Alastrius

After playing this game through a whole campaign and chewing through some of the content, I have to say it's one of the most pleasant surprises I've had in a while. This game is unpolished, janky, and somewhat finicky to play, yet it is remarkably fun and is one of the more earnest and sincere attempts to capture the magic of games like Panzer Dragoon or Star Fox 64 while expanding on both and adding quality of life improvements. The premise of the game is a simple one: you're a pilot for an interstellar republic stationed on a battleship called the Alastrius (hence the title). The republic is under attack from within via a civil war, and you and your battleship have to travel back to the capital to root out the insurrection. If this story sounds token and little more than a framing device for the action, it's because it is. I'll be frank: the story is not why anyone should play this. Instead, what we get is a quite competent on-rails flight shooter featuring branching paths via in-level triggers, a selection of unlockable ships to fly each with their own traits and quirks, and a scoring system that rewards multiple playthroughs to get better scores. Make no mistake: this is an …

I'm a huge fan of On Rail Shooter games, I've even compiled a list and categorized many onto a Google Doc that I'll place in the comments of this review, if you are curious! (It's also on my profile description.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So far I've beaten around 4-5 Campaigns and my goodness, I've been having fun with this one. The branching paths and choices for alternate route depending what you do is very refreshing! This is literally the only game that came close to matching how Star Fox 64 does their branching paths (from what I've played at least). For Gameplay, this On-Rails Shooter is what I would classify as a "Cursor" Rail Shooter. You can control your Player and your Aiming Reticle separately. Enemy variety is small, but there are unique ones in several levels, giving something new to shoot down every once in awhile. I'm usually a Controller user, however I found myself using Mouse and Keyboard to make it easier to aim at targets. I barely tried the first level using a controller and immediately switched to Mouse and Keyboard, so I have no input on how it is on Controller for now. ~~~ UNLOCKABLES! I absolutely LOVE unlockables, especially when they we…

Good on rails shooter. The part I enjoyed the most is that I wasn't always attacking other planes or flying objects. Nice amount of ground targets. Alastrius: Star-Fighter plays much better with mouse and keyboard, as I would sometimes lose my cursor when I played with my XBox controller. My mini PC couldn't handle the game well because of all the beautiful graphics, although my 3060 graphics card handled the game flawlessly. This on rails shooter is pretty much a hover over the enemy and use your mouse to shoot. Holding the right mouse button allows you to move left and right faster. Space is for speed. The biggest issue I found with the controls was that this game didn't utilize the scroll button on the mouse, and instead required you to choose 1, 2, 3 or 4. The scroll button could have used more effectively. I was given this game pre-release but never played it because I figured it was another Starfox clone. This game is not a Star Fox clone and is it's own thing. It's very well made, although for some the price may be high. I'd say place this on your wishlist and wait for a sale. As far as difficulty, I'd say the difficulty was just right. https://steamcommunity.com/groups/ind…

Thoroughly impressed with Alastrius. Graphics are evocative of old-school rail shooters (though much more detailed!) but it makes really good use of all dimensions. Levels are exceptionally well-made and surprisingly varied in terms of environment and mission. Surprisingly good range of environments, ships, abilities, enemies... Stand-out boss fights too. A brilliant modern rail shooter, top tier. For more niche curation, follow me at: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/27440015-CSH-Picone/ Want more honest niche & indie reviews? Check out: https://www.cshpicone.com/gaming

Pretty fun reminds me of the flying sections of Kid Icarus Uprising. Will add more details later

Feels like a diamond in the rough; there is genuine effort put into the project, ultimately I feel like it missed the mark- but I am looking forward to seeing how the dev builds upon their experience. Full video review: https://youtu.be/_6WG7pIeM9g