Varyznex

Varyznex is a horizontally scrolling shooter where you defeat enemies with BITs that can change their attack direction. Enemies release energy items when defeated. You can draw in nearby items by approaching them, or attract distant ones by releasing the attack button; collecting them faster gives you more points and energy.

Hyper and scoring

When your energy gauge fills, you can activate Hyper. Your ship’s shot becomes a powerful laser, enemy point values double, and your BITs can block pink enemy attacks. Collecting more energy during Hyper unlocks Double Hyper, which adds homing shots and quadruples point values. Colliding your Hyper laser with a boss or large enemy’s laser creates many energy items and deals heavy damage with powerful energy balls.

Medium and larger enemies grant a time bonus: defeating them faster raises the point multiplier. Combined with Hyper multipliers, the maximum is 32×. Bosses release energy items each time they lose a quarter of their health, with more items appearing when fewer seconds have passed. Defeating a boss quickly also grants Destruction Bonus Energy.

Clearing a stage without losing a life earns a NO MISS BONUS. The bonus doubles for each consecutive no-miss stage, and the final-stage bonus doubles again.

Game modes

The game has three modes, each with NORMAL and HARD difficulties:

• NORMAL / HARD: The Hyper gauge also serves as shield energy. At a full gauge, NORMAL allows up to 6 hits and HARD up to 3. HARD makes enemy attacks more intense and doubles the number of energy items, while each item provides half as much energy.
• X-mode: You can hold up to 2 shields, or 1 on HARD. Shields lost when you take damage can be redeployed by building gauge after activating Hyper. Hitting enemies with shots outside Hyper raises the gauge, and activating Hyper while holding a shield grants bonus points.
• VX-mode: Energy gain is 1.5× higher than in the other modes. You have 1 automatically regenerating shield that works during Hyper. When your ship is destroyed and respawns, the gauge retains its previous amount. Shooting enemies outside Hyper raises the gauge more than in X-mode.

BIT controls and settings

You can choose from six BIT control types, TYPE-A to TYPE-F. TYPE-A and TYPE-B cycle BIT positions when you press R (the default button). With the recommended TYPE-C and TYPE-D, hold R and move the control stick to adjust the position, then release R to confirm. With TYPE-E and TYPE-F, BITs stay in front when R is not pressed; holding R moves them to another fixed position, which depends on the lever input or lack of input.

Settings include toggles for blur and screen shake, an EFFECT option that reduces explosion debris and other objects when set to MIN, explosion color intensity, and the terrain collision warning. LOW SPEED offers four types of low-speed movement behavior. A separate configuration screen, accessible with ESC or the START button by default, lets you change key mappings, controller vibration and volume, switch between fullscreen and windowed mode, set the window size independently of fullscreen, and exit the game.