly nostalgic, and the gameplay is straightforward and flies by at a fast pace. While Zenodyne is not innovative, it doesn't need to be. What is a little innovative and modern is the progression of unlockables. As you complete missions, you earn Technical Points (TP). You use these TP to unlock new ships, extra credits, and lore. Compared to the past where you simply die over and over to farm the continue credits necessary to complete the game, Zenodyne rewards you for performing better during the mission, choosing Hard mode, and not losing lives. Also innovative is the ability to choose easier or harder versions of the second half of each mission. At the halfway point, you're given the decision to pick either Easy or Hard. I thought this w...

Disclosure: Friends with one of the devs. Zenodyne R is a very challenging shooter, seemingly aimed at the more experienced player, it's very fast paced and pulls no punches, throwing everything it has at you from pretty much the word go. Some shooters throw so many bullets at you that finding your way through the bullets feels more like a puzzle than a shooter. Zenodyne strikes the right balance of filling the screen with things to dodge, but not so much that you can't get out of most situations with good reactions. Each stage will start you off with a bit of a warm up, throwing smaller enemies until the game asks you to choose to fly through the easy or the hard version of the level, allowing for a branching pathway and letting you decide how confident you feel on the fly. The boss ships attack patterns are particularly well done, forcing you into uncomfortable positions while you wait for an opening to let you get back into a position where you can start shooting again. Graphics ar...

Took a chance on this yesterday as I've always been a fan of real retro shmups and this one is great. Has a real 90's feel to it and feels really fluid. The controls are tight and the presentation is on point...it is super tough though.

This was easily a day 1 purchase for me. A lot went into this fixing the flaws of Zenohell and expanding on new ideas. For starters, the game is overall more fine tuned for balance in difficulty and the ship choices than Zenohell imo. The game adds easy and hard routes to take so that less experienced players do not have to get crushed by the hard route. As the player has a choice of difficulty along the way, the game doesn't feel very cheap or unfair, and is not too overbearing or too much of a cakewalk. The game also gives a good sense of rewarding the player. Complete stages, beat hard routes, get through stages without dying, and other tasks will give you additional tech points that go towards unlocking additional content. The game starts you off with limited continues unlike Zenohell, but you can earn more. The better you play, the faster the unlocks will come. Even if you credit feed with what you have to the end of the game you still get tech points so it gives everyon...

This game is so fast, it'll knock you off your chair. It is action packed old-school insanety, my heart was not prepared for this. The only tiny gripe I have is readability, which is sometimes hard due to the colorful backgrounds. At the same time, the whole style works beautifully with a bright and bold pallette. The music is 11/10 for sure. Finally the bullet patterns are refreshing, many preventing the usual left-right evasion techniques. You'll have to put yourself uncomfortably at risk to beat some of the patterns.

One of the best indy shmups i've played. It really takes me back to the good old Genesis/Turbografx days although this is not as tough as some of the titles of those eras. The difficulty is spot on and it allows you to practice stages individually which is always great. The music is pretty neat too. It's a really fun game to play. Definitely recommended for fans of old school shmups.

This was easily a day 1 purchase for me and I wanted to wait til I've had at least 5 hours of playtime before reviewing. As someone who grew up in the 80's and 90's on cartridge based consoles, this easily brings that old feeling back: Starts out tough as nails, but as you get further in the game, the earlier stages become easier (and that was hard for me to believe at first). If you favored the type of music that the Sega Genesis punched at you, then your ears will definitely be feasted in this. There's been a slew of anime based bullet hell shmups popping up on steam lately, so this at the same time felt like a breath of fresh air. This is pretty much a straight up in your face vert shmup. There are 5 ships in total, but you start with one. There's a point system that rewards you after beating the stage boss. Those points add up and you'll eventually unlock the other ships as well as extra continue credits. This game has 5 stages, but don't let that fool you. One interesting featur...

this game is really good wtf im having loads of fun going on the hardest mode with hard paths and amazed i'm actually making progress hard game but good, not a bullet hell, like toaplan games except F a s t, genesis-chipset soundtrack (very good)

Recomended but with a few reservation. Interesting retro shmup based in 90´s arcade (mainly toaplan) with modern conviniences like autofire, small hitbox and focus button. the controls are spot on. The graphics are below average. look they are made in paint, and everything is too much colourful and make me bleed my eyes with long playing sessions. The bullet visibility could be improved a lot, but you will get used. I do undertand that is a small indie dev, with small budget for a niche audience but they could be improved, just see the example of the indie dev terarin that goes for simplicity and does things so much better in the graphic department. The bullet patterns are simple, and fun as expected in a classic shmup where there are lesser but faster bullets aimed at the player. The difficulty is a bit high, but not excessive. The music is a big improvement over zenodeath, and fits weel into the action. Fortunaly they learn lessons from zenodeath and improved a lot. There is a u...