A shmup with character

Retronator Games Watchlist

I’ll be honest, I backed Starr Mazer for its adventure game parts and over-the-top pixel art animation made for their Kickstarter campaign by Jérémie Périn, not the shoot ’em up dogfights.

If you’re new to the project, Starr Mazer by Imagos Softworks is a half shmup, half point-and-click adventure that seamlessly blends both. Or well, it’s supposed to, since it’s still heavy in development.

The half-adventure-game, half-shmup nature of Starr Mazer

Because (adventure) games take more time to produce than anticipated, somewhere down the line Imagos joined with Pixeljam Games to create a sort of pre-game to Starr Mazer, like what Fallout Shelter is to Fallout 4. Enter, Starr Mazer: DSP.

It represents only the shoot ’em up parts of the game with a few twists of its own, such us randomly generated pilot/ship/weapon combos and the ability to buy as many pilots (lives essentially) as you can with your previously earned score (or SK:ORE as they like to call it).

Pilots from better packs can take more damage, but cost more money. Or you can go with the free Dog Pack and construct an army of disposable bullet fodder instead.

Star Mazer: DSP hit early access last week and is a gem to play. The whole presentation package is superb, from top-notch pixel art to synth music by Alex Mauer and pilot voice-overs that immerse you into the universe and give the game character.

The images look great, but it’s almost hard to describe the feeling without audio. So here’s the trailer to get a glimpse of what I’m talking about.

When you’re running the game fullscreen with headphones on, you’ll feel like a kid again, hitting the arcades or watching cartoons on a Sunday morning.

Backers of Star Mazer can get DSP for half price here, while others can head directly to the game’s publisher’s page (15% off till Sep 2) or Steam (10% off till Sep 5). Note that buying from Playism also gets you a Steam code, so get on it while it lasts. The game’s base price is $10.

Thanks for reading! I’m piloting how to bring you new articles on a weekly basis, so whenever I get a shitload of good imagery that can make for a trademark Retronator Magazine article I’ll serve it to you on Medium as much as I have on my blog in the past. I just love how I can design it here, and I hope you enjoy it just as much. See you around the universe!
—Retro