It’s hard to believe that at one point twin-stick shooters were specialized games requiring either an arcade cabinet or a deeply expensive home setup. Plugging in two joysticks at once for a single-player game and going to the trouble of stabilizing them so they don’t wander off while you play? That’s a crazy amount of effort, especially seeing as only a handful of games like Llamatron supported that kind of input! You could fire in the direction you were moving or hit a second button at the same time to lock the firing direction while moving freely, and you’ll like it!
The Arcade Never Died, It Just Adapted
Then the PS1 introduced the Dual Analog controller, a new model of its joystick-free original model, and suddenly twin-stick shooters had room to breathe. Mutant Storm and Geometry Wars lit the fuse over on the original Xbox, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was a solid hit on the launch of the 360, and then gaming did that cross-pollination thing that always happens and strip-mined the twin-stick shooter for parts. Which sounds bad, but really isn’t. The level-up, choose one-of-three upgrades of Vampire Survivors is the latest mechanic to spread beyond its original horde-shooter confines, and it’s a lot of fun in the games that use it well to take their gameplay in unexpected directions. Twin-stick controls are perfect for any top-view game, after all, and the action-roguelike almost took over the style. Still, it’s good to return to basics now and then and for the twin-stick shooter the latest to do that is Sektori.
Graveyard: Mutant Storm
Not Robotron-level basic, of course, but Sektori is unquestionably a pure arcade experience that has elements of a good number of other shooters all mashed together into its own unique identity. The demo opens with a pulsing bass beat like you’re standing outside of the coolest nightclub in town, and after choosing its one mode (Update- Two modes! There’s an even more arcadey Horde mode available) and ship type you’re dumped into the middle of a small arena with a few enemies warping in. They initially come in a familiar forms, such as drifter, dodger, hunter, patroller, etc, and each one killed drops a gold chip called a glimmer. Get enough and a blue upgrade spot appears, and flying through it highlights the first of several options on the upgrade sidebar, Gradius-style. The most powerful ones are at the top of the list, of course, and each blue spot cycles to the next one from bottom to top, but it’s worth saving up for at least one round of blaster or missiles for the later sections of the time-limited demo. The enemy density is gentle for all of twenty seconds or so, after which the arena is going to get much more crowded as it evolves.
The small arena at the start quickly shifts into a new form after the first couple waves are dispatched, and it’s constantly changing throughout the run. The places being trimmed away are highlighted in red so even in the heart of the action it’s easy to see where not to be. If timing is tight the dash is perfect to escape the impending doom of the new arena’s configuration, and it not only blows through any enemy its path but also has an explosion at the end to buy a little more space. The dash takes a few seconds to recharge, indicated by a pair of blue lines filling up beside the player ship, and it’s an incredibly handy skill that doubles as offense and defense. Shoot, dash, get every upgrade you can, and it’s very possible to see the end of the demo’s easier difficulty level. The harder one is going to take a whole lot of practice, though.
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed Shooting Through
The Sektori demo reveals an incredibly promising twin-stick arcade shooter that sounds great, looks fantastic, and has plenty of gameplay quirks to discover and exploit. It’s also great fun to play “spot the influence”, with gameplay elements like the previously mentioned Gradius power-up system, collecting letters like Bubble Bobble’s Extend, and even a bit of Galaga Legions in the form of trails appearing across the arena that a chain of enemies will follow. Killing them all earns a major upgrade card, in the pick-one-of-three style, although it’s worth mentioning that some upgrades are designed for the full game like the ones that add a higher level cap to systems you’ll only have time to upgrade maybe twice. The six-minute time limit feels like a lot, and seeing the end of it on Challenge difficulty will require more than a couple of replays, but the Sektori demo makes it clear it’s a shooter you’ll want to sink into for as long as you can keep a run alive.
