Cosmic Destroyer

Cosmic Destroyer is a precision horizontal shoot ’em up with a bullet-hell core. After an AI corrupts a fleet and turns it against its own colonies, tentacled creatures arrive to threaten humanity. You play as a salvager from the Grid 38 asteroid base, rescuing your scattered team, cutting through collapsing bases and pursuing the invaders through the remains of the worlds they have consumed.

Salvage and fight

Your ship’s Salvage Claw is both a weapon and a way to manipulate the battlefield. Grapple enemies and objects, salvage weapons from wreckage, deflect bullets and throw debris or enemies into hazards and each other to trigger damaging chain reactions. You can charge throws for up to one second to increase their speed and damage; if you are already holding a special weapon, grappling swaps it.

Stages follow handcrafted, twisting routes through asteroids and obstacles, with alternate paths to discover. The three main actions are Shot, Grapple/Throw and Special Attack. A tap fires a weaker Wide Shot while letting you move at full speed; holding the button fires a stronger Focused Shot and slows your ship. Options and mounted items also change their behavior between the two firing modes. Special attacks nullify damage to your ship while active and clear bullets from the screen, with each canceled bullet adding to your score. You can also activate a bomb after your ship starts dying, provided you do so before the third explosion sound.

Ships and weapons

You can choose from three ships, each with a distinct primary weapon and special attack:

• V Spec Mk. I: fires Blue Crush Shell and has a powerful Focused Shot. Its special weapon is the Mega Bomb.
• Prototype L2-B: fires Reflecting Lasers, or a large beam in Focus Mode that reflects off its target. Its special weapon is the Mega Bomb.
• E.M.A.: an experimental Electro-Magnetic Assault craft that uses Plasma Link to spread plasma balls and chain lightning between enemies. Its special attack is the Plasma Bomb.

Game modes

• Arcade (1CC): play with limited continues; leaderboard scores count only the first credit.
• Hard mode: enemies move faster and have more health, and one hit kills you.
• Co-Op: play Arcade together in Normal or Hard difficulty; co-op runs do not appear on the leaderboard.
• Training / Practice: use unlimited continues and maximum weapon power, start or restart at any stage or section, and practice against bosses.

Local co-op supports two players on one screen. Each player uses a separate device: either one keyboard and one controller, or two controllers.

Scoring and combat systems

Your score multiplier rewards risk-taking. Graze bullets to score and deflect them back at enemies as accurate, high-damage shots; use grappling and well-timed bombs to cancel bullets, and earn large bonuses for kills made by throwing enemies. Small “popcorn” enemies and most turrets stop attacking at point-blank range.

Boss armor reduces small amounts of damage, but sustained attacks can overcome it. Projectiles can pass through enemies they defeat and hit another target with any damage remaining. Weapons also deal different types of damage—Explosive, Kinetic, Energy and Collision—which interact with enemy strengths and weaknesses.

Controls and options

The game includes configurable autofire, with toggle or hold settings and 15 Hz, 30 Hz and 60 Hz trigger rates. It also offers scanline and CRT effects, VSync, brightness and screen-shake settings, a hitbox display, separate volume levels for sound effects, music, announcements and master audio, and an in-game arcade marquee screensaver.