Astrolancer

Astrolancer is a retro-styled adventure in which you play as LANCER TWO, a military superweapon belonging to the GALACTIC COUNCIL. You can merge with your TRUSTY LANCE to become a tiny FTL spacecraft, built to travel into deep space and fight alone. When the shape-shifting, self-replicating FORMATROIDS land on a distant automated mining colony, you must stop them from gaining a foothold in the galaxy. Your internal BLACK HOLE BOMB is set to destroy you, the planet and the FORMATROIDS if you fail.

Fight the Formatroids

The game alternates between top-down shooting and high-flying shoot 'em up sections across 7 stages. You face dynamic bosses and can use an invincible THRUST ATTACK to break through difficult situations. Enemy HP does not increase at higher difficulty levels; instead, enemies deal more damage and fire bullets faster and in greater numbers. The HEARTLESS RAMPAGE difficulty may hold further surprises.

Weapons and upgrades

You can choose secondary weapons freely and find over a dozen special ARMS. Hidden rooms contain Energy Cells, which you collect to gain upgrades between stages and customize your abilities. You cannot acquire everything in a single playthrough, giving you different options when you replay at a higher difficulty.

Modes and settings

Retro Mode uses old-school controls. Modern Mode lets you strafe with any weapon, while slightly increasing enemy durability to compensate. A cheat menu lets you turn cheats on or off at any time during gameplay.