The PC and console gaming scenes haven't seen many great bullet-hell shooter games this year, so XenoRaptor is here to raise the adrenaline level up. It's a twin-stick galactic shooter from the independent programmer Peter Clearly, and has come out for PC in 2014 via Steam Early Access.
Five years have passed, and the developer still hasn't released the official version, so I thought that will be the final version of the game. However, Peter 'clearly' doesn't want his game to sleep like this, so he has ported this game to consoles. The publisher Digerati will be responsible to deliver XenoRaptor to console gamers, and it will come out very soon this month!
Below is the trailer for this announcement, which you can have a look the tight and fast-paced shootings of XenoRaptor:
The concept of XenoRaptor
XenoRaptor doesn't have a specific story to attract players. Instead, it only provides a vague galactic concept, where you'll take control of a cyberdragon to wield guns against hordes of interstellar space fleets, and become the mightiest armada in this universe.
Instead, it makes up for its lack of story by its incredibly exciting gameplay that will make your heart bump like no others. To be more specific, it's a chaotic twin-stick bullet-hell game that you will take control of a customizable spaceship, bringing two weapons from its arsenal to the fast-paced battles against enemies from all shapes and sizes.
You'll have only two guns to bring to your first battles, but by blowing your enemies up to pieces, you'll be able to loot their parts from their wreckage to enhance your spaceship's abilities and powerful arsenal. That's the selling point of XenoRaptor, as the number of weapons you can collect is incredibly high, which ranges from the many types as well.
They include the fast and frenzy Gatling guns to the explosive rocket launcher or the ultimate railgun. Each weapon has its own stats and will be useful for certain situations, helping you create unlimited combos for each battle. For example, the rocket launcher will be handy for shooting against hundreds of enemies, while the railgun deals more damage over time to giant bosses.
Other key features
Speaking about enemies, XenoRaptor put you into the battle against enemies of all types. They can either be the small but crowded armies of fleets that will outnumber you, or the giant bosses that blow tons of bullets that will flood your screen. The AI can pull off a lot of dirty tricks like flanking, sniping or cloaking, and you will never stop getting surprised at what they can do.
Either way, you'll still have to keep your eyes sharp to avoid their fires, and don't miss any moment to send fires at them. To help you with that, the game provides you with some useful abilities in battles. For example, you'll have a teleporting ability that allows you to evade enemies' fire in the worst situations.
Another one is the mind-controlling ability, which turns your foes into your friends temporarily, which is only applicable to certain enemy ships. All of those abilities have a decently long cool-down time, so you can't rely on it too much.
Last but not least, XenoRaptor allows you to enjoy the game either solo or multiplayer. To be more specific, you can invite up to seven more friends into this frenzy battlefield to fight alongside you, and you can do that both online or via LAN connection. However, the game has friendly-fire mechanics, which means sometimes they'll be more of a burden than a help.
Release date and supported platforms
XenoRaptor is already available for PC via Steam. The PS4 version will come out on December 17, Xbox One is December 24 and Switch users will get the game on December 25.