Iridium

Iridium feels like a true successor to classic Uridium. While this is inspired by retro, don't let that put you off. The game feels fresh and modern. The game is split into sub-levels, which consist of space and cavern/indoor sections. There is a good mixture of small fighters and mid-range frigates throughout the levels, constantly altering your play-style. Each area finishes with a huge capital ship battle, which is in the style of Uridium. While the difficulty level is quite high compared to modern games, it is well balanced and feels fair. Unlike old-school shooters you don't lose all power-ups (and hope!) on a single death. You re-spawn close to where you died, allowing you to attempt the section again. The atmosphere is superb. Graphics and visual effects add so much to the battles; animation is smooth throughout. The sounds and voices throughout the game are well produced and add to the experience. You can hear when your weapons are charged,followed by satisfying explosions when you release a full volley of missiles and lasers on target. A nicely blended soundtrack fits perfectly to the atmosphere of the levels, and never seems overbearing. Iridium is the most fun I've…

Very good shoot 'em up. The best part of Iridium is the feel. The momentum of the ship is spot on and fits perfect with the turning mechanic of facing left or right. This is where the game really excels, especially because the trance/techno tunes match so well with what's going on screen. It's bullet hell, and tense, but there's also a chill aspect to playing Iridium. There's a flow to the game that is hard to describe. All I can say is it works. If you're on the fence, I say purchase it. Iridium is unique, and stands apart from other shoot 'em ups, while also having a great arcade feel.

One of the best Uridium clones on the PC to date. Gorgeous explosions and hectic gameplay. Recommended! (8/10)

I really like this. Despite a couple of problems, I keep coming back. It's one of the best modern takes on Uridium and incorporates a lot of modern horizontal shooter elements that complement the flow and feel. The graphics are a stand out. I'll admit, I add scan lines via Reshade that, for me, enhances the look of most pixel art, but the whole look is very well composed and rendered. The game play is well balanced and provides an moreish challenge & once you master the controls, it's a fun feeling to pilot such an agile craft. On the down side, I cannot get my controller (easySMX) to work properly in most menus, giving the 'front door' of the experience a bit of a shabby feel. After the game loads, I can't move through the first menu options, and am limited to 'start game' unless I use the keyboard or mouse. The next menu seems fine! The settings menu locks me to changing the sfx volume entry only. Mouse and keyboard work fine. It's probably not a deal breaker for most (or me, really) but the sfx are a bit limited. They're functional, but I choose to turn off the music and the resultant ambience is a little empty and lacking character. Despite the menu issues - it's a qualit…

EDIT: ATM the game has annoying technical bugs still to be fixed... is also unplayable with non-1920x1080 screens (big fonts out of screen, disappearing mouse pointer in fullscreen, badly positioned/truncated screen in fullscreen or borderless... clearly untested on different screens/resolutions rescale), so I can't honestly recommend it, especially after last update which introduced also sound bugs (!). No news from the author after many months. Dead buggy game. No support. What a delusion, was fun to play.

Loving the atmosphere here, need more hours but this is one for all shmup lovers out there!!